Eriksen shows what Spurs will miss

Lovely to see that despite the summer break Spurs are still suffering from the same issues that plagued them for much of last season. While on the face of it another top 4 finish and a run to the Champions League final will be deemed a success by many it shouldn't be forgotten that Tottenham managed to lose 13 league matches last year.

A large number of those defeats came about due to the side's inability to break down opposition who compressed space around their penalty area with Spurs build-up play so sedate that it often made me wonder if I'd inadvertently sat on the remote control and put the match feed into slow motion. For over an hour of our opening game of this season against Villa, we once again dominated possession but lacked any cutting edge in the final third making an opposition side that only just snuck into the playoffs last year conceding 61 goals in the process look as though they were significantly better than they really are.

Spurs began the game with a diamond formation in midfield, a shape that they have played a lot of in pre-season and something that Poch is obviously considering as a substitute to the usual 4-2-3-1. With the likes of Son and Alli unavailable, Lo Celso and Sessegnon yet to train and Eriksen likely to leave for warmer climes you could also argue that Poch didn't have much choice in regards the starting 11 and the formation played.

The primary issue with the diamond in this particular instance was that it left us far too narrow in the middle of the park. There was plenty of space for the midfield trio of Ndombele, Sissoko and Winks to operate in the middle third but in the final portion of the pitch, they consistently ran into a wall of opposition defenders and out of ideas. The only joy that Spurs did have was to work the ball wide but even then there seemed a reluctance to actually get an early cross in despite the fact that our best chance of the first half came precisely as a result of that when Danny Rose crossed onto the head of Lucas Moura whose tame header was comfortably saved. All too often Spurs wing-backs were happy to just knock a square ball back inside to an area that Villa were comfortable defending.

The average positions of Spurs starting 11 shows how congested and narrow their midfield was

Listening to the post-match interview, Poch essentially admitted as much and while his claim that Spurs came out with a renewed vigour in the 2nd half does hold some water there was still a distinct lack of quality and that ability to play a killer ball from a series of individuals who quite frankly don't have it in their locker to do so. Sissoko was full of running and bullish as ever but in front of goal, he has about as much composure as Bambi on a frozen lake. Similarly, Harry Winks cannot be faulted for his endeavour and he always looks neat and tidy in possession but without really troubling an opposition that was happy to let Spurs have the ball. Even new signing and ultimate hero Tanguay Ndombele ran around like a headless chicken for most of the first hour.

Winks and Sissoko's career records don't hint at players who will really hurt the opposition in the final third. Against a team like Villa can Spurs afford to play both?

The real change for Spurs came about firstly because Poch switched to more of a 4-4-2 formation pushing Sissoko and Lamela wider in order to create overloads on the Villa fullbacks and with the introduction of Christian Eriksen. Eriksen played most of last season like a man who didn't want to be at Spurs because he doesn't want to be at Spurs. That attitude may ultimately have cost him the dream move that he was hankering for but with the European transfer window yet to close and Eriksen having just a single season left on his contract this may yet have been his final performance in front of a Spurs home crowd.

Eriksen managed as many if not more key passes in the 30mins he was on the pitch than any other Spurs midfielder

If that is the case then what a fitting reminder of just what a high-class performer the Dane is. Tottenham looked a totally transformed team as soon as Eriksen came onto the pitch. The workmanlike midfielders suddenly had an easy pass on to a player infinitely more creative than them and the forwards came alive at the prospect of having the ball played in behind a tiring Villa defence. Once again, I can't claim to know very much about Giovanni Lo Celso but he undoubtedly has very big boots to fill should Eriksen ultimately leave before the end of the month.