Manchester United, Tottenham set to test progress of rebuilding projects
LONDON --
When Tottenham Hotspur faces Manchester United (live, Sunday, 7 a.m. ET), neither side will quite feel it is looking in a mirror -- but the similarities between what has happened at the two clubs this season are striking.
Both had campaigns to forget last year, both appointed new managers with clearly defined tactical styles in the summer, both began the season with an optimism that quickly dissipated amid erratic performances and both have seen a recent upturn in form.
Both Mauricio Pochettino and Louis van Gaal in those early weeks of the season pleaded for time to instil their philosophies -- and van Gaal has struggled, too, with an absurd injury list -- and both are perhaps now beginning to see their methods take effect.
United's surge in form -- seven wins and a draw in the last eight league games -- has been the more eye-catching. On the other end, Spurs have won their last three games 2-1 and beaten Newcastle to reach the Capital One League Cup final over the past two weeks. There's even a case to be made that it's Spurs who are looking the more coherent side.
United was a comfortable winner over Newcastle on Boxing Day. Other than that, this eight-game run has featured only one other victory that was comprehensive both in terms of scoreline and performance: The 3-0 victory over Hull City.
United was significantly the better side in beating Crystal Palace 1-0, but the 3-0 win over Liverpool was never as convincing as the scoreline made it appear. In that game, as in the 2-1 wins at Arsenal and Southampton, it was reliant on the excellence of David de Gea in goal and some sharp finishing from a stellar forward line.
On one level, football can be understood as having two phases. There is the process, the midfield battle that preoccupies strategists: That's the foundation, without which no side can ever be successful for long.
It is usually pre-planned, the result of hours on the training field working on positioning. How you set about doing that is precisely the "philosophy" about which van Gaal and Pochettino speak so often.
In the other phase, there is what happens in both boxes, the final pass, the shot, the block, the tackle, the save. It's instinctive and spectacular and what fills highlights reels. In other words, there's the creation -- or prevention of creation -- of chances, then there's the taking -- or not taking -- of them.
United in recent weeks have been very good at the latter phase, and not especially efficient at the former. Van Gaal has railed in press conferences about his side's passing and distribution, and there must have been times when the defensive positioning has troubled him, but United has got away with it because of its efficiency in both boxes.
That's the advantage of expensive top-class players: They're needed to turn good process into excellent results, but they can also mask -- in the short term at least -- poor process, and that's what's been happening of late.
Some of the statistics have been almost laughable; United going 2-0 up at Arsenal with its first shot on target (Kieran Gibbs having put it ahead with an own goal); United winning 2-1 at Southampton having had only three shots; United beating Liverpool 3-0 despite having only 11 shots to Liverpool's 19.
That doesn't make what is happening luck -- that would be to demean the performances of de Gea and the forwards and to underestimate the backbone van Gaal has developed in the side -- but it does mean that, until the process improves, it is unreliable.
Spurs, of course, are historically unreliable. It's part of their DNA. For half a century, they've been flattering to deceive so much that nobody should get too excited by a string of one-goal wins over Swansea, Burnley and Leicester.
In the Leicester game in particular, Spurs were under pressure for long periods (it had only eight shots to the home side's 22), but it too is showing a resilience and a doughtiness that has not necessarily characterized it in recent seasons. And there have been signs, perhaps most obviously in the 2-1 win over Everton at the end of November, that Pochettino's pressing-game and willingness to take opportunities is beginning to take hold.
"I am happy for them and I am happy for the team. It was a very good result," Pochettino told reporters following Tottenham's win on Friday. "The reason they both keep scoring is they always try to get into scoring positions and they have the desire to score. It is not one of those things - they train hard for this. They both keep wanting to score."
And that's what makes Sunday's clash so fascinating: Two form teams both scrapping to overcome indifferent starts to the season, both with nascent philosophies just beginning to take shape. Come the end of the season, it may be just a footnote in the battle for fourth, but for now it appears as a barometer to how the reconstruction of each side is going.
