Tottenham tactics: How Victor Wanyama might change Spurs

Victor Wanyama isn’t coming to Tottenham to sit on the bench

Tottenham are closing in on their first signing of the summer in the form of Southampton midfield destroyer. While some Spurs fans might think of Wanyama as simply cover for the defensive midfield, it’s entirely possible that his arrival might signal a tactical shift by manager Mauricio Pochettino.

As Wanyama says goodbye to his fans at Southampton, my focus has quickly shifted to what his role at Tottenham will be. Skeptical Spurs fans might think that Wanyama is just being brought in to provide cover for the starting 11.

After all, his rumored purchase price of 11 million pounds is roughly what’d you’d expect to pay for a solid back-up in today’s transfer market. That doesn’t take into account what the player would’ve needed to hear from Pochettino to approve the deal. I just can’t see a player of Wanyama’s caliber and level of pride, accepting a move to Tottenham just for the chance to back up Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele.

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Clearly, Tottenham’s qualification for Champions League football played into the Kenyan’s decision. I just don’t think that in and of itself would have been enough to tempt him to make the switch. I believe it’s much more likely that Pochettino talked to him about considerably more than just playing as a reserve.

The most straight forward possibility we have to explore is whether or not Wanyama can over take either Dembele or Dier for one of the defensive midfield spots. The chances of him taking Dembele’s spot int he starting 11 are pretty slim.

He was Tottenham’s highest rated player per Whoscored.com last season and Spurs struggled mightily when he wasn’t on the pitch. It’s hard to imagine him not being a regular member of the starting 11 when fit.

Dier didn’t perform at the same level that Dembele achieved last year, but he was pretty good for the club as well. He also figures to have significant career growth ahead of him due to his age (22) and the fact that last year was his first campaign playing in the defensive midfield. HIs quality performances for England thus far in Euro 2016 also portend him playing even better next year than he did during the 2015-16 Premier League season.

Wanyama is an excellent defensive midfielder, but he isn’t likely to push either Dier or Dembele out of the starting 11. Given that fact, it’s entirely possible that Pochettino has a bit of a tactical shift in mind for the club next season.

There are two shifts that Pochettino could employ to take advantage of Wanyama. Neither would be used all the time, but could be valuable changes of pace for the club during certain opponents.

The first, and pretty straight forward, change would be to push Dembele up into the attacking midfield. Remember, Dembele started seven matches for Pochettino in the attacking midfield last year. Such a move isn’t without precedent.

Pushing Dembele forward also takes the pressure off Tottenham to add another attacking midfielder this window. A rotation of Dembele, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Dele Alli in the attacking midfield trio would give Pochettino plenty of options. Spurs could sell off Nacer Chadli who is clearly surplus to requirements at this point.

Shifting Dembele forward would make Tottenham’s high press even more devastating. One of the Belgian’s greatest strengths is winning the ball back and keeping hold of possession. He would give Spurs an even more significant time of possession advantage over their opponents next year.