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.