How to win the Europa League without taking any shots

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Tottenham Hotspur have won a trophy and qualified for next year’s UEFA Champions League. They did it by defying the narrative that their manager is overly committed to his high-octane style of football and unwilling to adapt. After scoring in the 42nd minute, Spurs did not take another shot for the rest of the game. They barely got out of their own half.

Manchester United, despite having 73% possession and 16 shots to Spurs’ 3, finished on roughly the same xG — a bit ahead of Spurs on StatsBomb’s model, but actually behind 1.01-0.97 on Opta’s.

Below, some visualizations of just how effective Tottenham’s defending was, and how much the United attack struggled to get the ball into dangerous areas. First up, a quick bit of business, and then we’re into the fun stuff.

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I cannot recall seeing an xG race chart that looks like this one, and certainly not in what was widely considered to be an even matchup on talent. Tottenham parked the bus, then a cement mixer, then poured all the cement and built a wall around the bus.

The result was that Manchester United did not have any space to operate in centrally in and around the box. Their couple central shots came from headers on set pieces. Amad Diallo was reasonably threatening off the right hand side, but United got very little off the left or from their central players.

Rasmus Hojlund was no kind of goal threat and looked like he got lost on his way to an athletics meet. It’s time to ring up Victor Osimhen’s agent and start begging.

United’s passing network is both horrifying from their perspective and an amazing illustration of how effective Tottenham’s defensive gameplan was. It’s like there’s a forcefield around the center of the park. Spurs forced United to go wide or backwards every single time, and United had no idea how to pull the Spurs midfield out of position.

I thought Leny Yoro had a really good game and was doing quite a bit to advance the ball, but the guys in front of him… eww. Stinky.

The map of the locations where Tottenham pressured the ball spells out the problem even more clearly. Diallo and Noussair Mazraoui offered a bit of threat down the right and forced Spurs’ defenders into blocks and tackles on a few occasions, but there was almost nothing happening on the other side, and literally nothing through the center.

Look at that space in the middle of the box where Spurs were forced to take zero defensive actions. Forget shots, United couldn’t even get the ball on someone’s feet to force Tottenham to make a defensive play in the most dangerous areas.

Tottenham supporters will have bitten all their nails off during that second half, but their deep defending ended up being an effective strategy. Spurs didn’t just hang on for dear life, they defended superbly and prevented United from creating any high xG chances.

Whether or not he’s sacked in the next few weeks, Ange Postecoglou will be thrilled to have added this game to his resume. Not just the trophy, but the proof that he’s not an unadaptable ideologue. He can set up a defensive system and hold a 1-0 lead when he absolutely has to.

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