The biggest thing that confused me was losing Chukwueze’s left foot from the LW. Completely changed the dynamics of our attack shifting him across let alone hooking him

Maybe sitting off was psychologically inevitable given how poor we’ve been away lately

But by opting for our more attack minded midfield from the start we could operate with the game state in our favour and this time didn’t melt 🫠

A huge breakthrough for Marco and the boys!

Our ebb and flow was summed up by Sess at LB whose engine and endurance continues to astound me. For 10 mins or so Kudus had him on toast and I worried he was fading 😬

But like the team he found a 2nd wind. Stuck to this task and found a way to see this game out

What it made for was a backs to the wall effort to get over the line 💪

Tete (in a game that suited his tenacity) and Andersen (seemingly on the end of everything) stood out

Box defending was essential as Spurs were particularly reliant on crosses and set plays

Arguably Marco was slow to react to this. After HT, pressure built and it was clear more physicality was needed to compete in the middle of the park and on the counter

The right subs were made (Lukic for grit, ESR for a 2nd successive week of intense impact) but a touch late ⏰

What then happened is a slow ceding of control as we dropped deeper into a 5-3-2 block

Where before sharp passing to get us out came off sloppiness took hold and we gave it away

Where we had been mopping up 2nd balls and making it stick when going direct we faded physically 🫥

The same dynamics repeated time and time again in the first 20 mins

For our 2nd the run behind from Raul stretched them before Harry Wilson’s left foot then did what it does best. A magical start! 🤩

But it should have been game over with a 3rd as Thomas Frank couldn't adjust

In addition to this, we also prioritised build up down our right where Andersen was in control ➡️

Wilson’s left foot coming back to goal gave us another route into that vacant middle third where clusters could then release Chukwueze to threaten (as he did for our opener)

There was a very clear gameplan from #FFC and it was very easy to see it deliver repeatedly in the 1st half 👀

Engage Spurs in an initial man-to-man press, leave space in the middle third, draw their last line out into that space and then get runners beyond to turn them

Btw if the lineup order is to be read into (and we’re often pretty consistent with it) that reads as a 4-3-3 with Iwobi right and King left CM/AM. The dynamics we saw with Iwobi and ESR at the end of the Sunderland game 👀

That is probably the broader conclusion from #FULSUN - a match that showed we are still half decent at doing what we do, particularly at home

What comes next will be a bigger examination of whether we’ve turned the corner. But for now, it’s just a relief to enjoy 3 points! 🥳

Our 2.1 xG here was the most we’ve created for 16 PL games (Southampton away last season)

But the 0.2 conceded is also reassuringly stingy

An under fire defence looked more themselves but we know bigger challenges are on the horizon on that front. Let’s hope it continues 🤞