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Tottenham Hotspur have to stop playing out from the back.
Spurs fell to a bitterly disappointing defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, with Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld somehow conspiring to concede a last minute own goal.
On the chalkboard
The result leaves Spurs without a win in five games and they are in very real danger of falling out of the top four before May.
There is a simple fix that could be made, though, as the club seeks to regain the initiative in the race to qualify for the Champions League; start going long.
Per WhoScored, Lloris touched the ball 50 times throughout the game against the Reds but he used it terribly. His pass success rate of 67% was lower than all but one Spurs player (Danny Rose) and was significantly worse than Alisson in the opposition net, and his distribution was noticeably erratic at Anfield.
Of his 46 attempted passes, 23 went long, but even then, very few actually cleared the halfway line.
All too regularly, Lloris invited pressure on himself and his defence by playing the ball too short, dropping it right into the midfield, from which Liverpool could pounce and counter.
This is fine against teams of lower stature, particularly those employing a low block and a middling press. Liverpool are not one of those teams and they looked to hone in on Lloris’ tendency to spray the ball to his full-backs. It should be noted that WhoScored categorise those sweeping passes as long balls, even when the ball has not travelled too far in a vertical sense.
With Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane all capable of lung-busting feats of stamina, they refused to allow the Frenchman any let-up whatsoever and it was of little surprise that the first goal came from a poorly distributed ball.
Lloris attempted to clip the ball forward but it was cut out in midfield, the ball was eventually moved to the left flank and, with all the time in the world, Andrew Robertson crossed into Roberto Firmino, who headed home.
There are a number of failings in that goal alone. First, the pass out from Lloris is not good enough and he simply hopes that a midfielder will read his intention.
Secondly, the defence is too deep from the off, because Kieran Trippier and Danny Rose, on the flanks, have been trained to expect their goalkeeper to utilise them from goal kicks. When he doesn’t, there is a need to push up immediately but, because the ball was lost, there was no time and Robertson was subsequently afforded the freedom of the left flank of the pitch.
Lloris’ kicking has long been seen as a major flaw in his game and is often cited as a reason for him never moving to a truly elite European club.
His last chance
Despite Lloris’ flaws, it may not be time for manager Mauricio Pochettino to drop him just yet, but rather change the way he plays for the good of the team.
Lloris is not the sweeper keeper he once was and his desperation to play the ball short is costing Spurs in the long-term. While being risky at best, it also slows their attacks and their build-up through midfield, allowing the best teams to squeeze up and restrict the space for the likes of Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli.
Going long is often seen as an admission that a game is going against you but it needn’t be that way. Harry Kane is world-class and has the ability to protect the ball from most defenders, even with his back to goal.
Spurs have to start trusting his hold-up play and inform Lloris that he cannot keep running the risk of another goal-inducing mistake.
The Frenchman has made too many in recent months; a change in the way he plays should help both him and Spurs ensure it does not happen again, and perhaps even save his future as the club’s number one.