Tottenham grind out important victory against Brighton: 3 takeaways
By Aman Sridhar
Tottenham would have wanted to bounce back after their disappointing loss in Milan. They managed to do just that against Brighton.
Mauricio Pochettino would have motivated his troops to take the game to the hosts and dominate. Tottenham just about managed to do that. They got the win, but there’s a lot to improve from Spurs’ game. Here are three key points from the match.
Spurs got lucky, but that’s exactly what they needed
In fixtures such as this that for the most part are attack vs. defense, we tend to see the team probing get a bit of luck that leads to a favorable result.
That’s exactly what Spurs got with the penalty. And how vital it was that they did. The handball against Murray was spot on, but it was the free kick prior to the penalty that was slightly dubious.
When presented the chance, however, Harry Kane gobbled it up with aplomb as we’re used to seeing him do.
Maybe this will prove to be the break both him and side need.
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Tottenham have been poor in the last few weeks, yes, but they have shown glimpses of their quality throughout. Unusual mistakes from key players have led to results going against them, and Pochettino has created a siege mentality within the side.
Against Brighton, Spurs were nowhere near their fluent best. Too often the play was being broken down when it didn’t need to, and the fault of their own players, and once again many of Spurs’ most consistent players were off the pace.
A result like this was exactly what they needed. A lucky win to arrest the backward momentum, and a chance to rebuild strong and fast back in front of the home faithful next week.
Brighton can be a lot more adventurous
If the match against United showed the Premier League two things it this: Brighton are here to stay, and United had work to do.
In many ways, the fixture against Tottenham should have been a similar test for Brighton. This is a Spurs side that showed up ailing and flailing; hurt, yet dangerous. And yet, Spurs showed the same cracks they had shown against Inter Milan, Liverpool and Watford.
Tottenham could have been got at.
And yet in the first half, Brighton were passive and defensive. They showed too much respect to a Spurs team that didn’t necessarily command it. Spurs were dominant in possession yet, but because Brighton allowed them to.
Chris Hughton left all his quality on the bench and set his team up in the predictable 4-5-1, and it showed. Glenn Murray doesn’t have the legs to spread a defense on his own, and too rarely did his midfield join him up top.
Brighton have a deep enough squad that will have all of their most immediate rivals look over at them enviously. In Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Hughton has a talented and untested quality player. Additionally, Hughton has Yves Bissouma, Pascal Gross and Jose Izquierdo – who finished last season very strongly – to add flair and fire to his side’s attack.
In a game like this, it is vital to get the Amex Stadium stronghold on their back, and being adventurous and slightly risky can prove to be fruitful.
Tottenham’s World Cup participants need a break but have to push through
It’s unfortunate that Belgian and England players who went deep into the World Cup barely had a second to savor their achievements.
It’s even more unfortunate that most of those players came from Tottenham. Modern footballers maintain peak condition in order to push their bodies to superhuman levels. But it’s the mental strain that’s really starting to show on this Tottenham team.
The mistakes that have plagued Tottenham over the last month followed them to the south coast today, but what’s jarring about these mistakes is that they’re not training ground errors i.e. these aren’t simple and unforeseeable lapses of concentration that players can experience from time to time.
These are steady, sustained, yet simple mistakes that top players like Eric Dier, Jan Verthongen and Mousa Dembele are making consistently.
What was wonderful about this Tottenham team was the slick passing; the quick one-touch passing in between the lines that more often than not would lead to a beautifully crafted team goal. This ruthless play is now missing from their play.
Players like Lucas Moura (who didn’t feature in the World Cup), Heung-min Son, Erik Lamela (who got the winner) and Christian Eriksen show glimpses of this play and look a good deal sharper than their teammates.
Unfortunately for Spurs, the spine of the team is suffering from barely having time off in the summer and have to really pull their socks up if they’re going to want to be competitive this year.
Games are going to be coming thick and fast, and Spurs will have to show their mettle if they don’t want to be left behind.