The season started with Harry Kane assisting Eric Dier for a 1-0 win against West Ham and ended in the opposite fashion for a 1-0 win over Everton as Spurs sealed fifth place on the Premier League’s final day.
Tottenham began the final day of the season in sixth place, but thanks to their win and Liverpool’s 6-1 drubbing at Stoke, Pochettino has improved on their finishing spot from last season. Fittingly, it was the man transformed under Pochettino who gets the goal, Kane netting his 31st goal of the campaign when he headed in Dier’s cross.
Bentaleb at left-back
When the team sheets were announced before the match, Spurs twitter went into meltdown as everyone tried to figure out what formation the team were playing. Pochettino named a strange line up with three centre-backs, three central-midfielders, two wingers, an attacking midfielder and the striker Kane. The guessing game began, 3-6-1? 3-3-1-3? 4-2-3-1? 3-5-1-1?
In some way, it shows how many options are available to managers when setting up their teams in modern football. In the end, it was Pochettino’s usual 4-2-3-1 with Nabil Bentaleb at left-back. As he has been doing all season, he showed his maturity today. While left-back is not his ideal position, he played it with distinction. A calmness on the ball, good positional sense and adaptability will continue to endear him to the White Hart Lane faithful. Bentaleb has had an outstanding season and has managed to shrug off the “Sherwood’s pet” tag, and the best part is, he will only get better. While he has shown his enormous potential in the center of midfield all season, but today, he showed that he can put in a shift at left-back.
Kane breaks drought
It has been a quiet end of season for England’s new wonder boy as before today he went four games without a goal and a total record of two goals in the last eight games. That poor run came to an end today as his brilliant diving header put Spurs 1-0 up. Pochettino has challenged him to better his record next season and most fans will hope that he can. A splendid season for Kane has come to an end. He burst onto the scene at the start of the campaign and has won the hearts of not only Spurs fans but also football fans who believe in the ‘romance’ of football.
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Spurs finish positively
Today’s win means that the Lilywhites have won five of their last day matches over the past five years. A 1-0 win vs Everton is added to a 3-0 win vs Aston Villa (2014), a 1-0 win vs Sunderland (2013), a 2-0 win vs Fulham (2012) and a 2-1 vs Birmingham (2011). A few weeks ago it was said that Spurs’ season had been limping towards an end, but two wins in the last two games as well as two clean sheets has put some gloss over their sketchy final stretch. Liverpool’s alarming decline has also served to add some positivity to Spurs’ season, as they improved their league position. Pochettino’s aim now will be to improve on their fifth place finish and enter back into the top four next season as well as improving the consistency of his side. A big summer lies ahead for the manager, Daniel Levy and Franco Baldini as Spurs need to have a smart transfer window to allow them to punch above their weight.
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Outstanding Vertonghen
Much criticized since his outstanding first season – where he made the PFA team of the year – Jan Vertonghen has been a liability, not for a lack of ability but for a lack of determination and application. He was often cited as the reason for Spurs’ constant throbbing’s under Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood as he failed to assume leadership of his defence as well as his do not care attitude. He was indirectly criticized in the press by Sherwood and came under scrutiny again this season for not signing a new contract. After all this, Pochettino has got Vertonghen playing again. He has been impressive these last few months but today against Everton he was outstanding. He intercepted everything and snuffed out any danger. He looks like he is enjoying his football again and hopefully he will continue to play at this level next season.
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