Tottenham Hotspur’s frontline is not producing enough goals.
Surprisingly, Tottenham are the joint-highest scorers in the Premier League this season with 17. But their top scorer at this current moment? Micky van der Ven. The second-highest goal scorer? Own goals.
Tottenham spent heavily in the summer on brilliant talent that operates well in tight spaces. Xavi Simons and Mohamed Kudus were the key arrivals. The problem may be that the pragmatic manager they employed doesn’t know how to get the best out of them, thus far.
Credit has to be given to Thomas Frank. While it may not be pretty, it certainly is effective with Tottenham conceding just seven goals to sit five points off top.
The consensus, though, is that if Frank can make better use of his expansive talent, Tottenham can aim even higher.
In this article, we’ll cover:
Lack of central progression
Tottenham’s issues in attack can be highlighted by the number of long passes they play in each game. Apart from against Wolverhampton Wanderers — where they spent most of the game trying to break down a low block — Spurs have played more long passes than their opponent in every single match.
This includes against opponents such as Everton, Burnley, West Ham United and Leeds United.
Now, of course, there’s nothing wrong with going direct more quickly. But that’s something you’d expect Tottenham to do when Dominic Solanke returns from injury. The aforementioned sides are used to defending their box and accustomed to passes being played long. And they have big defenders to deal with such situations.
Additionally, if you have players like Kudus, Simons and Brennan Johnson in the team, Frank should be looking to get them the ball in tight spaces to play neat interchanges with one another. Whereas, at the moment, it feels as though they are isolated out wide, particularly Kudus.
Playing Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha in midfield is something that Frank should do in bigger games to win more duels. Not against teams like Wolves, where Spurs will be tasked with breaking down a defence that sits deep for most of the game.
The solution to this would be to play Lucas Bergvall. With one of Bentancur and Palhinha out of the team, you may lose more tackles and duels. But Bergvall can receive from the goalkeeper, turn and drive towards goal.
Frank chose to deploy Simons behind the striker against Everton. With Simons dropping deeper, it could lead to teams focusing on the Dutchman while Bergvall receives the ball and can drive into space or vice versa.
Over-realiance on wide buildup
The trouble for Tottenham at the moment is that their jinky, skilful wingers are not very close together. In the situations where they are, like when Kudus and Simons were on a couple of occasions against Everton, they conjure up a chance.
Surrounding them with more creative players in the middle will help. But Frank’s other issue is the over-reliance on building up out wide.
The pass maps above paint a telling picture. The emphasis is almost always to get it wide, but this often has led to many lateral, sideways passes that slow moves down.
It tended to be something he did successfully at Brentford. Going long to the winger or wide full-back as they crossed the ball for Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo.
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However, it’s proving to be an issue at Tottenham, particularly in their Champions League match against Bodo/Glimt.
Although it’s not the easiest place to go to with freezing temperatures and an artificial pitch, it was clear that relying on full-backs and wingers to progress the ball in an area of the pitch where there’s less space is difficult.
There is less space on the wings and fewer players that can come across to support and be passing options. You’re also banking on your wide players to dribble past two or three opponents and get the ball forward, as opposed to practised sequences that can penetrate the opponent.
It’s a tactic that may work better when Tottenham have a focal point in attack or choose to deploy Richarlison up front again, who has dropped to the bench for the last few games.
Injuries
Tottenham are a team currently screaming out for the likes of James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero to return.
Kevin Danso is deputising for Romero well. But Spurs miss Romero’s line-breaking passes from defence that start moves off.
Maddison’s long-term injury leaves Tottenham without midfielder with real inventiveness. And they’ll miss him for the majority of the season.
While Solanke and Udogie’s return from the touchline will aid Tottenham in their style of play to opt for progression wide and give them a target man for crosses and long passes, Frank needs to find a solution to Madisson’s absence.
At the moment, it feels as though the Danish manager is trying different things to see what works best as he figures his new team out, whilst juggling with key absences.
The pragmatism, defensive solidity and masterfulness with set-pieces he’s brought from his time at Brentford have given Tottenham a solid start. But the season will likely hinge on how well he can unlock the plethora of talent at his disposal.