Wanyama positioning was causing problems

Wanyama-positioning

I noticed one small point we will need to work on from one specific player. In the next game, I'll have to keep an eye on Eric Dier to confirm what I suspect to be his superior positioning.

Victor Wanyams was a problem for Spurs in the first half against CSKA Moscow, I didn't keep an eye on him in the second half to see if he improved.

I'm not talking about his defensive play, although he was stroking the ball about far too lazily at times, but his positional play when we have the ball. He was not making himself available when our centre-backs had the ball. I made a point of watched his positioning and he was rarely available.

He was taking up positions behind players so there was no way he could receive the ball, he needed to be like Dier. If you look at the sight line a player with the ball has then with Dier he can play the ball to him, with Wanyama he can't.

That makes a difference. The centre-backs were having to play longer balls more often than we usually do, which gives the opposition a greater chance of stealing the ball.