da doce： If it was a Mauricio Pochettino gift to Pep Guardiola, it was the gift that kept on giving.
da roleta： When Serge Aurier started Tottenham’s game against Brighton just days before their trip to the Etihad Stadium to on Saturday afternoon, Mauricio Pochettino’s habit of rotating his full-backs seemed to suggest that the Ivorian wasn’t going to play any part in the bigger game at the weekend. And that turned out to be true.
It also, potentially, turned out to be something of a mistake.
It’s easy, after the fact, to point to one decision and characterise it as the reason a team won or didn’t. Too easy, usually. In this case, as in many others, it may have made no difference at all. City are the best team in the Premier League and maybe even the best team in the world at the moment. There’s even a debate as to whether we should be calling them the best team ever to grace the Premier League.
Whether or not that’s simply too far doesn’t really matter when that’s the question: just the fact we’re seriously talking about it is enough to make you think Spurs were up against it no matter what the team selection was.
And yet, before the game started, Aurier looked like he might well have been crucial to Spurs’ success.
It’s no secret that if City have a weakness, it’s the defence. That doesn’t really get borne out in the stats: they’ve conceded 12 goals this season and no one has let in fewer. And yet, without Vincent Kompany, John Stones and their one and only recognised left-back Benjamin Mendy, City are quite clearly weakened in that area. And pitting Fabian Delph, who is a makeshift full-back and relatively unused to the position, up against an athletic and direct player like Aurier might well have been a difficult test for him.
Instead, Pochettino decided that the former Paris Saint-Germain man’s defensive deficiencies were enough to make sure that he chose former City defender Kieran Trippier instead. It was a decision probably made on a combination of loyalty and safety, but nonetheless, it set the tone: Spurs were more worried about City’s attacking prowess than they were about exploiting any defensive they might have been able to find.
That’s fair enough in some ways. It’s natural to fear a team like City, and given the fact that Pep Guardiola’s league leaders are now so far ahead of the chasing pack, it won’t be the away game against the Blues that shapes Tottenham’s season: it’ll be games against the other sides from second to sixth that will decide whether or not Champions League football will be coming to the new White Hart Lane’s inaugural season next Autumn.
But it was also a decision that seemed to epitomise the way Spurs handed the initiative to City rather than attacking them fearlessly. They aren’t the only team to do so this season, which suggests it’s not that simple. But how else are you supposed to get at a team whose only weakness lies in their defence?
But playing Tripper didn’t just provide City with the gift of attacking initiative. In the end, he provided them with fertile ground for attacking, too.
The former City youngster’s three successful tackles saw Trippier make more than any other Spurs player all game. And yet, his success rate was only 33%: he was dribbled past an entire six times, whilst his direct marker, Leroy Sane completed six dribbles and provided two assists.
Trippier saw more touches than all but two Spurs players, and played two key passes, suggesting that he was able to find some success up against Delph and Sane down Spurs’ right wing, but you then wonder what the more attacking Serge Aurier would have been able to do.
The modern full-back isn’t solely a defender – as Delph is showing. He’s also a player who has to take full part in his team’s attacking systems, too. And yet, athleticism – that pace and power that a player like Aurier possesses – is so important.
Maybe it would have made no difference to the final score. Or perhaps it would have even made things worse if Tottenham had gone with Serge Aurier at right-back, who may have had an even worse time against Sane and co. But it’s worth wondering what would have happened if Spurs had taken a more proactive stance on getting at City’s makeshift left-back Fabian Delph.
But giving Pep Guardiola’s side Kieran Trippier at right-back let him off the hook defensively. And going the other way, City seemed to target him anyway. And to great effect.