Spurs suffered a 2-1 defeat to Watford on Sunday afternoon.
Jermain Defoe has told Sky Sports’ podcast that Tottenham Hotspur’s defensive line for Troy Deeney’s equaliser on Sunday afternoon was too high, allowing Deeney the space to head home.
Spurs adopted a high line from free-kicks, which Defoe believes forced the Tottenham defenders to instinctively drop and ultimately gave Deeney all the time in the world to head home Jose Holebas’ free-kick.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side had taken the lead early in the second half, scoring through an own goal as Abdoulaye Doucoure inadvertently bundled the ball into the back of his own net.
But Watford won the match 2-1 thanks to goals from Deeney and Craig Cathcart – both from set-pieces within seven minutes of each other – and Defoe criticised the Spurs’ defence and their tactic of a high line.
“Naturally, defenders drop anyway,” Defoe said. “But I suppose as a forward, if the defensive line is high, you do it approach it with the thought of trying to get in between like Troy did for the goal.
“It’s a strange one. They has a wide free-kick and Tottenham’s line was quite high. Too high, in fact. The attacking players will be thinking they can make first contact. I think you can be too high.”
With the defenders dropping naturally when adopting a high line, it gives the opposition strikers in front of the defenders a chance to win the ball from a set-piece in front of the opposing line.
Spurs had begun the season in excellent fashion, picking up three wins from three against Newcastle United, Fulham and Manchester United which saw them join Chelsea, Liverpool and Watford with nine points from three games.
But Watford earned a fourth win on the trot, over Spurs, with the north Londoners unable to bounce back until after the international break when they face Liverpool before travelling to Italy to face Inter Milan on September 18.
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