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I woke up Saturday morning buzzing for the Tottenham match against Southampton, grabbed my notebook and laptop right away. First thing I did was check injury reports online – no surprises, Hugo and Bissouma were still out. That meant Fraser had to start in goal, obviously. But the real puzzle was the center-back situation.
I brewed some strong coffee and pulled up Southampton’s last three matches on my second screen. Saw immediately how Ralph had them playing fast counter-attacks through those wingers Elyounoussi and Aribo. They looked slippery as hell. Pochettino probably watched the same tapes because around 11 AM, the official lineup dropped: a 3-4-3 with Dier, Lenglet, AND Davies at the back.
At first I mumbled to myself, “Three center-backs against bottom-of-table Southampton? Weird flex, Poch.” But then it clicked while re-watching their defensive clips. With Porro and Perisic pushed high as wingbacks, those three CBs could shuffle wide to cover when Southampton tried quick switches. Clever. Plus it freed up Bentancur and Hojbjerg to press higher without worrying about gaps.
The real head-scratcher was dropping Son to the bench. My mate Dave texted me in all caps like “WTF HE BENCHED SONNY?!” But after seeing how narrow Southampton’s midfield sat, Pochettino clearly wanted Kulusevski’s physicality to hold up play and link with Kane. Son’s pace would be nuclear off the bench later.
Kicked off at 3 PM and within 20 minutes I was nodding like “yep, there it is.” Every time Southampton tried launching those wide counters, Davies or Lenglet stepped out to smother it. Three CBs let Porro fly forward like a madman – dude basically played as a winger.
Remembered last year when we shipped four goals playing four at the back against these guys. Pochettino learned. Sometimes you gotta shape your squad to break theirs, not just play your ‘best’ names. Even Dave texted back later: “Alright, fair play. Gaffer knew.”