Playing for 90
Fansided

5 things Tottenham learned by dominating Manchester City

By Rucker Haringey

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 02: Kyle Walker of Tottenham Hotspur (C) and Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur (R) embrace after the final whistle during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at White Hart Lane on October 2, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 02: Kyle Walker of Tottenham Hotspur (C) and Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur (R) embrace after the final whistle during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at White Hart Lane on October 2, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images) /
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LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 02: Fernandinho of Manchester City (L) is fouled by Victor Wanyama of Tottenham Hotspur (R) during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at White Hart Lane on October 2, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 02: Fernandinho of Manchester City (L) is fouled by Victor Wanyama of Tottenham Hotspur (R) during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City at White Hart Lane on October 2, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images) /

5. Tottenham have a Plan B

Many Tottenham fans have been critical of Pochettino’s lack of a Plan B during his two-plus years in charge of the club. The Argentine manager emphatically silenced those critics today.

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Firstly, he went away from his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation to begin the match to get his most talented 11 players on the pitch. That meant deploying Victor Wanyama as a single defensive midfielder.

It was a bold move by the Spurs manager. Manchester City have world-class attackers all over the pitch, yet Tottenham chose to start less defensive midfielders than normal. That’s certainly a counterintuitive philosophy.

Wanyama responded to his manager’s decision by playing his best match as a Spur. He also got significant defensive contributions from both Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen playing just in front of the Kenyan destroyer.

Pochettino made a subtle, but significant shift in formation, and it paid off big time for Spurs.

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