Spurs came from two goals behind at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday to snatch a point from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Saturday evening. A goal from Dele Alli and a crucial leveller from Hueng-min Son cancelled out two Hugo Lloris shockers in the Spurs goal. Here are three things we learned as a points were shared in Manchester.
1) The back three won’t work against everybody
We have seen Mauricio Pochettino set up his Tottenham team in a 3-5-2, 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-3, whichever way to want to look at it, at different points throughout this season.
Spurs first played with a three at the back against Arsenal, and it was a success as the Lilywhites battled away for a 1-1 draw at the Emirates, to bring to an end a horrible run of form, despite being beaten just once in that run prior to the North London derby.
Pochettino decided to play a back three against Hull in a 3-0 win, and has stuck with this system ever since. However, we did learn that despite conquering Chelsea at White Hart Lane at the start of the year, the three at the back formation will not work against absolutely everybody.
Having three at the back means having one less in the midfield if you take into the account the wing-back not really being involved in a midfield battle, more a battle down the wings. Despite the best efforts of Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele, Manchester City bossed the first twenty minutes, and that was mainly down to the fact that they were winning the midfield battle, and as a result, overloading the Spurs defence.
