Tottenham took Watford to the cleaners, hitting four past a depleted Hornets’ backline. Dele Alli opened the scoring for Tottenham as he put his leg through the ball from outside the box to put it past Gomes after Janssen missed two great opportunities. Dier doubled the lead with a good shot from outside the box before Son added another two, one in each half to kill any chance of a Watford comeback. It could have easily been a 6-0, 7-0 win had they taken all their chances. Watford fans will be sorely disappointed with the result having faced the same brunt the last few times they visited the Lane. Below is the tactical analysis of Tottenham’s win over Watford:
1st Half:
Watford started quite brightly, making Tottenham work hard with their physical game. They got some really decent balls into the box which Alderweireld and Vertonghen did really well to defend. O’Kaka troubled the Tottenham defenders quite frequently during the first few minutes and so did Isaac Success who faded miserably as the game progressed.
Trippier got in two really good crosses which Vincent Janssen failed to capitalise on. Tottenham’s change in gears was perceptible after the initial Watford onslaught. Dele Alli finally got the breakthrough with an excellent shot from distance in the 33rd minute. Eric Dier doubled the lead for Watford in the 39th minute while Heung-Min Son added another one just before the half-time. Dier’s goal was from just inside while the other two were scored outside the box. The fourth one by Heung-Min Son was again scored from inside the box in the second half.
2nd Half:
It seemed that Walter Mazzarri just wanted to get it over with after the dismal first half performance. Tottenham continued to put pressure as Son got another one in the 59th minute. The South Korean was unlucky not to get his hat-trick after fluffing a great opportunity inside the box and hitting the crossbar once. Harry Kane hit the crossbar in the dying seconds of the game from a free kick. There wasn’t much to be seen from Watford’s point of view.
Remarkably influential Trippier:
Trippier was in an excellent mood putting in two marvellous crosses in a couple of time in the first half, both of which Janssen failed to score. The 26-year-old continued to pile pressure on the full-back and the centre-backs. Adrian Mariappa and Craig Cathcart didn’t do enough to aerially intercept the crosses and were lucky Tottenham failed to make the most of their chances. The graphic above represents just how influential the right-back has been often deputising for Walker.
Watford’s defensive woes:
Watford defensively failed to contain Tottenham’s attacking midfield. Jose Holebas failed to keep Trippier quiet who ran havoc through the right for Tottenham while the centre-backs couldn’t cope with the continuous positional interchange from Tottenham. The three shots from distance suggest that they didn’t do enough to block Tottenham from attempting shots while the midfield too struggled against Tottenham’s which let the North London dominate throughout the game after the initial 25 minutes.
