When Tottenham Hotspur’s first goal against Manchester City was initially ruled offside, it didn’t stop their head coach Thomas Frank from encouraging and praising his players.
Quick build-up moves that focused on wide combinations to slice through an opponent were a trademark of Frank’s Brentford last season, and there were signs in Spurs’ pre-season that it would be an important attacking solution for them this campaign.
Tottenham’s third goal against Burnley in the opening weekend of the Premier League was one variation of the quick build-ups Frank has brought to the side, where Richarlison dropped to link the attack before Pape Matar Sarr found Brennan Johnson’s run behind the defence.
Johnson’s opening goal against City in Saturday’s 2-0 win followed the same attacking principles, but the combinations came in the wide area and followed a different pattern.
Against City’s 4-3-3 press, where the far winger moved inside, there was an extra fraction of a second for Spurs’ full-back when he received the ball.
During Tottenham’s build-up, City duo Oscar Bobb and Omar Marmoush didn’t stick tight to Djed Spence and Pedro Porro to be able to press inside the pitch when the ball moved to the other flank.
Frank’s side exploited that by starting their quick build-ups through Porro, before using Mohammed Kudus and Sarr further up the field to manipulate City’s defence. Once the right-back received the ball, Kudus dropped to drag Rayan Ait-Nouri out of position, while Sarr attacked the vacant space.
In this example, Marmoush’s role in City’s press means Porro has an extra second on the ball, which allows the right-back to find the dropping Kudus. Meanwhile, Sarr moves forward to attack the vacant space, but the lack of pace in the move means Ruben Dias can easily pick him up.
On top of that, Ait-Nouri stops Kudus from progressing the ball and Tottenham have to start all over again.
In another example, you can see Marmoush’s narrow position as Micky van de Ven goes back to his goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario.
The Egypt winger doesn’t move towards Porro to be in a position to press Romero if Vicario plays the ball to Van de Ven or Spence, which is logical because Erling Haaland is blocking the passing lane into the right side.
Rodrigo Bentancur’s smart movement, however, allows Tottenham to find Romero, with Marmoush not in a position to defend Porro. Romero then combines with the Uruguay midfielder to find the free right-back.
Once Porro is in a position to progress the ball, the second part of Tottenham’s quick build-up kicks in.
Here, he returns the ball to Bentancur, who immediately plays it behind City’s defence. As planned, Kudus drops to drag Ait-Nouri forward while Sarr attacks the vacant space.
Even if Dias is free to defend the Senegal midfielder, the idea is for Sarr to attack the space on the run (dynamically) against a centre-back who is starting from a rest position (static).
Bentancur’s pass was overhit and Sarr may have been offside, but these attacks were a warning sign of what was coming next.
Tottenham’s opener came from the exact move they had been trying to execute in the first half.
In the build-up to the goal, Tottenham again start the attack through Porro because Marmoush’s pressing role allows the right-back an extra second on the ball.
Considering Porro’s technical ability, that is enough time.
As the right-back shapes himself to progress the ball, Kudus drops to move Ait-Nouri’s replacement, Nathan Ake, out of position and vacate the space for Sarr to attack. The Senegal midfielder complements that by sprinting forward as Porro plays the ball towards the target area.
Attacking the pass from a more dynamic position (on the run) than Dias helps Sarr beat the centre-back to the ball, and outjump him to flick it into the path of Richarlison.
Tottenham’s centre-forward then plays the ball across goal to find Johnson, who scores with a one-touch finish.
Johnson’s goal changed the momentum of the game in Tottenham’s favour, before Joao Palhinha added the second from a high-press situation. Frank’s side maintained the same pressure in the second half to wrap up a victory where the goals represented two key features of this Tottenham team.
As Frank explained in his post-match press conference, the three key themes he wanted to build his principles around against City were the “defensive side of the game, being brave in phase one (build-up) and two (ball progression), and set pieces.”
His encouragement of the players, after Johnson’s goal was initially ruled offside, was because they were getting better at executing the passing pattern which is based on Tottenham’s attacking principles.
Frank then looked to his bench to check if the goal would stand. The answer made him give two thumbs up to the players.
The quick build-up move Tottenham were trying from the beginning of the match ended up being key to their victory.
(Top Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)