Tottenham a mixture of pressing and power, energy and enthusiasm, dynamism and drive

Kyle high club: Walker looks back in delight after making it 4-0 to a rampant Spurs at White Hart Lane yesterday
(Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
James Olley23 November 2015

Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham are no longer a work in progress. This was an emphatic validation of his football philosophy and a clear indication his players have absorbed a style they thoroughly believe in.

An approach based predominantly on pressing is all the rage at the moment with the en vogue Jurgen Klopp extolling the virtues of such methods to impressive effect at Liverpool.

And yet, this has been a Premier League season so far defined by the success of counter-attacking sides, with Leicester topping the table after 13 games, West Ham enjoying their best ever start and Crystal Palace continuing to flourish under Alan Pardew.

Only Arsenal had taken more points on the road than West Ham and the visitors started better but were dismantled by a ruthless Spurs side. In his exclusive Standard Sport column on Friday, Slaven Bilic had explained how the Hammers had faith their form would endure without Dimitri Payet and underlined the importance of his defenders using the ball intelligently to beat Tottenham’s pressing style.

Player Ratings: Tottenham vs West Ham

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Neither materialised yesterday. The belief drained from West Ham when Harry Kane opened the scoring after 23 minutes and although Cheikhou Kouyate hit the bar afterwards with a spectacular overhead kick which should have been ruled offside, Toby Alderweireld’s 33rd-minute header settled this as contest from some way out.

West Ham were undermined by a series of individual mistakes — none more glaring than when James Tomkins gifted Tottenham possession five minutes after the interval, allowing Christian Eriksen to feed Kane, who promptly smashed the ball past Adrian from the edge of the box. Interestingly, though, Bilic refused to cite those errors and instead focused on the wider point that his instructions had not been followed beforehand.

“If you look at every goal, you can see an individual mistake,” he said. “The first goal was a mistake but if you are sitting that deep and they are 20 metres from your goal, it is likely somebody is going to make a mistake or their player will show his class. We were too deep. The second goal was an individual mistake but it came from a corner from us. They were pushing us. Everybody is trying to push everybody but you resist. You don’t go facing your goal straight away when they press you. We did that.”

West Ham have already won at Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool yet Bilic cites their victory at Crystal Palace as their best performance because it was the strongest example of his strategy being implementing with the right balance between defence and attack. They are still enjoying a fine campaign regardless of this result but it is clear Bilic still requires time to achieve a consistent application of their approach.

By contrast, Spurs are unbeaten in the Premier League since an unfortunate opening day defeat at Manchester United and they are beginning to develop the consistency required to deliver a sustained top-four challenge.

Pochettino’s vision is alluring on days like this. Spurs were a mixture of pressing and power, energy and enthusiasm, dynamism and drive. They remain reliant on Kane, of course, who was excellent again in front of England manager Roy Hodgson. Dele Alli and Eric Dier ran midfield, Kyle Walker chipped in with a sumptuously-taken fourth goal and a dangerous opponent were left with only the merest of consolations — a fine late strike from Manuel Lanzini.

Pochettino has Spurs moulded in his own image. The question is: how far can they go? Chelsea’s struggles are well documented yet Sunday’s meeting is another important test of Tottenham’s credentials. They will be without Alli after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the campaign here but such is the flexibility and impressive form Mousa Dembele is showing at present, the 19-year-old’s absence is not the hugely damaging blow it might otherwise be.

Confidence is high and the players understand their jobs. With Alli ruled out next week, Erik Lamela will return from his own suspension to join Eriksen and Heung-Min Son in an exciting attacking trio behind Kane. “It is one of the best performances of the season,” said Pochettino. “We are very pleased with the players. The best word to describe my feelings is that I am very proud. You can see how the players believe in the way we play. When in a squad you share the same philosophy and you are convinced that the way you are playing is the best, you feel very proud.”

It will be fascinating to see where that unity can take them.

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