‘Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles’, this famous quote from Sir Alex Ferguson is a proven truth. Playing attractive football and scoring a lot of goals will not guarantee you titles if you have a shaky backline. But, if you have a solid defence that can protect even a 1-0 lead each and every week, you will definitely walk away with the League. Spurs are a team who were struggling to get into top four for a long time but last season, they made a drastic improvement and were in the title race almost until the 36th
Spurs are a team who were struggling to get into top four for a long time but last season, they made a drastic improvement and were in the title race almost until the 36th game week. What magic did Pochettino do that summer? The answer was the signing of Toby Alderweireld from Atletico Madrid. Pochettino played a masterstroke by bringing the Belgian in order to bolster his defence.
Alderweireld’s move to Spurs last summer reunited him with his compatriot Jan Vertonghen at White Hart Lane. The duo shared a brilliant understanding between them from their time together at Ajax and at the international setup which only improved and improved over the course the last season and Spurs now are the best team defensively in the League without any shadow of a doubt.
Last season, Spurs conceded the joint least number of goals (35) in the League along with Manchester United which could have been much impressive if not for a 5-1 humiliation by already-relegated Newcastle on the closing day of the season. With only four goals conceded from nine games this term, Spurs are now by far the team with the best defence in the League.
In the Belgian duo, Spurs boast having the best defensive pair in the Premier League but they are over-reliant on the duo which could cost them big time this season. Spurs played young Cameron Carter-Vickers and Kevin Wimmer at centre-back against Liverpool on Tuesday in their League Cup loss and it was evident that both were lacking the confidence and Spurs failed to keep away Liverpool from cutting their defence open and eventually lose the game.
No matter how good your team is, there needs to be competition for each and every position in the team. Otherwise, if any of the regular starters go down with injuries, it would be a massive problem. At 23, Wimmer is not a young prospect anymore. He needs to play, at least once in three games or else he won’t be at the same level as the rest.
Look at any side who are contending in the Champions League! At least four central defenders is a necessity for a team who are playing so many games throughout the campaign but Spurs have just three if we consider Dier as a midfielder. But, Spurs can neither give Wimmer much time on the pitch nor they can bring in another quality defender. That’s because of the fact that any player who joins will know that he won’t get any gametime with the duo of Alderweireld and Vertonghen ahead of them.
The defensive pair of Spurs is brilliant but the over-reliance on them could turn out to be costly for the North London side in the long run.
