Alex

Tottenham 1-2 Ipswich Town | Live tactical thread ⚪🔵

The Spurs fanbase seems to be in absolute chaos right now. Lots of Ange in, Ange out. But just how bad was their last defeat?

Time to find out 👀 

For full disclosure: my take coming into this game is that Ipswich are an underrated side, and that Tottenham are a good but flawed one. In fact, when I saw this result, I wasn't necessarily that surprised and didn't think that much of it.

Furthermore, I have been pretty vocal about my broad positivity about the Postecoglou project.

Yes, I think some of the risks they take can backfire, and no I'm not confident they get top four.

However, I think they're on for the UEL and it will take a VERY bad performance in this game to swing my mind away - but this is something I am completely open to.

So, that's the mindset I've had, now it's time to try and remove that and watch this game for the first time with an open view.

Feel free to follow along either here...

Or, over on the other place, where I will post later. 

Yes, if you're fed up of this app but still want to find my content, look no further.

Alternatively, if you are sticking round here, let's begin 👍🏻 

First major chance of the game, and it's an excellent one created by Son + Udogie. 

Udogie receives a switch pass, Son has pulled wide, and they exchange a one two 

Udogie holds this up well, and as the Ipswich block retreats, it opens up the space for Son to cross.

Of course, the byproduct of him receiving the ball is that Ipswich shift forwards to raise their line. Clever of Son to pause, as this action from Ipswich creates space behind 

And Johnson comes very, very close to scoring 

However, I've quickly spotted how Ipswich are nullifying Spurs in build-up, and it's due to this consistent choice under Postecoglou to isolate the CBs

So for example: 
▪️Romero receives a backwards pass, with Spurs keeping Ipswich locked in their own third
▪️Ipswich are quick to press him, which means his only option is Dragusin
▪️Who has to wait for Sarr to drop in to provide support, allowing Ipswich to push forwards 

▪️Sarr plays out wide to Udogie, who again has to pass backwards.

Eventually, we get into this situation, with Sarr switching it to Romero 

Just look at the lack of options for Romero here. Porro is miles ahead of him - by the design of Tottenham's system - basically, his only passing option is back to Dragusin 

Now infairness, Dragusin - who ends up passing back to the GK - has the option of Udogie here, who could bounce it inside to Bentancur.

But even considering this option, all that would achieve is Tottenham beating the first line of Ipswich's press. Ipswich are still well setup. 

It's already a sign that Ipswich are going to be able to use just two forwards to force Romero and Dragusin into limited passing options, and thus, backwards away from Ipswich's goal.

I may look like I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill - honestly, I might be, I'm only 6 minutes in and this is a long tirade - but consider the fact there is only 30 seconds between these two screenshots. 

Spurs have been forced all the way back to their goalkeeper without Ipswich having to exercise *that* much pressure on the ball.

Exact same thing happens a minute later btw 

I'm going to save the sanity of Tottenham fans reading this and not send more screenshots.

But yeah, Ipswich are doing pretty well to cause problems for Spurs in build-up.

Nope never mind I lied - because this is the second time I count Sarr playing a pass to a CB, then wandering forwards into the Ipswich block, taking a passing option AWAY from the back line. 

Once again, Spurs go from a pretty stable situation into, welp where do we go lol 

And Ipswich clearly know what they're doing. Dragusin passes back to Romero and Hutchinson is incredibly quick to get over. 

I put my rants into a video: Kieran McKenna has shown how easy it is to defend against Tottenham, while putting yourself at little risk 

20 minutes in, this is Tottenham's touch map:
👁‍🗨 Notice the lack of touches in central areas?
👁‍🗨 And the concentration of touches just left to the centre circle?

Yah. A sign of a team that's really struggling to break down an opposition block 

Feels like that early chance from Son was the only time so far we've seen Tottenham do damage, or even find access into areas to do damage

But alas, it's time to stop talking about what Spurs are like on the ball, because I've just reached Ipswich's first goal...

Time to analyse ⬇️

Quick bullet points to the lead up:
- Free kick goes long
- Ipswich retain the ball
- Recycle it backwards
- Spurs shift up to press 

- Another long ball forward
- Ipswich retain it (just)
- And go backwards again 

Let's start talking in more detail from here.

Spurs have been shifted around a lot. Their back line is entact, but the midfield is a mess. They essentially have three players marking the same one, Hutchinson.

First priority from this point, should be resetting into shape 

Instead, they actually distort their shape more. Because, the only player who IS covering space in a good position, Kulusevski, jumps forward to put on pressure...and get's dribbled past easily, as his teammates are out of position and haven't joined in this pressure 

From this point, Spurs are in big trouble.

The pass ends up going sideways, but I feel like Ipswich would have been able to bounce this pass off Delap to Hutchinson here, and he could have gone 1v1 with Udogie 

What ends up happening instead is more of a mixture from Spurs of - we need to apply immediate pressure on the ball  - and - no we need to retain our shape. 

Johnson and Kulusevski chasing after it endlessly, while Sarr and Bentancur are just trying to cover space. It's a mess 