LONDON — A past present, Ange Postecoglu, may make a negative mistake in those parts, but even one of Tottenham’s most bought-in supporters would no doubt have raised a questioning look in James Maddison’s eye by departing mid-attack in which his side was visual. sufficient amount of ball, but suffering to cross it.
Surely, those are the times when you want them to put the ball on a Deny.10 postage stamp to use the safe puck, peeling back the layers of protection, every attacking outlet covered in your fingerprints. Not this age anymore. The verdict to withdraw Maddison and introduce Pape Matar Sarr used to be a masterstroke by Ange Postecoglu. Spurs had the same amount of ball, but at this age it moved through West Ham at twice the speed. The result was to show what had been a good duel stagnated at 1-1 on the right side to a 4-1 Spurs victory.
In the space of 8 minutes, this game went from a fiercely contested grudge match to a rout, the kind that not only repairs all the momentum Julen Lopetegui used to have before West Ham’s win over Ipswich, but also provides a lots more. about his supremacy. There are profound questions for those above the Hammers boss to consider, not least how David Moyes’s solid defensive structure evolved, creaking even though it had been in its final years and was gone.
For the Spurs, there are less pressing, but more mischievous, issues to address. Which lets us know that they become much more threatening as an attack warning after Maddison’s attack? The England international has most likely rarely lost color this season. Entering this weekend’s round of play, he had two goals and two assists for his title, and he added to the final tally with a cross for Dejan Kulusevski’s equalizer midway through the first half. His 2.97 expected assists (xA) are the third-best mark in the league.
Given these statistics, it’s no surprise that there are moments when the Spurs feel modestly codified by Maddison. For much of the first half on Saturday, they gave in to the temptation of giving the ball to their most talented playmaker and letting him cook dinner. That means getting up around the left corner, placing tempting balls against the back post. Get a proper goal and it will be a goal on a plate for Dominic Solanke or Brennan Johnson. In fact, only an impressive cleared header from Lucas Paqueta prevented the shot from being a possible goal. Once again, those crosses are handled more frequently than ever, even through a defense as haphazard as West Ham’s.
That may be the problem with Maddison. On their good days, Spurs have hosted two of the five games so far this season with the best individual xA recorded by a player. But if those higher-value opportunities don’t come out of Maddison’s boot, the signs are that there are only so many alternative avenues for higher-value openings. Through seven games, Spurs had had a remarkable four non-penalty shots over 0.5 xG. They were of no importance in what can be considered a detailed bread-and-butter field of possibilities between 0.2 and 0.24 xG. Don’t confuse them with anything other than an excellent offense. However, to become a splendid one, it would help if there were more between the mountain of low-volume opportunities and the high-level vacancies that will inevitably become more frequent.
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It was the same story in the first half, a great opening, created when Spurs’ Deny.10 reduced West Ham’s flying lines to the tape and finished off the exceptional Kulusevski, and not as much as it should have. had been in opposition to this real opponent.
Postecoglu undoubtedly perceived that he had learned the lessons from his team’s draw. West Ham might have looked like a threat if they had put their men ahead (or indeed at any point goalscorer Mohamed Kudus had been given the ball), but they were no threat themselves. Win ownership and there will be additional stretches of land to attack against a back five that looks irresistible and used to be thrown together quickly in the summer. Sarr was usually the person who kept Spurs going, a contrast to Kulusevski who brought selection into the engine room.
“West Ham ask you certain questions in midfield,” said the Tottenham manager. “I felt like Pape’s power would help us in the second half. Obviously they worked hard in the first half just to keep us going, I thought he could give us a little energy. I thought he did really well and that gave us a platform to be really threatening every time we move forward and are clinical in our football.
That advantage used to be obvious when Spurs started using the left flank differently. Instead of making crosses against the back post, they attacked his signature. Three lengths converged on Future Udogie, opening territory for Yves Bissouma to roll in from the edge of the field to position Spurs forward.
It shouldn’t have immediately become a story of West Ham’s downfall, but it did. With and without the ball, they left differentiated territory in their midfield unprotected. First, Heung-Min Son and Kulusevski passed through him, the former forcing a personal objective that both Alphonse Areola and Jean-Clair Todibo will avoid saying is no longer theirs. There were negative doubts about the scorer of the goal, Sarr crossed the West Ham midfield with a cross that hit Son in that place where it is so disastrous. Ney’s defender may actually know what this disastrous advance means, but Todibo’s lack of balance determined the splendid guy, who flashed I’m fed up down the left before riding home in the same position.
As if things could get any worse for West Ham, an apparent palm collision from Kudus on Sarr led to a VAR review and a red card. Or maybe it was because of the frenzy on Micky van de Ven’s face. Either way, Lopetegui could have a hand on the back of his back in his near future in his latest and longest fight for a permanent job with Manchester United’s Erik ten Hag.
For Postecoglu, denying such considerations, rather probabilities. It was obvious that his team could do something quite remarkable with their star Deny.10 in the side. They now have evidence to show that they might be able to act differently without it.
