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After an impressive Champions League outing against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester city, the Tottenham Hotspur squad was confident and full of energy as they took on Huddersfield in their brand new stadium. On the other hand, Huddersfield were already relegated and were hoping to spring a surprise against much superior opponents.
Mauricio Pochettino made several changes to the starting eleven that won against Manchester City. Fernando Llorente replaced the injured Harry Kane and Lucas Moura played as the second striker. Key players such as Son Heung-Min, Keiran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld were benched considering the away UCL fixture against Manchester City.
Huddersfield manager Jan Siewert made three changes to the team that was defeated 4-1 at home by Leicester City. Juninho Bacuna replaced Aaron Mooy while Alex Pritchard made way for Elias Kachunga. He also shifted Stankovic to a central defensive position with Aheame-Grant being the sole striker in the lineup.
Right from the opening minute, Tottenham enjoyed posession and encountered very little pressing from the Huddersfield midfielders while passing the ball forward. The three man defense of Davinson Sanchez, Juan Foyth and Jan Vertonghen kept pushing up their defensive line after realizing that Huddersfield were happy to sit back and defend.
Victor Wanyama broke the deadlock in the 25th minute after some good hold-up play at the edge of the box from Fernando Llorente. Two minutes later, Spurs extended their lead as Lucas Moura comfortably scored from the left flank after Huddersfield lost the ball in a dangerous position.
Tottenham kept penetrating into the opposition defence and were lucky to not concede another goal before half time. In the second half, Huddersfield played with more determination and defended astutely until the finishing moments of the game. Lucas Moura registered a hattrick and Spurs won 4-0.
Here are the 3 reasons why Tottenham won against Huddersfield:
#1. Lucas Moura’s hattrick
This was the 50th game for Lucas Moura in Tottenham colours and he marked the occasion with a beautiful hattrick in front of a vibrant home crowd. He started the game along with Fernando Llorente up front but dropped deep into the midfield to create chances.
At the 27th minute, Mauso Sissoko won the ball in the left flank and played out a neat pass to Lucas Moura who deposited the ball into the net with a low drive. In the second half, he combined well with Llorente who came close to scoring twice.
Finally at the 87th minute, Huddersfield lost the ball in Tottenham’s half and Eriksen broke forward and fired in a low cross to the centre of the pitch. Lucas Moura controlled the cross brilliantly with a majestic first touch and fired the ball past the on-rushing goal keeper.
He sealed his hattrick with a powerful shot that hit the top corner of the net. This performance confirmed his presence in the starting eleven against Manchester City at the Etihad stadium.
#2. Tottenham’s adaptability without Harry Kane
During the pre-match press conference, Huddersfield manager Jan Siewert pointed out that it is difficult to plan against Spurs when they are without Harry Kane since they play different formations. In this game, Pochettino went with a three man defense (3-5-2) formation and Huddersfield did not have any plans to counter this.
Ben Davies and Kyle Walker-Peters provided width and their pace troubled the Huddersfield defence. Mousa Sissoko’s physicality and intense pressing at the heart of the midfield made sure Tottenham enjoyed majority of the posession throughout the game.
The most impressive aspect of this victory was the link up play between the two forwards and Eriksen. Llorente has so far consistently delivered during Kane’s absence and the immense aerial threat he posesses brings a different dimesion to this Tottenham side.
Hugo Lloris too showed his class with a flying save to deny Hudderfield from a set piece. This was a complete team performance and Spurs showed that they are still a fabulous side even without Harry Kane.
#3. Huddersfield’s strategy
For a team that has already been relegated, many expected Huddersfield to play fearless football against a weakened Tottenham side. But Jan Siewert had other ideas and went with a ultra defensive 4-5-1 formation which did not do any favours to his side.
This team had nothing left to play for and it clearly showed in their pressing whenever they lost the ball. Tottenham’s defensive line kept moving higher up the field and the Huddersfield players simply sat back and let Tottenham enjoy posession.
Tottenham played the ball out wide to the wingers and attacked through the middle with crosses and the Huddersfield defence eventually surrendered to the continuous pressure exerted on them.
In the second half, they played with more freedom and troubled the Spurs defence with pace and long balls but by then, it was too late. Jan Siewert will be hoping for his senior players to step up in the upcoming games to give the fans some enjoyable moments before their advent into the English Football League.
