Tottenham Hotspur steamrolled past Stoke City in a 4-0 win in what was a rather one-sided encounter on a windy afternoon at the White Hart Lane. Harry Kane bagged another hat-trick, his third in the last nine games and also set up Dele Alli for the fourth goal.
Mark Hughes will be sorely disappointed with his team’s performance and will be worried about the ease with which Tottenham carved them open on numerous occasions. Stoke were lucky not to concede more, with their keeper Lee Grant doing all he could to save the Potters from even more embarrassment.
Tactical Analysis of Tottenham Hotspur’s Utterly Dominating Win Over Stoke City
First Half
Stoke City enjoyed very little possession in the first half and their hesitance to attack the midfielders further played into Tottenham Hotspur’s hands. Tottenham started brightly as Christian Eriksen nutmegged Shawcross and flashed a shot across the face of the goal but there was no one to meet it. It didn’t take long for Tottenham to take the lead as Harry Kane found some space in the box and drilled a low shot into the corner of the goal.
Christian Eriksen’s work in and around the box was excellent as the Danish playmaker’s improvisation caused Ryan Shawcross, Bruno Martins Indi and Erik Pieters a lot of trouble through the right channel. Harry Kane added his second to double the lead with an excellent left-footed volley from the edge of the box after a corner from Christian Eriksen in the 32nd minute.
Kane completed his hat-trick when Eriksen touched the ball to Kane after being awarded a free-kick and Peter Crouch’s wicked deflection wrong-footed Grant. Tottenham Hotspur continued to create chances and were unlucky when Vertonghen’s shot hit the cross-bar and a long range effort from Kane was just over the corner of the frame. Kane then set-up Alli who finished from close range to give Spurs a 4-0 lead before the half time whistle.
Both Stoke City midfielders, Charlie Adam and Glenn Whelan were awarded yellow cards in the first half which made the matters even worse for Stoke City as they weren’t able to stop Tottenham Hotspur from playing through the middle.
Second Half
Tottenham Hotspur took the foot off the gas and understandably lowered their tempo in the second half. Arnautovic made several attempts to make runs down Tottenham’s right but his progress was often impeded by Tottenham defenders. Peter Crouch worked his lungs out to get into good position and win aerial duels but it ultimately accounted for nothing. Stoke City players were quite frustrated with having to chase a game and if it were not for excellent keeping from Grant, Tottenham would easily have netted another two.
It’s worrying for Pochettino that both Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld were substituted off with precautionary measures after both went down in anguish.
Tottenham taking chances from distance:
Tottenham Hotspur had scored just one goal from outside the box up until this game and it seemed as if they were urged particularly to try their luck from distance. Kyle Walker, Harry Kane let fly a few chances and were quite accurate in their attempts. The above graphic shows how Tottenham tried their luck from outside the box and also shows how they never hesitated to put their foot through the ball whenever given an inch of space in the box. They attempted an astonishing 21 shots on Stoke’s goal throughout the course of the game.
Stoke City’s tactics backfired
Any team that has played Tottenham Hotspur this season knows that to sit back and defend is a kamikaze move. Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City have done really this well to limit Tottenham players’ time on the ball. It wasn’t really surprising that Tottenham would thrive whenever given space through the middle and with so few players attempting to close them down, Mark Hughes seemed to have come only for a point and his tactics to absorb pressure backfired as Tottenham’s onslaught proved just too much for the Potters to handle.
