Tottenham’s Win over Hull Creates More Questions Than Answers for Pochettino

Tottenham Hotspur’s form since November’s international break has been complicated.

Although able to focus firmly on club matters without interruption, desired consistency has not been forthcoming. The high of a derby victory over West Ham United was followed by the low of Champions League elimination, with losses to hoped-for title rivals Chelsea and Manchester United then sandwiching comfortable victories against bottom-half fodder.

The latest in the latter category—a 3-0 win over Hull City on Wednesday, coming by way of goals from Christian Eriksen and Victor Wanyama—ended up creating more questions than answers around the team for manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Despite suffering considerable blows to their season’s ambitions recently, Tottenham are still in a relatively healthy position.

They are four points better off after 16 games than they were a year ago. Again in fifth place, the 10-point gap between them and Premier League leaders Chelsea is not insurmountable, albeit Antonio Conte’s side look more formidable than the Arsenal team Spurs caught up with last time (and historical precedent may also be on the Blues’ side).

Pochettino stressed to the media beforehand that “it’s a long way to the end of the season, and it’s for that reason always we need to believe to win games, believe to try to perform and try to fight to reduce that gap.”

Going by the changes he made against Hull, there was at least some doubt created by the preceding 1-0 loss to Manchester United.

Pochettino had been asked in his pre-match press conference whether others beside striker Harry Kane needed to contribute more goals.

“I think it’s not fair [to say that] after Manchester United when we didn’t score because one week ago, after the Swansea game when we won 5-0, it was all praise about our players,” he responded, highlighting a game in which Christian Eriksen and Heung-Min Son got on the scoresheet.

He continued: “Now we played against Manchester United, a difficult game. We had some chances. We didn’t score, but I think it’s a little bit unfair to start to say now that we need more goals from our second line or the players in behind Kane.”

The loose 3-4-3 formation he went with against the Tigers was partly informed by the absence of injured midfielder Mousa Dembele. But with its emphasis on creative freedom for the attacking midfield and licence for Danny Rose and Kyle Walker to get forward as wing-backs, Pochettino was leaving little up to chance.

Mauricio: “We played with a different formation and tried to use our full backs like wing backs and that worked well for us.” #COYS

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 14, 2016

Spurs rarely looked troubled by a Hull side featuring, at various stages, ex-players Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore and Ryan Mason.

Other tactical alterations in recent weeks certainly had less room to breathe offensively. The 3-5-2/5-3-2 used against Arsenal was as much about withstanding the Gunners’ talented attack. The diamond midfield …

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