Alan Shearer reckons that Tottenham will be punished if their full-backs push too high up the pitch when they face Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.
Spurs take on the Bundesliga giants in the last-16 of the Champions League in a couple of days’ time, but the Match of the Day pundit fears that they will be “in trouble” if full-backs Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier press high like they did in the 3-1 win over Leicester on Sunday.
He says that this tactic will be punished by Dortmund if they do it again, despite getting away with it against the Foxes.
“I thought Leicester were the better team at Wembley on Sunday and the Foxes created chance after chance by getting behind Tottenham’s full-backs, Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose, who stayed so high up the pitch,” he said in his column for BBC Sport.
“If that happens again in Wednesday’s Champions League tie against Borussia Dortmund, Spurs are going to be in trouble because I think they will get punished. But, on this occasion, they not only survived, they found a way to win.”
OPINION
Shearer is right – if Tottenham’s full-backs do press too high on Wednesday, then it is safe to say that Dortmund have the attacking talent to exploit that to the maximum. Just imagine the field day Jadon Sancho would have if they played high up the pitch? Spurs need to prevent the likes of him causing havoc on Wednesday by ensuring that their full-backs have a lower line, otherwise they will just get in behind them and tear their defence to shreds. Like Shearer pointed out, this is a tactic that they got away with against Leicester, but they cannot afford to be complacent in such an important match. It took a lot of effort to qualify for this stage and the last thing they would want to do is mess it up by being complacent. They do not want to get punished by Dortmund, as they have the quality to go far in this competition if they set their minds to it.