Tottenham could start two strikers against CSKA Moscow
Vincent Janssen and Son Heung-Min could both start for Tottenham
Tottenham fans shouldn’t be overly surprised if Mauricio Pochettino throws a curveball with today’s starting XI. The injury crisis in the defensive midfield could lead to Spurs starting two strikers against CSKA Moscow.
My logic here is pretty straight forward. Tottenham only have one defensive midfielder with Champions League experience on the trip. Victor Wanyama is a virtual lock to start the match, but there isn’t an obvious player to deploy alongside him.
Sure, Pochettino could elect to go with Dele Alli. The English starlet is capable of playing in that deep-lying role, but it’s not his best position. The other alternative would be to throw the talented, but untested, Harry Winks into the starting XI.
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Those would be the conventional ways to deal with the injury issues. Pochettino is not always a conventional manager. He could look to shake things up by playing Wanyama as a single defensive midfielder. That would give him the option to deploy two strikers.
If he goes that route, it can only mean Vincent Janssen and Son Hueng-Min start together. Both men played well against Middlesbrough on the weekend. Of course Son was the Man of the Match after his two goal explosion.
Janssen’s success was much more subtle. His excellent hold up play led to Son’s first goal, and he generally did a good job pulling ‘Boro’s centre backs all over the pitch. His best talent may just be occupying defenders enough to give the rest of the club’s attackers real space.
Janssen still needs to find a way to score from open play if he’s going to hold his play in the starting XI though. Putting Son on the front line with him could be just what he needs to find an extra bit of space. The Korean’s constant movement would occupy a lot of the CSKA back line which would give Janssen some one v one opportunities against an isolated centre back. That could lead to a goal from the Dutch International.
The downside to playing two strikers up top is, ironically, two-fold. First, it does leave Spurs more vulnerable in defense. There’s no way around the obvious truth that playing two defensive midfielders is better for the defense than just playing one.
The second drawback is much more subtle. Playing both Son and Janssen at once, doesn’t leave Pochettino with a real striker option off the bench. There’s some risk of burnout for both men if they’re played too many minutes. Playing both together could complicate things for Pochettino down the road.
In the end, I still expect Pochettino to stick with just one centre forward to start today’s match, but I won’t be shocked if he goes with two. The latter is certainly a significant possible if Tottenham need a goal late.
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