Both Callum Hudson-Odoi and Hakim Ziyech have had plenty of game time recent months, but neither has really grasped their opportunity, and both have had their fair share of complaints from the fans as the bad results stacked up.
Yesterday saw both back to their best, and that was in large part down to Thomas Tuchel’s tactical switch.
The move to a back 4 meant they were starting a little deeper, playing more as wide midfielder than they would have done as a winger in front 3. They both did their part covering the defence, and also enjoyed picked up the ball slightly deeper. In Hudson-Odoi’s case this allowed him to pick up speed running with the ball, and he created a lot of trouble for Tottenham dribbling down the left.
In Ziyech’s case, it seemed to give him more space and better angles to operate in, and he picked out ball after ball from the right hand side that threatened the Spurs goal.
One of those crosses came within inches of finding Callum flying in at the far post, but in the end it was a reverse of that move which ended up opening the scoring. Hudson-Odoi’s run down the left created space on the right for Ziyech to shoot from, and the Moroccan picked out the top corner with aplomb.
We still expect Tuchel to return to his favoured formation, but the fact that these two performed so well with the team set up like this will certainly be making him think twice.