Match Report: Win at Spurs Could be Turning Point for Irvine's Albion
Alan Irvine has barely enjoyed the smoothest start to life at the Hawthorns. His appointment wasn't met with much enthusiasm and the club have been widely tipped for the drop this season. 2 points from their opening 4 games did little to dispel pre-season worries.
And yet, his players looked motivated, vibrant, lively and committed in putting his gameplan into action at White Hart Lane on Sunday afternoon. That plan was clearly not overly ambitious; two banks of four worked in unison to minimise the space available to Spurs' creative players, and they effectively stifled Spurs' attacks throughout the game. The home side managed just 7 shots and hit the target only once. In 119 Premier League matches since the start of the 2011/12 season, Spurs have only had fewer attempts on 3 occasions; against Manchester City, Chelsea and Southampton. With inverted wingers of Nacer Chadli and Erik Lamela, central areas became crowded and Albion easily snuffed out Spurs' attacks.
Irvine and his players do deserve a great deal of praise for their performance, however. They were patient and looked for chances on the break and at set-pieces, with the eventual winner a James Morrison header from a Chris Brunt corner. It was his first headed goal in the league since November 2012, helped in no small part by some extremely poor defending from the home team.
It was a day filled with mistakes and lackadaisical performances at the back for Tottenham, with Younes Kaboul, Vlad Chiriches and Danny Rose all culpable in some regard at various points throughout the encounter. As frustration grew amongst the home faithful, the errors became more and more frequent on the pitch. The problem is cyclic, and is one that has become characteristic of the White Hart Lane crowd for a while now, as André Villas-Boas had bemoaned during his reign.
Despite having a new manager this term, the same old problems reared their head for Tottenham, who followed up another Europa League midweek night with a laboured and lethargic Premier League performance on the Sunday. They had struggled last season, under both Vilas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, with the demands of Thursday night and Sunday matches, and it was a familiar story here. They have now played 15 league games 3 days after Europa League ties since the start of last season. In those matches they now boast a record of 6 wins, 1 draw and 8 losses. Plenty of those games, including this one, would have been considered winnable beforehand.
Pochettino cut a frustrated and helpless figure on the touchlines. He kicked and threw water bottles as he failed to have any impact on the match with his substitutions. After the match he admitted "he was surprised" at his players' subdued performances. "We were wrong in our approach; we played very slow, with a lack of movement." Albion, with Joleon Lescott making a debut at the back, had a rather easy time of things.
Irvine himself heaped praise on Lescott and Craig Dawson for their part in quashing a dangerous Spurs attack. He admitted to having chosen to leave Jonas Olsson out due to him making "a few uncharacteristic, costly errors this season", and also to having been waiting for a time to bring Lescott in. The former Manchester City man provided an assuredness to the Albion back line that had previously not been visible this season. He made 10 clearances and 2 interceptions in a display that warranted an impressive WhoScored rating of 7.64.
Such was the effect he had on this West Brom team, it is not farfetched to say that if he can maintain fitness, there is reason for Albion to believe they can beat the odds and stay up this season. Irvine revealed his relief at finally having registered a win and getting his side out of the bottom three, and besides the points gained, this result will be a massive confidence boost to him and his side.
Do you think this was a turning point for West Brom? How can Spurs deal with dual demands of Europa League and Premier League action? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
Spurs actually made 10 changes from their Europa League game on Thursday, so I don't think that can be used as an excuse. What I do think causes these bad results after Europa League games is their lack of time to prepair for a Premier League game, as they only have 3 days to do so, when often their opponent in the league have all week. In terms of the West Brom game, they didn't have the same clever movement, and they seemed to play to centrally, which was often a problem with Vilas-Boas' Spurs as well. I also think Lescott was a big reason for West Brom winning this game and keeping a clean sheet as he was quality in the game and he really was a leader in that back line. Also with West Brom sitting deeper, they dealt with Spurs' attacks quite comfortably in the end, as Spurs didn't utilise the wings as much as they should have.