What Tottenham Hotspur must do to stay in the Premier League title race
By Kunal Chawda
Tottenham Hotspur are on top of the table after ten games into the 2024 season. Very few predicted this great start after the Spurs lost Harry Kane in the summer, changed their manager, and decided to replace Lloris with newly signed Vicario. But everything fell to the right places for them, and as of today, Spurs remains only the second Premier League team not to lose a game.
Although they would be pleased with their current stats and performances, there is still room for development. More importantly, they need some changes to stay on top, especially with little margin for errors in the coming days. Not to forget, the team is yet to play against their closest and strongest opponent, Manchester City, which might decide their fate in the season.
Three things Tottenham Hotspur must change to meet their end-of-season objective
1. Winning Aerial Duels:
The Spurs have a steady defensive setup, with Romero and Van De Ven anchoring the center-back role. They are pretty good at clearances and even intercepting passes, but lack in the aerial duels. Standing over 6 feet, both should be able to make an impact in aerial balls, but sadly, they have failed to do so so far. Van De Ven and Vicario are the tallest among the Spurs players and would be taking responsibility for the floated deliveries.
Teams like Man City, Liverpool, and Arsenal depend more on Wing plays, and to tackle the deliveries from the wings, Spurs shall work on the Aerial plays.
2 Control over defensive lapses:
Tottenham Hotspur has conceded nine goals in ten games, which is 3rd best defensive performance in the league so far. But despite this, the team looked vulnerable in defence, allowing opponents to be more aggressive in the Spurs half. Although they have managed the situations well so far, every game won’t be kind to them.
A pair of African players – Sarr and Bissouma need to be more active in the middle of the field to cover up the lapses, while defensive players should work on their ball control and pass to keep the opponents at bay. Tottenham were lucky not to lose the game against their arch-rivals Arsenal – who missed many opportunities to score goals.
3. Avoid overreliance on the Star players.
Tottenham’s captain, Son, is leading from the front with eight goals, while the team has scored a total of 22 goals so far in the league. Though Son stands second on the scorer’s list this season, overreliance on Son for the scoring will surely affect Spur’s offence in the upcoming games. Newly signed Maddison has also stepped up for the offensive duties with three goals and five assists. He is also 2nd in the assists list this season. But no other Spurs player has shown a similar impact on the games.
Having a star in the team never hurts the team’s progress, but to win a title, especially in a competitive league like EPL, teams need to have numerous scoring options in their squad. Teams like Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have multiple scorers in their teams, forcing defences to focus on multiple players, which opens up more opportunities. Tottenham Hotspur would be pleased with similar contributions from Richarlison and Kulusevski.
While Ange Postecoglou has done an excellent job in his first ten games in charge, which is the best start for a new manager in Premier League history, the team would be looking to bank on the great opening quarter of the season. Still, they need to be cautious and should consider working on the above-mentioned points.