The change in Spurs approach is taking effect

A couple of years ago I started writing about Eric Dier, while he was at Sporting Lisbon and advocated we should buy him, a year later we did. We had been watching him for a while and I compared Iberian football with Northern European football and the differences in approach.



I looked at how Dier was taught and how youngsters were taught in this country. For me it was a no brainer that we had to buy him so obviously I was delighted when we did.

While we were within the Andre Villas-Boas era I wrote that we needed to change our whole playing approach and since then that we need to keep making small continual improvements that create a large scale improvement over time, which we appear to be doing with the training facilities, lodge, staff restructuring and appointments.

I advocated that we needed to change to the Iberian way of playing football, that is to put the team ethic first, rather than rely on individual skill to win games. There is no doubt Spurs were a one man team under Gareth Bale and that reliance on one player is unhealthy, it's not a recipe for sustained success because that player will move on. To replace them you'd need a top class talent but we don't have the income to afford the wages for such a player and if you bought one that didn't work out for any reason then that would be the end of success.

Basing the whole club more on a Benfica or Sevilla type team based approach was and is the way forward. The idea being that you assemble a squad of young players who all grow together, yes some will leave but then you just slot someone into their place. No one component is so important that the team falls apart if they are missing or sold.

That requires a style of play throughout the club that doesn't change, when a youngster rises through the levels he is playing the same way, he knows what is required of him already. If you produce a team like that then you can build sustainable success and not just the odd one-off.

It is an approach Tottenham adopted and looked for a head coach who could build a team, the club, in such a way. Andre Villas-Boas was hired but that didn't work out as hoped and so Mauricio Pochettino was brought in to continue the work, after Tim Sherwood had been used to ascertain a few home truths about the players assembled. His short tenure showed the club it could play youth like Nabil Bentaleb and Harry Kane so there were clear positives to come out of it.

An example of how Pochettino is putting the team ethic first is in his use of Ryan Mason. He is not a superstar and many fans can't see what he does, but Spurs had a major problem with build up play, it was simply too slow. Mason has come in and immediately he plays the ball wide quickly, when he receives it from one side he doesn't delay on the ball it is swiftly moved. That was one of the key improvements Pochettino wanted to make and players like Dembele have had to learn to move the ball quicker, you'll note now he is taking players on around the box instead of the halfway line.

After the WBA win Christian Eriksen, who is benefiting form this new approach, spoke of the same team ethic,

“Hugo is always there when we need him, he’s a world-class goalkeeper and he showed it again. Everyone was needed today, we worked hard, created chances and scored the goals. I’m on a good run but I play for a team and if I get the chance, I score for the team. That’s what I’ve done.”

Even when he spoke of himself he was still looking for those improvements that matter. His father revealed his son felt we should have scored more goals against Sheffield United and we should score more goals in general. He repeated that again suggesting Spurs relaxed a little too much.

“I was thinking which corner to go for, thinking if the goalkeeper might know where to go, but I chose the short corner and luckily it went in. Overall, I thought we played really well. We started sharp, created good chances and scored two early goals. After that, perhaps we relaxed a little too much but then we played much better in the second half.”

Harry Kane,Nacer Chadli,  Christian Eriksen, Hugo Lloris and the centre-back pairing of Fazio and Vertonghen are taking the plaudits but that just shows the shift to the more team orientated approach. In any team there are going to be unsung heroes and for us it's the midfielders who leave the attacking to the attackers.

Tottenham now have the basis to build from, the process is in it's infancy and the summer will see further changes in personnel who fit that team ethic, what your name is, what your reputation is doesn't matter, if you can do a job then you have a chance of joining the journey, if not then wait for the train that allows you to blow your own trumpet. We no longer seek the nme player to appease a few fans, we seek the right player so that in the long run those fans won't need appeasing.

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