- 6 weeks ago
Tottenham Hotspur are targeting Man City's Savinho and Omar Marmoush. We break down exactly what the duo would bring to the team, from Savinho's elite 1v1 ability to Marmoush's lethal finishing, and explain why they are perfect for Roberto De Zerbi's system.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The year-long chase for Savinho is finally coming to an end as Tottenham get their man,
00:04or should I say men? Because Omar Marmouche looks to be following his Brazilian mate,
00:09but what can the City duo bring to Tottenham? From Savinho's elite 1v1 ability to Marmouche's
00:16top-tier ball striking and De Zerbi's plan for both, I'm Jacob Oswald, 4-4-2's resident tactician,
00:23and this is why Tottenham desperately need Savinho and Marmouche.
00:30Oh, it's gone in off Savinho and he knew nothing about it!
00:34Savinho would likely be on the left wing in a De Zerbi team, looking to get right toward the
00:38touchline, like seriously toward the touchline, to stretch the opposition's defence and midfield
00:43as much as possible. But what if I told you that wasn't the only path that we may see Savinho
00:49going
00:50down at Tottenham? At Man City, he played 23 times off the left wing, but also played 26 times at
00:55right wing. However, his roles in both those positions were massively different.
00:59On the right, he'd start high and arrive deep to create separation from his marker.
01:04His role was to quickly combine and drive in that inside right area.
01:08Pep looked to use his ability to come deep and drag players with him to create space down that right
01:13channel for other players. Which is something I think De Zerbi will like, because that ability to
01:18combine in tight areas gives you solutions in high-pressure scenarios.
01:23But that right wing Savinho that does that is entirely different to a left wing Savinho.
01:28Here, he's right by that touchline. Most players would typically take a touch inside or maybe on
01:33the outside, close to their body, in order to protect the ball as a priority. But Savinho takes his
01:38touch away from his body and straight into a take-on, beating his marker and allowing him to deliver
01:42early into the box. Now that's probably his best trait. That 1v1 ability from the Brazilian can be
01:48terrifying. And off the left, when he's wide, right by the touchline, that's exactly what he
01:54wants to do. And he's able to do that because he's such a highly technical footballer that he
01:59doesn't require a touch to set himself up for the take-on. His first touch can lead him into
02:03that dribble and that's dangerous. Because once he does that, he then has space by the byline to
02:08deliver into the box early with his next touch. Whether that's a cutback or a lofted cross,
02:13he has the pick of the bunch. On the right-hand side, that's different. As you see here, he beats
02:17his man on the right and gets into that byline space. But his preference is to chop onto his left
02:22foot and therefore Newcastle can get back and close his angles off. Eliminating the effectiveness of
02:28arguably his best trait, which is those quick take-ons and early deliveries, and some of them
02:32deliveries are top, top class, feels like a little bit of a waste. Because on the right,
02:37it's just not quite as effective. Now Omar Marmouche is a different situation entirely,
02:46because Savinho's leaving probably because he's surplus to requirements. Whereas Marmouche,
02:50I think he's leaving because of more of a profiling issue. Man City need this number 10 to be a
02:55proper
02:55creator so that Erling Haaland can do all that beautiful forward aggressive attacking stuff.
03:01But, Marmouche isn't the creator. He's a shooter, he's a ball striker, he's a goal scorer. So if he
03:08was to actually play for City, he probably fits in in place of Haaland, which he's obviously never
03:14going to do. However, if we look at Spurs' attack from the Brentford game, there's a few things missing.
03:18And even if we scrap all of that and pull up their probably best attack at the current moment,
03:23there's still a fair bit missing from that team. You've got James Madison's slick passing,
03:27you've got Savinho's brilliant crossing, and you've got Kudus' relentless 1v1 threat,
03:32but there's no shooters here. There's no ball strikers, there's no... Where are the goals coming
03:36from? I can't see who's going to score the goals here, which is where Marmouche, as the number nine,
03:41comes in and gives them new avenues. He can drift onto the blind side of his marker and has such
03:46a
03:46wide variety of finish. In this case, he decides to reverse it into the far corner. But he has just
03:51such a good ball striking technique that he can give you just a wide range of different ways to
03:57score goals. And it means he can finish chances, whether they're half or full chances, and score
04:02goals. Which is something... I mean, if you watch the Brentford game, Spurs need a lot more than that,
04:06but they do also need a ball striker, a goal scorer. Last season, Richarlison topped Spurs'
04:13Premier League goal tally. But as we know, a lot of them were then games were getting a little bit
04:16scrappy,
04:16and he was coming off the bench. Equally, as we know with Richarlison, not to be too rude here, but
04:22the bloke literally cannot stay fit. You're not going to get a consistent stream of goals from
04:27the Brazilian because he's never there. He's always injured. Which means for me, Marmouche,
04:34as that leading player who can play majority of games and then has a nice creative supporting three
04:39behind him, is so much better. I mean, if we look at his time at City, he managed 10 Premier
04:44League
04:44goals in just 37 league appearances. However, having a consistent goal stream is one thing,
04:49but as we know with Roberto Dezerbi, his football isn't just about direct goal threat consistently,
04:54trying to just get from one to the pitch to the other as quick as possible. That's not necessarily
04:58Roberto Dezerbi ball. So what else can Marmouche bring that allows Dezerbi's football to work with
05:04him as a number nine? It's a big challenge for me and I'm looking forward to it. Dezerbi's build-up
05:09creates
05:10these sort of fabricated transitions where the opposition are baited out and then Tottenham's attack is left in
05:14a bunch of 1v1s with the opposition's defence on the halfway line with massive space to attack
05:19in the opposition's half. Now, we've already talked about Savino and how he can operate in sort of
05:24tight conditions and find you some nice solutions which will be really valuable, I think, in those 1v1s
05:30if he receives defeat, but Marmouche also has some really nice ball carrying over big distances,
05:36which I think will work when getting from the halfway line to the final third. His burst of acceleration in
05:41that
05:41open space whilst keeping the ball close to him allows him to push defences back, but also keep
05:46separation from his marker, which is nice for Tottenham to have and will be important for them, I think,
05:51when they are breaking through, when they get those self-made counter-attacks, so to speak. But from
05:57Savino, we'll probably need a little bit something different in those types of areas. Now, in preseason,
06:03Tottenham have used that sort of 3-1 setup with two players operating ahead of that 3-1 in the
06:09pockets.
