Spurs v United | Ben Haines' one to watch, Rob Daly's tactical analysis
SPURSPLAY presenter Ben Haines and our official Club commentator Rob Daly give their views on Saturday's hugely-anticipated Premier League clash against Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (5.30pm).
Catch up with Ben on our Warm Up Show ahead of kick-off, live on SPURSPLAY and YouTube and he will be joined by Rob for our post-match Review Show where we'll talk to Ange Postecoglou and the key players.
Ben's one to watch...
"What an incredible first home game of the season! You always want to start with a game that is going to really get the crowd going, create an electric atmosphere and bring people to their feet from minute one. In terms of who we need to look out for this week, well, straight away from a Spurs point of view we have to look at Yves Bissouma. What an incredible performance against Brentford. Away from home against a resolute defence he was totally dominant. On the ball he’s so calm and assured and seems to be a step ahead of everyone. He was brilliant in his post-match interview as well, so clear in his focus and so clear in his words, and in terms of his actions on the pitch, he was clear of everyone else.
"This week we welcome United to N17 - a side that have always caused problems for us as long as I can remember, but we’ve had some great results along the way as well. They struggled against Wolves and the stats show they gave away a lot of opportunities - the stats don’t show, however, that they should have given away a penalty! Wolves had a fairly even share of possession too. Because of that, the player that I think we need to keep an eye out for this week is Casemiro. He played on his own at the base of midfield against Wolves with Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount in front. That lack of protection really hurt United and it will be interesting to see whether Erik ten Haag opts to give him more support. If he doesn’t, I could see Spurs over-running United in between the lines. Casemiro is a wonderful player, but without extra bodies there is a real opportunity for the likes of Oliver Skipp or whoever occupies the number eight role this week to make those late runs into the box that we saw Skippy excel at in pre-season. It’s slightly more difficult to do that against a side like Brentford who sat deep and played with five at the back, but if we’re going to take away the points this weekend, it will likely be because whoever occupies that number eight spot for Spurs manages to get the better of Casemiro."
Rob's analysis...
"Ben’s right - Wolves just lacked that cutting edge to take advantage of some sloppy moments from United on Monday. Matheus Cunha was able to breeze through the middle of their midfield on a couple of occasions, and you could see Yves Bissouma after his performance against Brentford, doing something similar. Bissouma’s overall stats from last weekend are crazy. No player in the Premier League played more opposition half passes and passes finishing in the final third on match week one. His ability to break the lines will be key in finding James Maddison in particular. I felt those two had some nice link-up moments.
"Spurs’ new higher high defensive line will be a target for United - Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen will be looking to pop a ball over the top to Marcus Rashford who, you’d imagine, will be centre-forward again with new signing Rasmus Hojlund not fit yet. Think about Rashford’s goal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last season in that wild 2-2 draw - that pace and ability to finish. This is when the recovery pace of the likes of Micky van de Ven and Davison Sanchez is so key. Lisandro Martinez came off at half-time on Monday and United really miss his presence when he doesn’t play - so we’ll wait and see if he’s fit. Ange Postecoglou said the team didn’t engage Richarlison enough last weekend so I hope to see him get more involved and found by his team-mates, especially against a United team less focused on keeping things so compact defensively.
"What an opening game in N17!"
