Tottenham’s half space focus against Swansea’s compact block for Outside Of The Boot The hosts fielded a back three comprising of Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez, and Jan Vertonghen. Eric Dier played as the devoted 6 flanked by two 8’s, Christian Eriksen and Moussa Sissoko. Son Heung-Min played as the left wing back and with Trippier on the other side. Upfront, Delle Alli paired with Harry Kane. With this lineup, Tottenham would emphasise their circulation and progression through the left side with Son, Eriksen, and Alli, collectively, arguably the better ones for ball-possession and tight space combination compared to the opposite side where Sissoko and Trippier filled the right side. The away side defended in their deep block using a 5-3-2 and applied a position-oriented one. In their initial move, the striker duo occupied the 6 space; the ball side 9 kept Eric Dier behind his cover shadow while trying to develop the pressing access by gradually getting closer to the ball carrier (Alderweireld, for instance) as well as blocking the passing lane from the ball carrying half back to the near 8 (Sissoko, for example). The midfield trio’s initial task was to mark Tottenham’s midfielder trio. Two nearest midfielders to the ball stayed close horizontally and secured the near half space and center. In such a situation, Alli or Kane would drop slightly deeper to occupy the space between Swansea’s lines to provide progression access for the ball carrying half back. The key for Swansea on how to deal with such movements was the pressing from their back line. For example, if Delle Alli occupied the said space on the Swansea’s left half space, then the defender to follow Alli was Alfie Mawson. If Alli was about to receive a pass, Mawson had to step up to put a press from Alli’s behind. Both wing backs in Swansea’s defensive block oriented themselves to Tottenham’s wing backs. The ball side wing back stayed close to the opponent’s wing back. The far side wing back had to keep the far side opponent’s wing back under his watch as well as secure the space beside Swansea’s far side half back. For full read, you're welcome to visit this link: http://outsideoftheboot.com/2017/09/19/tactical-analysis-tottenham-hotspur-0-0-swansea-city/ Thank you for reading. You can find me on Twitter @ryantank100