Little Paul Grabs Big Points

Spurs travelled to Wales to face Premier League new boys Cardiff after successive clean sheet victories against Norwich and Tromso. It was a game felt like one of those matches where we couldn’t fully break down the opposition despite constant Spurs pressure, and one of those games where in the past we would have needed a certain Welsh midfielder to get us out of trouble. Thankfully though it was two new boys, bought  with the Welshman’s transfer fee that combined in the last minute to seal a dramatic 0-1 victory.

The single goal was the difference between Tottenham controlling the match, completing 415 passes with over half being played in the attacking third. This was combined with 63.8% of possession and an attempted 29 shots.

Tottenham lined up tactically the same with one key similarity being the deployment of Paulinho and Mousa Dembele. These two acted as a good link between the defence and attack. Both were instrumental in keeping the pressure on Cardiff, dictating the play and feeding the ball into our more creative midfielders. Paulinho managed to break the deadlock in the 93rd minute, but was still very influential in every minute that preceded it.

As seen from the heat map, the Brazilian is a true box to box midfielder influential to both Spurs’ attack and defence and arrived at the club with reputation of scoring goals for Corinthians and the Brazilian national team. Despite being an aerial presence during corners, Paulinho also found himself in the Cardiff area in open play on a multiple of occasions.

Ever available, Paulinho received the ball in dangerous areas and threatened David Marshall in the Cardiff goal who was in good form and managed to thwart all but one of those attempts. He also stopped Paulinho from getting on the score sheet earlier as he blocked the Brazilian’s attempted chip. Paulinho crucially managed to score one of his six attempts, and also provided a defensive display that included three interceptions and two tackles.

On a continued bright note our Spanish international was more involved than he was a week ago. Roberto Soldado managed more shots and touched the ball more in the box; his efforts from a Glyfi Sigurdsson rebound and a Kyle Naughton cross were both well saved by Marshall. With more games and Eric Lamela still to start in the league I am certain that Soldado will get more chances in the box and convert some of these into goals.

It is important to remember that all of his La Liga goals last year were scored from inside the area, and our play needs to compliment this. With Lamela being phased in more we’ll see more chances for Soldado coming from the right and less of Andros Townsend cutting in and shooting on his left foot. For me Townsend is more of an impact bench player than a regular starter.

This wasn’t the 100% complete performance though, all five of our defensive players made some form of mistake. Hugo Lloris was culpable for errors such as conceding a sloppy corner from poor defensive footwork. The resulting corner ended up with a disallowed Cardiff goal, however a concerning point was the French international’s attempt at punching the ball as he was nowhere near Whittingham’s delivery.

Michael Dawson and Jan Vertonghen both, at times, seemed to lack communication and reinforced the statement that they both go to ground too easily when they should stay on their feet. An early attempted back pass from Naughton highlighted this, as both central defenders and Lloris were caught out.

Most of the defensive mistakes were made by Naughton who had come in for the injured Danny Rose. Left-back is not his preferred position and he finds it very awkward to play on that side as a right footed player. On more than one occasion he was pressed by Craig Bellamy and other Cardiff players, these errors led to chances for the Welsh team.

Naughton misplaced six passes inside his own half, and played almost none of his passes using the full width of the pitch. This is a drastic change compared to Walker’s dashboard; Walker is able to search for easier balls down the line because of playing on a side that favours his dominant foot. Because of his dominant foot Naughton was unable to maintain width and create chances like Rose.

This is particularly important as Sigurdsson often drifts in off the left wing, and we do not want to narrow the play. Instead of holding this width on the by line, Naughton often made his offensive runs in between the Cardiff right back and centre back. It is not known if Naughton would’ve started the game had Younes Kaboul or Vlad Chiriches been ready to play. Vertonghen as a left back would seem the more natural approach for the next league game if Rose is not fit.

In conclusion, Tottenham were finally able to break down a stubborn Cardiff defence through the combination of two new signings. Paulinho was able to start his league goal scoring tally and Lamela will continue to be integrated into the first team.

However, the performance of Naughton left a few question marks about the lack of the depth in the left-back position. It was a rocky clean sheet with a few defensive errors that need to be eradicated before Chelsea come to the Lane on Saturday.

[author name=”Jai B” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1659352356/IMAG0018.jpg” twitter=”Jai_B” tag=”JaiB[/linequote]