Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Chelsea: Tactical Analysis

Chelsea’s English defender John Terry (2-L) heads the ball to score a goal during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at White Hart Lane in London on September 28, 2013.

Tottenham hosted Chelsea on a sunny Saturday afternoon for their second London derby of the season. The big draw however, was the battle between the two managers, AVB and Mourinho, who had worked together in the past. Of course, the other big motivation was AVB going up against his former club. In truth, a lot more was also at stake, with 3 key points being the biggest prize for the winner.

Spurs started the game strongly, with a back-line of Walker, Vertonghen, Dawson and Naughton. In midfield, Dembele and Paulinho were the pivots, with Eriksen ahead of them. Townsend started on the right, and Sigurdsson on the left, Soldado was the one up front.

Mourinho elected to start without Juan Mata once again. The back 4 saw only one change, Luiz in for Cahill. In midfield, a conservative choice of Mikel and Lampard started behind Oscar. Hazard and Ramires were the chosen wingers behind Fernando Torres.

Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea FC – Formations

Ramires to counter

Mourinho expected AVB to set his team up to attack Chelsea from the off, and therefore put Ramires on the right hand side to defend, and then counter with pace. Of course, this didn’t work out that well, because Spurs played a lot down their right, and Chelsea’s left. Ramires also wasn’t able to contribute enough in an attacking sense, and left Chelsea a little short of bodies up front.

Naughton on the left

Kyle Naughton also started on the left ahead of Danny Rose, who usually plays there. Naughton has played there on occasion, but has been a bit uncomfortable at times. Today though, the logic behind playing him there was to exploit the right footedness of the Chelsea defenders. With Sigurdsson continuously moving infield, Naughton was expected to provide the width against Ivanovic, and this was made easier, as he always cut inside, onto his right, and Ivanovic’s left foot, making it tough for the Serb to stop him.