Tottenham offer glimpse into new era under Mauricio Pochettino as Spurs boss nails tactics

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Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP23 October 2019

If Tottenham really are heading into a new chapter under Mauricio Pochettino, Tuesday’s victory might one day be remembered as the prologue.

Spurs thrashed the visitors without Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose or Christian Eriksen and with a wealth of young talent on the pitch in Juan Foyth, Davinson Sanchez, Giovani Lo Celso, Tanguy Ndombele and Dele Alli.

It was both a tantalising glimpse of a possible future and a reminder of a happier past, as Pochettino’s side began to resemble their old selves in a performance full of pressing, verve and attacking intent — albeit against woeful opposition.

Alderweireld and Eriksen are both out of contract in the summer, while Spurs have long wanted to move on Rose, who has come to embody the sense of fatigue in the relationship between the club and certain senior players.

It was no coincidence that Tuesday’s display felt fresher and more buoyant than most of this season, suggesting Pochettino should consider being more ruthless with the players who have no future at the club.

The obvious caveat was the quality of Red Star, who offered next to no resistance barring a brief first-half spell. Spurs could have matched the haul of their Under-19s, who scored nine against the Serbians in the Uefa Youth League earlier in the day.

The win kick-starts Tottenham’s Champions League campaign and leaves them second in Group B, a point ahead of Red Star going into the rematch in Belgrade on November 6.

With Liverpool lying in wait on Sunday it may yet prove two steps forward and one back but the first green shoots of change were clearly visible, with summer signing Lo Celso returning as a late substitute and a first appearance of the season for Foyth.

Alli started for the second time in four days, Ndombele offered another reminder of his quality — finishing with two assists — while Heung-min Son, Erik Lamela and the peerless Harry Kane were vibrant and clinical.

The big question is whether Pochettino has the energy and appetite to usher in a new chapter, having come so close to a glorious epilogue in this competition in June, but he insisted the win was another small step towards his side’s recovery.

“Not great but good,” the manager said of the performance. “We start to see that it’s only time that we need to recover our best feelings. We need to build that confidence, of course, we need to go step by step, being solid again and this is only the first step, like the second half at Watford, to build again our confidence and try to perform in the way that we and everyone expects.”

Spurs offered tantalising glimpse of a possible future under Pochettino
Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images

It was a fine night for the Spurs manager, with all his tactical and selection decisions fully vindicated. Having got it so badly wrong in the

1-1 draw with Watford, Pochettino promised a return to Tottenham’s “principles” and, sure enough, he prioritised energy and pace in his XI and reverted to a familiar 4-2-3-1 formation. The result was two goals apiece for Kane and Son and one for Lamela, who also finished with two assists on his 200th Spurs appearance.

Kane, however, was the real star with another of those performances where he looked so much more than a centre-forward, combining the No9 and No10 roles in a devastating blend of finishing, sumptuous passing and hold-up play. He now has 18 goals in 22 Champions League appearances.

As much as anything, his desire to play in this competition is a reason why Spurs need to prove a turning point in their season.

There have already been false dawns in the home wins over Crystal Palace and Southampton, however, so time will tell if a refreshing display was truly the start of something new or simply another note in the drawn out epitaph of this Pochettino team.

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