Poch in need of Plan B, says Sol
THE PLAYERS sat on Premier League benches last weekend had scored 252 top-flight goals between them since the start of last season.
Sadly for Mauricio Pochettino, with the Watford game getting away from him on Sunday, his own collection of substitutes had been responsible for just two of them. That lack of a Plan B, former player Sol Campbell fears, could be Tottenham’s undoing this season.
The club’s failure to spend a single penny on summer reinforcements means there is nothing to turn to on occasions when Harry Kane is simply not enough.
“The problem is that when teams don’t spend money, teams set up against you the same as they did last season and they don’t have to work you out again,” said Campbell.
“They know what they are going up against. Just one or two new players can have you rethinking all your plans. They bring a different type of football to the game and different attributes and the other team have to think, ‘We’ve got to watch out for this or that’.”
In Campbell’s final season at White Hart Lane, five strikers featured at various points – Sergei Rebrov, Les Ferdinand, Chris Armstrong, Steffen Iversen and even Andy Booth.
“I don’t think you need all those,” added Campbell. “And no doubt Spurs have a few players coming up from the under-19s and under-23s who can break through.
“But you probably need three or four players who can come in for suspensions, injuries or lack of form. They need to be able to step in and not be scared to try to be No 1.
“If you have three or four players fighting for a position, it keeps everyone on their toes. That is just a natural thing of life.” Fernando Llorente has scored just one Premier League
ON THE BENCH AT THE WEEKEND NUMBER OF TOP FLIGHT GOALS SCORED SINCE START OF LAST SEASON Brighton (Bernardo 1, Bissouma 2, Locadia 10, Jahanbakhsh 21)
goal since his £12million move to Spurs and that was back in the familiar surroundings of the Liberty Stadium, where his more prolific goalscoring exploits for Swansea seem an increasingly distant memory.
Harry Winks, making his way back from longterm injury, tried to bring some positivity to Tottenham’s passing but his one goal in 64 games in all competitions was nearly two years ago.
Although Victor Wanyama did score a cracker of a goal against Liverpool last season, Pochettino’s final throw of the dice was to throw on Danny Rose as a slightly fresher left-back than Ben Davies.
After the 2-1 defeat, Pochettino admitted his bench was not strong enough but was more concerned about problems that he can do something about.
With the transfer window closed until January at least, he just has to make do with what he has got.
“Look, I accept [there are few goals on the bench] because it’s reality,” said Pochettino. “But that is the reality we have and we cannot change the reality.
“But at Watford, it’s not that we lost because of the players on the bench or the quality of the squad. The reality is we need to analyse those who were on the pitch.”
And boy was Pochettino angry with them. He lambasted his players for not being aggressive enough, not competing and taking things for granted. They were back to being ‘Spursy’.
Never was that better illustrated than, when chasing down Leicester in 2016, they let a two-goal lead slip against Chelsea which saw them concede the race for the title.
It was a summer of much soul-searching within the squad and over the next two seasons Tottenham conceded just nine points once they got in front. By comparison, Manchester City squandered 11 points, United 12, Chelsea 19, Arsenal 29 and Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp 34.
“It’s not something that often happens to us,” said midfielder Christian Eriksen.
“That’s what everyone felt. Everyone had the feeling that they were not going to score but they got a free-kick in a dangerous place, a decent cross and a good header.
“We need to get back on track and do that against Liverpool. That’s the perfect occasion to
come back.”