This Is Why Spurs NEED Savinho & Marmoush

The year-long chase for Savinho is finally coming to an end as Tottenham get their man

or should I say men, because Omar Marmouche looks to be following his Brazilian mates

But what can the City duo bring to Tottenham? From Savinho's elite 1v1 ability to Marmouche's top-tier ball striking and deserve his plan for both

I'm Jacob Oswald, 4-4-2's resident tactician, and this is why Tottenham desperately need Savinho and Marmouche

Savinho would likely be on the left wing in a De Zerbi team

looking to get right toward the touchline, like seriously toward the touchline

to stretch the opposition's defence and midfield as much as possible. But what if I told you that wasn't the only path

that we may see Savinho going down at Tottenham? At Man City, he played 23 times off the left wing

but also played 26 times at right wing. However, his roles in both those positions were massively different

On the right, he'd start high and arrive deep to create separation from his marker

His role was to quickly combine and drive in that inside right area

Pep looked to use his ability to come deep and drag players with him to create space down that right channel for other players

which is something I think DeZerbi will like, because that ability to combine in tight areas gives you solutions in high-pressure scenarios

But that right-wing Savino that does that is entirely different to a left-wing Savino

Here, he's right by that touchline. Most players would typically take a touch inside or maybe on the outside, close to their body

in order to protect the ball as a priority. But Savinho takes his touch away from his body and straight into a take-on

beating his marker and allowing him to deliver early into the box. Now, that's probably his best trick

That 1v1 ability from the Brazilian can be terrifying. And off the left, when he's wide, right by the touchline, that's exactly what he wants to do

And he's able to do that because he's such a highly technical footballer that he doesn't require a touch to set himself up for the take-on

His first touch can lead him into that dribble and that's dangerous. Because once he does that, he then has space by the byline to deliver into the box early with his next touch

Whether that's a cutback or a lofted cross, he has the pick of the bunch. On the right-hand side, that's different

As you see here, he beats his man on the right and gets into that byline space

but his preference is to chop onto his left foot and therefore Newcastle can get back and close his angles off Eliminating the effectiveness of arguably his best trait which is those quick take and early deliveries and some of them deliveries are top top class feels like a little bit of a waste because on the right

it's just not quite as effective. Now Omar Marmouche is a different situation entirely because

Savinho is leaving probably because he's surplus to requirements whereas Marmouche I think he's

even because of more of a profiling issue. Man City need this number 10 to be a proper creator

so that Erling Haaland can do all that beautiful forward aggressive attacking stuff. But Mamush

isn't a creator. He's a shooter. He's a ball striker. He's a goal scorer. So if he was to

actually play for City, he probably fits in in place of Haaland, which he's obviously never going

to do. However, if we look at Spurs attack from the Brentford game, there's a few things missing

And even if we scrap all of that and pull up their probably best attack at the current moment, there's still a fair bit missing from that team

You've got James Madison's slick passing. You've got Savino's brilliant crossing. And you've got Kudus' relentless 1v1 threat

But there's no shooters here. There's no ball strikers. There's no where the goal's coming from

I can't see who's going to score the goals here. Which is where Marmouche, as the number nine, comes in and gives them new avenues

He can drift onto the blind side of his marker and has such a wide variety of finish

In this case, he decides to reverse it into the far corner. But he has just such a good ball striking technique that he can give you just a wide range of different ways to score goals

And it means he can finish chances, whether they're half or full chances, and score goals

Which is something, I mean, if you watch the Brentford games, Spurs need a lot more than that. But they do also need a ball striker, a goal scorer

Last season, Richarlison topped Spurs Premier League goal tally. but as we know a lot of them were then games were getting a little bit scrappy and he was coming off

the bench equally as we know with Richarlison not to be too rude here but the bloke literally cannot

stay fit you're not going to get a consistent stream of goals from the Brazilian because

he's never there he's always injured which means for me Marmuch as that leading player who can play

majority of games and then has a nice creative supporting three behind him is so much better

I mean, if we look at his time at City, he managed 10 Premier League goals in just 37 league appearances

However, having a consistent goal stream is one thing. But as we know with Roberto De Zerbi his football isn just about direct goal threat consistently trying to just get from one end of the pitch to the other as quick as possible That not necessarily Roberto De Zerbi ball

So what else can Marmuch bring that allows De Zerbi's football to work with him as a number nine

