Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
Subscribe Now  
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

Three things Pochettino must do to avert the crisis at Tottenham

In this article, we take a look at what Mauricio Pochettino must do to avert the crisis at Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino

Bengaluru, October 3: Tottenham faced their worst ever defeat under the management of Mauricio Pochettino and one of the heaviest defeats in their history when Bayern Munich humiliated them 2-7 at their own stadium on matchday two of the Champions League group stage.

This was certainly an off-day for the north London club but their inconsistency so far this season will surely worry the manager and the top brass of the club. Many expected Spurs to finally rise up as the third major force in England and compete with Manchester City and Liverpool but things don't look promising by any means.

Yes, Spurs certainly do have a lot of quality in their squad and are surely a level above their rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United overall but the league table after seven games is not reflecting that at all.

The Spurs boss needs to fix his team's slide soon to avert a full-blown crisis after their 7-2 thrashing by Bayern Munich on Tuesday (October 1) which could lead to a worse situation.

Here are three things he needs to do in order to bring the club back to their best:

Be more prolific

Spurs have been quite wasteful this season in front of the goal. Against Bayern, they could have beaten the German giants comfortably by the half-time whistle but could not take most of their chances.

In fact by the full time, they had attempted shots on Neuer's goal as many as 15 times, and eight of them engaged the Germany No 1 in some way. They were not speculative, wayward potshots, but decent, real chances.

The Lilywhites must improve their finishing in order to up themselves from a quality and progressing team to a proper elite team, a status they should have reached this season after their Champions League run last season.

Buckle up defensively

Spurs have had garnered a reputation of being quite solid defensively as a unit over the last few years. We are not judging them by just the seven goals they conceded against Bayern but they have been quite below par defensively this campaign.

The full-back positions are both a big worry and even the much tried and tested partnership of Vertonghen and Alderweireld is also not working the way it used to. Pochettino must find a way to solve the defensive issues at the club. Three at the back which Poch also uses a lot may well be a solution to this.

Bring Son back to the left flank

Heung Min Son had the best season in his career last campaign scoring a total of 20 goals and providing 10 assists in all competitions. This season, he already has 3 goals and 3 assists in eight games which is not really poor but his overall game has changed a lot now that he is playing in a two-man attack alongside Harry Kane.

Son looks much assured and dangerous on the left flank and it also helps Harry Kane to move more freely as a the solitary number nine. Son should be reverted back to his natural wide forward role in order to get back to his usual best.

Story first published: Thursday, October 3, 2019, 12:19 [IST]
Other articles published on Oct 3, 2019