The Pundit: Spurs lacking depth; United turn a corner

Palacios: worn out against United

In a weekly feature I hope to maintain every Monday, I’ll be taking a look at a game or two and the tactical nuances that serve as the difference between a win, loss or draw.

After all, in a game of 90 minutes, it’s the little things that speak loudest.

As many feared and many more predicted, this weekend’s clash at White Hart Lane had the potential for a reality check, and in that respect, it didn’t disappoint.

Spurs were right to be worried about the absence of Modric, especially against a team that’s slowly finding its rhythm after a summer of tremendous flux.

‘Arry started boldly, but it didn’t take long for things to start going wrong.

EPL – Saturday, September 12
Spurs 1, Manchester United 3

MANCHESTER UNITED
—————————–Foster——————————-
O’Shea————–Vidic———–Ferdinand———-Evra
Fletcher——–Scholes———–Anderson———–Giggs
—————–Rooney————-Berbatov——————

——————Defoe——————-Crouch—————-
Keane———–Palacios———Huddlestone—–Lennon
Assou-Ekotto–Bassong————-King———–Corluka
—————————-Cudicini——————————
SPURS

Unsurprisingly, this game was won and lost in the midfield despite the unusual XI put together by Sir Alex Ferguson. It speaks volumes of team selection that he opted to go with experience first, picking Giggs and Scholes in a bid to control the tempo. Redknapp’s midfield, buoyed by a fast start in 2009 but tempered by the loss of their left-sided maestro, couldn’t maintain the breakneck pace of the first 20 minutes, playing right into United’s hands.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s start with Spurs.

Huddlestone struggled to keep up with the extra workload, drifting across midfield and failing to asset himself. When Modric is there, Tom is able to provide control to a more comfortable zone. Against Liverpool, he had midfield help, and was much more composed in his duties.

Across the midfield, the Yid Army had one guy charged with dictating the pace of the game: Tom Huddlestone. As much as his distribution and efficiency is improving, he struggled greatly to provide regular service to the forwards and wingers, something that Luka Modric would have been able to help with. Palacios, as good and tenacious as he is in the tackle, is never going to be a world-class passer, and Lennon is kept wide right, ready to chase possession down the flanks like a greyhound released from the traps.

Robbie Keane, though beginning the afternoon as a Modric stand-in on the left wing, frequently freelanced infield so much that United had free space down the right all afternoon. It’s the same problem that would plague Liverpool on occasion last season; using non-wingers on the wing always backfired, such was their natural instinct to float into the middle in search of possession. That’s the least of Spurs’ worries regarding Keane; as much as he roamed across the United half in search of possession, it was surprising how little of it he was able to find, and for that you can thank the workmanlike midfield SAF installed.

Anderson and Scholes bossed the midfield all afternoon; Carrick slotted in effortlessly once Scholes was dismissed

Scholes and Anderson ran the midfield perfectly, complimenting one another to a tee. Anderson was the more gregarious one, perhaps due to his Brazilian roots, while Scholes stayed home and kept things in check. It’s laughable considering he got sent off early in the second half (after his dismissal, I felt that United still had 11 players while Spurs played a man down), but that makes his afternoon’s work even more impressive. A 90%+ success rate on an entire game’s worth of passing, but completed in just under an hour.

The pair stuck to their designated zones and enabled Fletcher (who was impressive on the right wing, all things considered) and Giggs to make headway down the flanks with those wing-backs overlapping outside them. It was enough to exhaust the normally-sound Corluka, although sub Alan Hutton looked even worse under the microscope.

Palacios, exhausted from international duty, was unable to keep up; the equalizer came from a sloppy Palacios foul just outside the box, while Anderson’s well-taken goal resulted from a tired Spurs defense not thinking to close down at the edge of the area from the set piece.

And so the two strategies were laid bare; ‘Arry hoped to win the midfield battle with pace, while Fergie selected essentially 3 DMs and a winger, including his two oldest squad members whose experience and calming influence were the perfect choice to dampen both the White Hart Lane home crowd and the Spurs attack. The plan was to out-hustle and out-work the Spurs midfield, and it worked perfectly. Without the obvious match-day selection of Ronaldo, Fergie’s plan is obvious; horses for courses, all season long, something he can do with the depth on that squad.

Spurs were laid bare further once Palacios departed; Jermaine Jenas, as good as he is at distributing possession, cannot tackle and maraud like the Honduran, thus unbalancing the midfield entirely (just one tackle in 45 minutes’ work). With Huddlestone and Jenas left to fight against a rabid, aggressive midfield four, the game was lost.

Up front, Rooney and Berbatov found a natural rhythm as finally, the Bulgarian appeared content to play provider. He touched the ball as much as Crouch and Defoe did combined while playing as link-up between the midfield and Rooney.

Which brings me to Peter Crouch. Oh, poor Crouchaldinho. His presence on the pitch, though initially imposing, proves to be a real drain on team tactics and shape. While his aerial threat paid immediate dividends in Spurs’ goal in the 1st minute, the rest of the game proved to be difficult for the beanpole. Spurs frequently went long-ball in search of opportunities, but he was drowned out time and time again by the more-physical United center-backs. It is a problem for teams that use him, for they seemingly do not know how. As tall as he is, Crouch’s talents are in ball control, but the Spurs wingers and fullbacks couldn’t resist the urge to keep finding him through the air.

Spurs' wonderful early-season form has been predicated upon midfield control and a balanced attack. With Crouch on the pitch, the urge to seek him through the air is irresistible, and woefully ineffective.

Just look at the breakdown of passing in the final third. Crouch, the island, is lost at sea while his teammates try in vain to pick him out. As a result, he spent most of the afternoon remonstrating with the referee after fouling or being fouled in an aerial battle for the ball.

In short, Spurs were outclassed on Saturday thanks to something as simple as team selection hours before kick-off. The pacy, frenetic midfield selected by ‘Arry couldn’t hold up against United’s steely, experienced quartet that preached ball control and territorial tackling, two things that the foursome in white couldn’t match.

Worst of all for the rest of us, it reasserts United as the force to be reckoned with that they always were, despite early-season travails. Fergie has the luxury of rolling out 7 or 8 midfielders depending on what he’s aiming to achieve; to hell with conventional wisdom about wingers on the wing or DMs in the middle! Fletcher was transcendent in locking down the right side and preventing Spurs from finding any success, while on the other, the constant threat of Evra meant that Lennon couldn’t be as incisive as usual.

Even five weeks in, we’re seeing certain well-worn wisdoms coming home to roost. Spurs are vastly improved, but perhaps not enough to crack the Top 5, while United will be as dangerous and competitive as ever in search of the title. Look out for Fergie’s Pick-and-Mix Midfield, coming to a stadium near you soon!