It's a big challenge for me and I'm looking forward to it. De Zerbi's build-up creates these sort of fabricated transitions where the opposition are baited out

and then Tottenham's attack is left in a bunch of 1v1s with the opposition's defence on the halfway line

with massive space to attack in the opposition's half. Now, we've already talked about Savino

and how he can operate in sort of tight conditions and find you some nice solutions

which will be really valuable, I think, in those 1v1s if he receives defeat

But Marmouche also has some really nice ball carrying over big distances

which I think will work when getting from the halfway line to the final third. His burst of acceleration in that open space

whilst keeping the ball close to him allows him to push defenses back, but also keep separation from his marker

which is nice for Tottenham to have and will be important for them, I think, when they are breaking through, when they get those self-made counter-attacks, so to speak

But from Savino, we'll probably need a little bit something different in those types of areas

Now, in pre-season, Tottenham have used that sort of 3-1 setup, with two players operating ahead of that 3-1 in the pockets

The reason I mention that, and I mention the build-up, and I mention the midfield, and we'll come back to Savino, is because for the midfielders to get into the pockets

the opposition's midfield needs to be stretched by width holders on the wing, which is how I see

Savino at Tottenham. Someone who isn't just a withholder, but someone who's basically in the

stance is that far wide, looking to stretch that opposition defence and then create those little

pockets of space for other players. Because if one of those pocket players gets on the ball

the opposition defenders have to move narrow to win that ball, meaning Savino will instantly have

separation from his marker and will be able to manipulate the defender with small touches before

burst into the byline. For Spurs that's so useful, not only for the pocket players, not only for

Savino, but also for the right winger and the centre forwards. But I've got a question, I'm

to lean in for this one. What if Kouris and Savino switch wings? Does that still work for De Zerbe

Because it's something that may well happen in the season. Well with De Zerbe's six-man build-up

looking to bait the press as we've already established, I think Savino could have a role

to potentially play in this. When I look at the midfield that Spurs have right now

it is so much better than last season don get me wrong And I not being a Debbie Downer here but for me Tonali playing as the sort of deep pivot player the number six sort of role I don necessarily is always going to be the best case for Tottenham

because I still don't think he's the most secure player in possession. And at times, I'd actually rather him be someone who's breaking the line

with darting runs into the sort of attacking line of Tottenham's team

Which is where Savino in this position, dropping into that mid third of the pitch adds value

because he simply finds solutions to evade pressure and get out of those tight conditions

Now, I'm not saying we're going to play Savino as a number six. Do not get me wrong

Don't get me twisted for one second. But what I am saying is that I think he could drop in at times

when, let's say, Tottenham are trying to play in transition and he comes to get on the ball. Or let's say Tottenham are trying to use a little bit more rotation

in that midfield area. I think Savino could be someone who arrives deeper

gets on the ball, turns and gets spurs going forward. Like here, with City under pressure

and a defender arriving on his back, Savino arrives deep and instantly takes progressive action with a step inside

and then he drives forward the ball before slipping Haaland through on goal

At Spurs, he'd be slipping through Omar Marmouche, and I think as much as it's not earning Haaland, that's still a really nice dynamic

These positions where Marmouche is running onto a ball inside the box aren't his favourite shooting positions

but his finishing variety means even then he can score in those situations. So, especially after a pretty toothless performance against Brentford

I think the creativity of Savino and the goals and shooting potential of Marmouche should be

really really exciting for Tottenham fans. However I do also get the reservations around Savino

because of his lack of goal output at Manchester City. But if we compare his shot map last season

against his Girona shot map you see at City more shots came off the right whereas Girona where he

scored a fair few most his shots appear on the left side of the box. That's because he was primarily

a left winger in La Liga. Now Pep looked to use him as a right winger potentially

because of that ability to evade pressure, be a little bit more secure in swinging crosses to Haaland

things like that. But at Tottenham, he will be a left winger where he can arrive and shoot across his body

which I think is probably his favourite shooting sort of technique. So I do think

under De Zerbi he'll be on the score sheet a little bit more often. Maybe not 15 goals

but a nice little handful which will be good for them. Now I want you

to answer this question. Are you subscribed to 442? to next question why aren't you subscribed because we'll be back again next week with some more

ysis and i'm sure you'll enjoy it so i'll see you lot in the next one it's in a bit