Tottenham were held to a 1-1 draw against Leeds United.
Tottenham’s draw against Leeds United was far from the polished performance that we saw from them, like last week against Aston Villa at Villa Park, but it did give us a few interesting points. We could see the early building blocks of Roberto De Zerbi’s Tottenham beginning to form in real time.
Along with the game there were moments of control as well as moments of chaos, but a few tactical details pointed towards where this Tottenham side could be heading (at least from a tactical standpoint) over the coming months.
Three things we spotted in Tottenham vs Leeds
Tottenham’s midfield rotations are becoming the foundation of De Zerbi’s system
One of the clearest patterns that you could see through that game was the constant movement between the midfield trio of Rodrigo Bentancur, Joao Palhinha and Conor Gallagher.
So rather than playing in more of a fixed midfield three, we could see all three players adjusting their positions depending on the phase of play and type of sequences. At times Palhinha was helping the Lilywhites build up wide on the left while Gallagher drifted toward the right to help progression, which ended up freeing Pedro Porro higher up the pitch.
But then, only minutes later, the roles were reversed. And it looked quite fluid and more focused on helping Tottenham get better than Leeds’ press but while maintaining overloads across the pitch.
These rotations also gave Porro and Destiny Udogie the sense of freedom to attack advanced spaces from the full-back role (very much like how his full-backs used to do when De Zerbi was at Brighton). Porro did try some between-the-lines passes in the opening stages and repeatedly switched play quickly in the final third. There was this one pass from him into Richarlison early on that could easily have ended up with a clear chance on goal.
There was also something equally intriguing about that pressing structure that Leeds operated in. Tottenham defended in a 4-2-4 shape when Leeds built from the back. It was more of a try to force Karlo into going long before attacking second balls aggressively. And this ability of the aforementioned trio to shuffle their positions quickly becomes important in making that work.
Still a Thomas Frank influence at N17?
There were clear flashes of classic De Zerbi buildup patterns along the game, but it doesn’t take long for you to figure out that this Lilywhites team are still evolving into that system.
Guglielmo Vicario’s replacement, Kinsky, was alternating between short build-up and direct long distribution depending on how Leeds were pressing. Whenever Leeds pushed aggressively with the front two, Tottenham often did not opt for that patient buildup way but went long towards the front line with Richarlison generally positioning himself smartly for second balls.
Brighton under De Zerbi were often obsessed with their short-passing build-up, irrespective of how the opponents were pressing. But it looks like Tottenham still have those Thomas Frank shades.
The Lilywhites mixed short combinations with direct attacks in behind and also repeatedly used long throws from Kevin Danso to create pressure in Leeds’ box. It did feel like Tottenham under Frank.
The most obvious attacking pattern that Tottenham tried was to release Randal Kolo Muani early behind Leeds’ backline. Tottenham tried it a few times in the opening half hour alone. It was ideally a try to isolate Leeds defenders in transitional 2v2 situations. And you could see that it could have led to chances, but Muani didn’t really execute those balls.
He did not have that sense of composure in his final action. One attack ended with an overhit cross, while another ended with a wasted run into the channel. There was also one with a rushed decision into a blind cross rather than pausing and getting hold of the situation.
In the Premier League, those moments decide games, and they don’t come quite often.
This sense of aggression still carries massive risk on the defensive side of things
For all the promising attacking patterns that we saw from the Lilywhites, Tottenham still looked vulnerable whenever the game became stretched. And that was quite visible in Danso.
While the Austrian was really good at stepping aggressively into Dominic Calvert-Lewin early in the game to try and get back the ball high after reading the former Everton man’s first touch perfectly. But there were also moments where his front foot defending became reckless. There was one where he ended up giving an unnecessary foul despite Tottenham already having numerical advantage around the ball. It felt very Cristian Romero-like.
The bigger concern came when Leeds tried transitioning fast. One was when Leeds skipper Ethan Ampadu made this one remarkable run from deep defence into attack almost completely unchecked, exposing the spaces Tottenham can leave when this structure breaks down. That run ended up in a goal.
Tottenham also rode their luck at the back when Udogie struggled physically against Calvert-Lewin inside the penalty area.
Even after that we saw the Lilywhites continually holding a high defensive line, including during free kicks. Maybe it could be because of this huge trust in the recovery pace, particularly from Micky van de Ven and Udogie.
Tottenham were also trying to force Leeds towards their right attacking side because it ends up in VDV/Udogie’s space if Leeds escape the press, and their recovery ability could make it easier for them to win the ball back.
Tottenham already look tactically more flexible on the pitch. And then also, there is this structural fluidity that comes with it. You expect that in a De Zerbi side. But this performance also showed there is still a balance to find between control and chaos before his system settles in at N17.