Premier League 2016-17 season grades: Tottenham
By Adam Stocker
Tottenham finished second in the Premier League in 2016-17, but what grade do they get for their overall performance?
Tottenham entered their final season at White Hart Lane with high expectations, but fell seven points back of Chelsea for the Premier League title. Spurs did, however, finish ahead of north London rivals Arsenal for the first time in 22 years, and it’s a measure of the progress they’ve made under Mauricio Pochettino that that achievement wasn’t enough by itself to constitute a successful season.
Tottenham had the best goal difference (+60) in the Premier League this season, scoring the most goals (86) and conceding the fewest (26). Their goal total was slightly inflated by two dead rubber blowouts to end the season (6-1 against Leicester and 7-1 against Hull), but there was nothing artificial about the quality of the defense.
The back four of Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen — which occasionally switched to a back three, with Eric Dier joining Alderweireld and Vertonghen — were excellent in front of keeper Hugo Lloris, who remains one of the league’s best keepers. Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies, meanwhile, both proved able backups in the full-back positions, which will certainly help if Walker leaves the club in the summer, as has been rumored.
Harry Kane continues to get better and led the league with 29 goals (though seven of them were scored in those end-of-season matches against Leicester and Hull). Kane missed a couple of months with injury, but his absence was hardly felt as Heung-min Son had a breakout season with the club.
The manager
The biggest criticism of Pochettino was his approach to European competition. Tottenham were eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League after losing to a mediocre Bayer Leverkusen side that finished 12th in the Bundesliga. In the Europa League, Spurs faced Gent in the round of 32 and lost after failing to overturn a first-leg deficit at home (well, technically Wembley).
In the Premier League, however, Pochettino was excellent. Spurs started the season with a 12-match unbeaten streak — though four consecutive draws limited them to only 24 of a possible 36 points from those matches — and were the only team to come close to Chelsea in the title race.
In another year, one in which the champions didn’t finish on a whopping 93 points, Tottenham could very well have won the league. Still, there was a ton to like about Pochettino’s management of what is still a very young side.
His willingness to switch between a back three and a back four, sometimes in the same match, gave his team a versatility others struggled to live with, while the continued development of Kane, Son, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen owes much to the Argentinian. He may not be at White Hart Lane forever, but he’s taken Spurs to a level the club haven’t seen for decades.
The players
Spurs made two big signings before the season, Moussa Sissoko and Vincent Janssen. Both struggled. Tottenham overpaid for Sissoko after he had a strong showing with France at the Euro 2016. Newcastle somehow managed to get more than $30 million for Sissoko, who never really found a place in Pochettino’s system. It’s likely the Frenchman will be gone this summer, and probably for a significant loss.
Janssen was signed a backup for Kane after after scoring 27 goals for AZ Alkmaar the previous season, but he failed to take his opportunities. The Dutch striker scored only two goals in 27 Premier League games, and Son has now firmly established himself as Pochettino’s best option up front when Kane is unavailable. The good news is Janssen turns 23 this summer, so he could still turn things around.
Speaking of Son, he was terrific, scoring 14 goals and adding nine assists. Tottenham’s marquee attacking players — Kane, Alli and Eriksen — were all, predictably, excellent, but Son’s emergence added another, slightly more direct dimension to the front four. As long the club can hold on to those players, who are all 25 or younger, their attack will be one of the best in the country.