Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino used Danny Rose and Kyle Walker to perfection against Chelsea
SunSport's Danny Higginbotham says Pochettino's use of wing-backs was key in Spurs' fantastic 2-0 win
TOTTENHAM boss Mauricio Pochettino got his tactics spot-on last night – and showed how to beat Chelsea in the Premier League.
Of course, playing the system is one thing. You need the players to follow the instructions and Spurs have quality in their squad to do that.
To combat Antonio Conte’s routine 3-4-3 formation, Tottenham went 3-4-2-1 – and the key was their two athletic, mobile and disciplined wing-backs.
Both were excellent, Danny Rose more so in the first half on the left, with Kyle Walker the more dominant on the right in the second half.
The way they played affected Chelsea’s usual system and played a big role in the two goals.
Walker and Rose played so high at times that they managed to get behind Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso.
Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante are there to protect the Chelsea centre-backs but they were dragged out of position to combat the Spurs wingbacks and forced to drop into deeper spaces.
For the first goal, Matic tried to help Alonso and stop Walker, and that left space in the middle for for Christian Eriksen to deliver the cross.
For the second, Chelsea’s back three were very deep, and Matic, who in in turn then had to drop was unable to get out to prevent the cross yet again.
I have to add that Victor Wanyama was absolutely outstanding in the Spurs midfield.
He gave exceptional cover to Tottenham’s back three defenders.
More often than not, he won the ball back when any of Chelsea’s front three dropped off the Spurs back three – and with Spurs three defenders all comfortable going into wide areas they covered behind the wing backs when needed.
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