Anderton reveals player attitude has been Spurs problem

Mauricio Pochettino took over at Tottenham and immediately identified, through his homework on us while at Southampton, that we moved the ball too slowly from defence to attack.

Anderton reveals player attitude has been Spurs problem


That was not rocket science, any Spurs fan could have told him that, the cause of the problem was determined as being primarily moving the ball from defensive midfield to the attackers. That was the role being performed by Dembele and Paulinho in the main.

It was determined that the sitting midfielder would need, or need to develop a range of passing to switch play fast or to instigate an attack from the back missing out the box-to-box midfielder, in other words the defensive midfielder with licence to attack.

Etienne Capoue was tried as the holding player and didn't come up to scratch, Nabil Bentaleb has since been the clear first choice culminating in an excellent display in the resounding win against Chelsea. benjamin Stambouli has emerged as his understudy.

The box-to-box role has been nailed down by Ryan Mason, with Dembele having to adjust his game as understudy and Paulinho the third choice. What an individuals skills are is almost irrelevant, it's can they follow what Pochettino wants them to do that matters, the team being far more important than the individual. That has taken a while to get across but both Dembele and Paulinho seemed to have grasped the difference if recent displays are anything to go by.

Former Spurs and England right-winger Darren Anderton, who spent 12 years at Tottenham and played 334 games for us, confirmed that to the official Premier League website.

“I would like to see us play with a higher tempo. He needs the players to take on board what he wants and some of players haven't but the Everton match and the Chelsea match were great examples of what they can do when they press high up the pitch and get in and around players. 
“They had a couple of young boys in the middle of the pitch in Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb who were physically able to win the ball back on so many occasions in good areas in the opposition half. 
“That really got the crowd going and that's what it's all about. Pochettino just needs to get the players on board with how he wants to play. 
“I like him and I hope he is given time to sort it out and build a top team because he is going to be a very good manager and I hope he is in charge at the club for many years to come.”

Since the behind the scenes goings on at the beginning of November, after the Stoke City defeat, when the younger players had had enough of the attitude of some more senior players, things have picked up considerably. The side has started to adopt his tactics, the movement so lacking before, is now there with the attacking players causing defences problems they didn't have before.

That off the ball movement has been the key to the improved form of Christian Eriksen, who was a disappointment prior to then, even his national coach was criticising him.

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Buying into what a manager, or in our case, a head coach wants is absolutely essential for a player to produce their best and to keep improving. If you don't believe in something you'll try abut it won't be the best you can do, that's impossible. Only by totally believing in what you do can you give your maximum because you can give the extra you didn't know you had. It boils down to the fact that in that situation you would do and give everything to be a success.

It's that winning mentality again, as I've said before, it's more than just wanting to win a game.