The most unique aspect of Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur side is the way he uses his central midfielders.
Like most players in those positions, they get through plenty of running — at Manchester United yesterday, Rodrigo Bentancur covered 12.3km (7.6 miles), the most of any player in the game. Oliver Skipp also played a very energetic role, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg sitting deeper than those two.
The nature of their running, though, is very unusual. More than any other side you’ll see, Tottenham’s central midfielders are charged with making decoy runs to create space for team-mates.
That was always likely to be a major feature of what ended as a 2-2 draw with United, whose midfielders often appear to be playing man-to-man. As Kobbie Mainoo and Christian Eriksen stuck tightly to Skipp and Bentancur, space opened up for others in white shirts to exploit.
Here’s the first example, eight minutes in.
Tottenham’s full-back pairing of Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie have constantly popped up in central positions this season, largely because the players we’re accustomed to seeing in that zone are so willing to vacate it. Here, right-back Porro receives the ball in a narrow position. Bentancur is initially ahead of him, and then makes a run into the channel to take Mainoo away. Space opens up, and Porro can dribble on into the No 10 position.
Here’s a more overt example.
Cristian Romero is bringing the ball forward from the back. Bentancur is briefly at right-back, so has dragged Eriksen way out of the midfield zone. And then Skipp, noticing that Udogie has moved inside from left-back, makes a 25-yard lateral run from central midfield to the left. Mainoo follows him before eventually holding his ground, but his marking job has opened up space for Richarlison to drop into, and there’s a huge passing lane from Romero to the Brazilian striker.
On this occasion, though, Romero passes elsewhere.
Playing the ball into Richarlison after space opened up in midfield was a major part of Tottenham’s approach.
This next example is slightly different because it’s Porro who finds himself as the central midfielder, being closely marked by Eriksen. He makes a run into the channel, and Eriksen follows him all the way. This time, Romero does pass forward to Richarlison, and his first-time ball around the corner nearly finds Porro running in behind.
It’s a good job Eriksen follows him all the way because his interception is crucial.
Tottenham’s central midfielders also make sudden sprints towards the ball when they’re playing out from the back.
This isn’t technically a decoy run, as Bentancur did receive the ball from goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario before playing it out to Romero, but look how much space the Bentancur created by dragging Eriksen out of the game.
The most crucial bursts, however, were Skipp’s decoy runs to create goalscoring chances.
Here, midway through the first half, debutant Timo Werner is in possession on the left. We know what Werner wants to do here — cut inside and shoot. But three United players are occupying the rough zone he wants to charge into. So Skipp’s run is crucial: he motors forward beyond Werner to take Mainoo away, and also distract Jonny Evans. Werner can now cut past Diogo Dalot into space and, although his eventual shot is wayward, this wasn’t a bad situation.
Something similar happened for Tottenham’s second equaliser.
After Romero breaks the lines with a good ball into Skipp, the midfielder’s pass to Werner is poor, forcing him wide. But again, Skipp makes a decoy run to open up space. And again, Mainoo follows his run, which leaves the zone on the edge of the box empty. Bentancur, Spurs’ other central midfielder, is the man to benefit.
Bentancur spots the space, points to it, and receives a simple pass from Werner in behind Mainoo, before slamming a shot into the net.
The hard-working Skipp sometimes offers little other than lots of running….
This article was originally published by a theathletic.com . Read the Original article here. .