From Bayer to Bournemouth to Bayer

By half time against the little south coast team that has defied the odds and established itself as a premier league time, there was no goals.  In Bournemouth and Bayer Leverkusen (who Spurs drew 0-0 in a Champions League game on Wednesday) this is match up against teams who share Mauricio Pochettino's dedication to team fitness and the high press game.

The good news is that unlike the old Wimbledon long-ball game or the defensive stalemate strategy of a Tony Pulis team, two high press teams even at 0-0 are usually entertaining games. It is not ideal for Spurs to meet Bournemouth between an away and home (at Wembley Stadium) games against Bayer.  Bayer Leverkusen in addition has the german sensibility of efficient and driven football.  If anything Leverkusen on Wednesday showed greater fitness than Tottenham (which is quite something considering Spurs fitness regiment), but they also showed practice of winning back balls within 8 seconds of losing it, was amply demonstrated.

Today on this sunny Saturday at Dean Court (for sponsorship purposes it is called the Vitality Stadium), Spurs played their usual skillful passing game and continued to show their frustrating tendency to fail being clinical with their chances or deliver those telling final balls.  Too often their industry comes short where it counts most, outwitting the final line of defense.  That they have a world class goalkeeper in Hugo Lloris means that they do get bailed out at times, and today Lloris stretched out his leg from a shot from the six yard penalty box and made another great stop, totally instinctive but not at all a lucky break.

In some ways Bournemouth is the poor man's Tottenham - whereas Tottenham can spend millions on players, Bournemouth must buy or get loan players very smartly.  Their stadium capacity is still less than 12,000 and when compared to Spurs 36,000 seat stadium, Tottenham was considered to be one of the smaller grounds - and Spurs are building a 61,000 seater stadium in the same space that their present ground exists.  On Wednesday when Bayer Leverkusen come to Wembley, this will be a test of how Spurs cope with playing games at the national stadium, as construction work rules out Champions League games at White Hart Lane.

Next year Spurs will also be playing all their Premier League games at Wembley Stadium.  The problem is that Spurs pressing game is formed on a pitch size that is one of the smallest in the league, even if their crowd capacity is 3 times that of Bournemouth.  The Spurs manager suggests that Wembley should favour his high press game, but so far it seems Spurs prefer the smaller pitch size to the energy sapping Wembley pitch.   That they have to play their having already played Bayer in Germany, and then an energy sapping contest at Bournemouth, there is fears that Bayer's game will be more suited to the larger Wembley pitch, as well as the inspiration it provides players who may not get a chance to experience playing at Wembley, a stadium with such history and meaning to players worldwide.  Spurs only loss in all competitive matches this year was at Wembley Stadium, when Monaco won 2-0 and silenced over 85,000 Spurs fans.

The fear today against Bournemouth was the potential of a red card especially for Spurs, because both sides do not shirk heavy tackles.  When Lamela got his card early, most Spurs fans would have wanted Sissoko to replace Lamela.   It was strange that Heung-min Son started the game even though he has scored some key goals because Spurs needed a couple of physical players to keep the Bournemouth defense on edge.  Janssen finally came onto the field at the 70 minute mark, when perhaps Son's ability would have introduced new problems for Bournemouth, especially since Vincent Janssen is a highly physical center-forward, and Bournemouth is the kind of team that could provide that all important first goal of his new Tottenham career.

More fears took hold when Pochettino took off Deli Alli instead of Erik Lamela for the Janssen subsitution - Janssen needs the link-up play that Alli provides because Lamela tends to be a far more selfish player trying too often to go for personal glory instead of what is good for the team.  It was Lamela who a few weeks ago, grabbed the ball from Son (the designated striker for that game) to try to get a goal from a penalty award and promptly missed horribly.  Just like the Bayer Leverkusen game in mid-week, while Spurs controlled the midfield and held a solid line in defense, they were not effective at getting their left back and right back acting as wingers.  Both Rose and Walker could not impose their usual turn of speed, which meant that the Spurs counter-attack game was largely on pause.

At the start of the game, I had already had pegged this game to be another 0-0.  If Lamela was a red card danger, the mindless elbow that Sissoko dished out on the touchline was fortunately missed by both the linesman and the referee.  Sissoko will most likely receive retroactive punishment when the league watch the video playback - and Bournemouth fans should feel aggrieved that the red card was not shown even after an extensive referee deliberation with his fellow match official.  Harry Arter of Bournemouth could only voice his frustration at the elbow.

When it comes to Premier League title aspirations, it is taking points against teams that were on the day against tough opposition which is a key indicator.  Not many teams win the League Title on quality of team alone, along the way some points are won when they were not deserved. Today a Spurs win would not be considered deserved and they will feel happy with a 0-0 draw. 

What they cannot afford is playing out another 0-0 against Bayer, especially since they must travel to Monaco and so a win against the Germans is imperative, as it will be decisive in terms of qualification to the knock out phase of the Champions League.   Yes, they do need Harry Kane back, but they also need to be far more mature with their finishing and final balls.  Even in the last minutes Bournemouth players were far more aggressive looking for the win, and fortunately for Tottenham, the slick passing play of Bournemouth did not reward this last minute industry deserved, especially with Spurs totally on the back-foot in the closing minutes.  Overall, both teams will be happy with the draw and sharing the points from what was an enjoyable game to watch.  It also moves Bournemouth temporarily to 9th in the league - and that is an incredible position for a club like Bournemouth who play in a ground that is suitable for lower divisions.

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