Alex Keble feels Antonio Conte has taken Tottenham past Chelsea as the Premier League's third best team

Tottenham: Dejan Kulusevski key to Spurs success against Chelsea


Alex Keble shines his tactical spotlight on three things we learned from the opening set of Premier League matches, and what they might mean heading into the weekend.

Kulusevski key to Conte 3-4-3

Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte meet in the standout game of the weekend on Sunday. They're two coaches who have more similarities than differences.

The Chelsea manager is from the German school and the Tottenham Hotspur manager from the Italian, and yet both believe in sharp verticality and playing in the transition; both prefer a midblock with minimal pressing compared to their rivals; and both deploy a 3-4-2-1 formation.

Sunday’s game will be very tight as a result. These are two teams happy to spar, sitting back and waiting for the other to pounce while showing respect for the counter-attacking potential of their opponents.

But if either manager has hopes of challenging Manchester City and Liverpool this season, they need the three points to prove it. And judging by the opening weekend, it is the visitors Tottenham who stand the better chance.

Dejan Kulusevski v Southampton

Dejan Kulusevski was magnificent against Southampton. His technical ability is obvious, but what was particularly revealing about seeing him in the flesh was the tactical awareness he showed to sniff out Southampton’s weaknesses.

In the first half, when Ralph Hasenhuttl deployed a narrow 5-3-2, he leaned out to the right flank to receive possession on the outside of Saints’ midfield. In the second, when the visiting manager blocked the flanks by moving to a 5-4-1, Kulusevski dipped back infield to control the game.

His brilliance shows why Spurs have moved ahead of Chelsea.

Tuchel lacking right tools

For the Conte/Tuchel style to work, what’s needed most of all is incisive forwards willing to consistently make runs beyond the defenders, dribble at the opponent, and look for straight passes.

Tuchel is well aware his squad has too many nimble playmakers keen to come short for the ball, hence his purchase of Raheem Sterling. Conte, meanwhile, has the ideal trio in Kulusevski, Heung-Min Son, and Harry Kane.

For now, Tuchel is lacking the tools to play in the way he would like.

Midfield mess for Man United

The focus of Manchester United’s defeat to Brighton last weekend was the striker situation.

Christian Eriksen offered little as a false nine and Cristiano Ronaldo, a second-half substitute, stealing too much focus; he is like a collapsing star, sucking everything towards him until United start playing in an ultra-direct, cross-heavy system that will undermine Erik ten Hag’s tactical ideas.

Cristiano Ronaldo is still being linked with a move away
Cristiano Ronaldo is still being linked with a move away

But the bigger flaw, and the one that is likely to lead to another poor result this weekend, is the configuration of their central midfield.

It is astonishing that Fred and Scott McTominay are United’s starting midfielders for another Premier League season.

Unless a United manager is deploying a low block – simplifying their roles, ensuring small spaces between players as they shuffle across - neither player has the tactical intelligence, agility, or positional discipline to sew the defensive and forward lines together.

Familiar flaws bode well for Brentford

That explains how Brighton cut through them so easily for both of Pascal Gross’s goals, something Thomas Frank will know exactly how to do with his 3-5-2 formation.

He made the mistake of abandoning the system for the opener at Leicester City but returned to it in the second half to inspired a comeback from 2-0 to 2-2, suggesting the formation – very similar in style to Brighton’s – will be back from the start on Saturday.

The mixture of their aggressive tackling in central midfield, neat triangles during the build-up phase and long passes into the channels for Ivan Toney (who can muscle the still-adapting Lisandro Martinez) is precisely the kind of football that should expose the ‘McFred’ partnership once again.

As absurd as it might sound, if Ten Hag loses this game and then the derby against Liverpool the following Monday his project might be dead before it has even begun.

Patience is not something the board, or the current crop of players, is likely to give him.

Haaland gives Man City even more possession control

Manchester City and Erling Haaland. It has been the talk of the summer and the subject of so many pre-season previews we thought every single angle had been covered.

Everyone had a hot take on his suitability, adaptation period, and prospective goal tally for the season – and yet his brace last Sunday against West Ham United has revealed something nobody predicted.

Either you thought Haaland would clash with Pep Guardiola’s possession-centric football or, by changing Man City’s approach, he would make the team stronger.

But instead, after West Ham sat very deep in the first half before opening up in the second, there is an argument to be made that Haaland will in fact increase Man City’s control of possession and territory.

David Moyes’ side were seemingly terrified of Haaland’s pace in behind, hence their ultra-deep line of engagement and Man City’s 86% possession prior to the opening goal.

When chasing an equaliser in the second half the hosts began to confront City higher up the pitch, but inevitably this left huge amounts of space on the counter for Haaland’s devastating runs – leading directly to his second goal.

In other words, West Ham were stuck.

Pep already one step ahead

Other Premier League managers will have taken note, and the obvious conclusion – for now, at least – is to sit a lot deeper to deny Haaland the space he needs, creating a claustrophobic penalty area in which the Norwegian can be tightly marked.

Consequently, Guardiola, who is obsessed with control and territory, may have counter-intuitively found a way to gain even more of it by signing a striker who runs in direct opposition to those principles.

It is a new theory that will be put to the test against Bournemouth on Saturday. Scott Parker’s side were bold and aggressive against Aston Villa but will no doubt be far more conservative this weekend.

Keep an eye out for just how deep they sit, and just how much this helps or hinders Guardiola in his pursuit of complete domination.

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