06:09The reason I mentioned that and I mentioned the build-up and I mentioned the midfield and we come
06:13back to Savino is because for the midfielders to get into the pockets, the opposition's midfield
06:17needs to be stretched by with holders on the wing, which is how I see Savino at Tottenham. Someone who
06:23isn't just a withholder, but someone who's basically in the stance, is that far wide, looking to stretch
06:28that opposition defence and then create those little pockets of space for other players. Because if one of
06:34those pocket players gets on the ball, the opposition defenders have to move narrow to win that ball,
06:38meaning Savino will instantly have separation from his marker and will be able to manipulate the
06:43defender with small touches before bursting to the byline. For Spurs, that's so useful. Not only
06:49for the pocket players, not only for Savino, but also for the right winger and the centre forwards.
06:54But I've got a question. I have to lean in for this one. What if Kourouz and Savino switch wings?
07:01Does that still work for De Zerbi? Because it's something that may well happen in the season. Well,
07:06with De Zerbi's six-man build-up looking to bait the press, as we've already established,
07:10I think Savino could have a role to potentially play in this. When I look at the midfield that
07:15Spurs have right now, it is so much better than last season's, don't get me wrong, and I'm not
07:18being a Debbie Downer here. But for me, Tonali playing as the sort of deep pivot player, the
07:23number six sort of role, I don't necessarily is always going to be the best case for Tottenham,
07:28because I still don't think he's the most secure player in possession. And at times,
07:31I'd actually rather him be someone who's breaking the line with darting runs into the sort of
07:37attacking line of Tottenham's team. Which is where Savino in this position dropping into that mid-third
07:42of the pitch adds value, because he simply finds solutions to evade pressure and get out of those
07:46tight conditions. Now, I'm not saying we're going to play Savino as a number six. Do not get me wrong,
07:52don't get me twisted for one second. But what I am saying is that I think he could drop in
07:57at times
07:57when, let's say, Tottenham are trying to play in transition and he comes to get on the ball. Or
08:01let's say Tottenham are trying to use a little bit more rotation in that midfield area. I think
08:05Savino could be someone who arrives deeper, gets on the ball, turns and gets Spurs going forward.
08:10Like here, with City under pressure and a defender arriving on his back, Savino arrives deep and
08:15instantly takes progressive action with a step inside, and then he drives forward the ball before
08:20slipping Haaland through on goal. At Spurs, he'd be slipping through Omar Marmouche. And I think,
08:24as much as it's not earning Haaland, that's still a really nice dynamic. These positions where Marmouche
08:29is running onto a ball inside the box aren't his favourite shooting positions, but his finishing
08:35variety means even then he can score in those situations. So, especially after a pretty toothless
08:40performance against Brentford, I think the creativity of Savino and the goals and shooting
08:46potential of Marmouche should be really, really exciting for Tottenham fans. However, I do also get
08:52the reservations around Savino because of his lack of goal output at Manchester City.
08:57But, if we compare his shot map last season against his Girona shot map, you see at City,
09:02more shots came off the right, whereas Girona, where he scored a fair few, most of his shots
09:07appear on the left side of the box. That's because he was primarily a left winger in La Liga. Now,
09:12Pep looked to use him as a right winger potentially because of that ability to evade pressure, be a little
09:16bit more secure in swinging crosses to Haaland, things like that. But at Tottenham, he will be a left
09:21winger where he can arrive and shoot across his body, which I think is probably his favourite
09:25shooting sort of technique. So, I do think under the Zerbi, he'll be on the score sheet a little
09:29bit more often. Maybe not 15 goals, but a nice little handful which will be good for them. Now,
09:35I want you to answer this question, are you subscribed to 442? Next question, why aren't you subscribed?
09:42Because we'll be back again next week with some more analysis and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. So,
09:47see you lot in the next one.
09:49In a bit.