'Soft Spurs' a thing of the past as Pochettino transforms Tottenham

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  • Building: Spurs and Pochettino.

    Having seemingly thrown away the chance to prise the Premier League title away from Chelsea, Tottenham are now wrestling with their reputation.

    In an act of apparent unavoidable self-sabotage, Friday night’s 1-0 defeat to West Ham helped dig up all the cliches with “bottlers”, “Spursey” and “soft”, liberally thrown around; mainly by gleeful Arsenal fans clutching at an ever-decreasing bunch of straws after last week’s derby defeat. But passing up the chance to move within a point of Chelsea against a side who had won one of their previous 11 Premier League fixtures was supposedly evidence of a grand choke.

    The notion of Spurs being a weak side is the “1-0 to the Arsenal” of the 2010s, and just as Arsene Wenger dispelled that ode to George Graham and offside-traps within a few seasons of taking charge in 1996, Mauricio Pochettino has quickly turned Tottenham into one of the most obdurate and hard-to-beat sides in the top-flight.

    A “soft” team does not possess the most miserly defence in the league – 23 conceded – the best goal difference (+48), hold the second-lowest record in defeats (four), nor do a team of “bottlers” go on a run of nine straight victories at this stage of the season.

    No other team has been capable of sustaining any pressure on Chelsea since mid-December, creating anything resembling a title race. Without them, it’s been a procession.

    As good as they’ve been once again, Tottenham were relying on Chelsea to slip up spectacularly, a hope that was diminishing each week as the Blues’ remaining fixtures became increasingly more palatable. But, in truth, that burst of victories raised expectations beyond the realistic as Chelsea were all-but home and hosed a long time ago. However, in falling short – assuming Chelsea don’t now lose to Middlesbrough tomorrow or West Brom on Friday – Spurs haven’t displayed a lack of character or pre-ordained weakness of spirit, more a tangible lack of resources.

    In a mini-league among the ‘Big Six’ – apologies to Everton – Tottenham share the joint-best defensive record having conceded just nine goals in nine games.

    Only United share that same figure and just like the Red Devils, this term’s failings are obvious – in eight games against the top six, United have scored just six goals – maybe Tottenham’s are of a similar nature, albeit not as severe.

    Harry Kane and Dele Alli have enjoyed fantastic goalscoring seasons, with 38 in the league between them. But while Alli boasts an impressive record of five in eight against the best, Kane’s two in nine were both against Arsenal as he went goalless against Chelsea, Man City, United and Liverpool.

    Kane is a generational striker and what they would label in Americam sports, a “franchise player”. He holds the identity and future of the club, but needs assistance.

    As much as the “soft” tag used to fit Spurs, so did their position as the graveyard of strikers: Roberto Soldado, Darren Bent, Serhiy Rebrov, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Helder Postiga just some of the established names who passed through the Lane making little to no impact.

    Vincent Janssen was signed to be that No2 to Kane but the Dutchman is a work in progress, and one Pochettino should not abandon. Son Heung-min has performed admirably in the role as an auxiliary striker but of his 12 league strikes only two have been against top-half sides: Southampton and City.

    The injury to Erik Lamela has also been ignored by Spurs detractors as the Argentine hasn’t played since October 25. Provider of nine league assists last term, as a result, Christian Eriksen has carried the creative load and performed with distinction but on occasions, like at the London Stadium on Friday night, when the Dane’s vision is clouded, Lamela is exactly the sort of player to produce the unorthodox to unlock a dedicated defence.

    Their depth was also exposed during the early season fixture flurry when in a run of 10 matches across three different competitions between October 15 and November 26, Tottenham took just seven points from a possible 18.

    Spurs have the sixth-highest wage bill and net transfer spend in the league – they are overachieving just getting into the top four, let alone challenging. But unlike last season where their mentality was rightfully questioned in light of the messy meltdown at Stamford Bridge, their defensive record is reason alone to suggest that soft underbelly is no more.

    It’s become a numbers game and a matter of squad management but if Pochettino can hold onto his core – and, with the exception of Kyle Walker, there’s nothing to suggest they’ll lose any players of significance this summer – while making some canny additions in the final third, Spurs will contend once again next season. That doesn’t seem so soft.

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