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4-3-3 Are they the magic numbers?!?

greywizard2020

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2003
331
709
Hi Everyone,

Since the season's beginning the subject of 'what our formation will be?' has been a perplexing one. With the free scoring '40-plus goals-a-season' partnership of Berbatov & Keane no longer shouldering the hopes and dreams of its management and fans alike: the way our team lines up has been a troubling quandary. A quandary the management have not yet found the magic formula for. Many, in fact all of you, will find this as no great revelation in itself, and I wholeheartedly agree you. This is not the aim at this moment, and I will promise I will explain further.

It was following Barcelona's 6-1 demolition of their rivals and champions league hopefuls, Atletico Madrid that I began to the ask the question:

Why can't we play like that, in that formation?

I understand that in the current context we're discussing one of the top-two club side's in world football. A club that has the vast resources and wealth that developing nations would salivate over; a club that is able to field a side containing would be contenders for the Ballon d'or. Nevertheless, the Atletico side they faced was by no means a poor one: the side did have some notable absentees in Forlan, Simao and Ze Castro. Despite this they were still able to field a strong side including the likes of Kun Aguero, Maxi Rodriguez, and Raul Garcia. How was it so then that Barcelona were able to strike such a resoundingly crushing blow? For anyone who watched poor defending (particularly in the first half) would be a simple explanation. This simple explanation, however does not address the sharpness of Barcelona's crisp one-touch and two-touch passing, sublime movement, or positive attitude.

The point I’m trying to make is that with our current predicament concerning our forward line finding a way to compliment each other. Ramos candidly even admitting in an interview “…the position of the striker is the most weak…” and the abundance of players in midfield: What reason stops us from playing with a 4-3-3 formation? I refuse to believe that with our current squad of international class players, we are capable of playing only the two formations of 4-4-2 or 4-5-1

This is how I would like to see our team line up when everyone is fit:


--------------Gomes------------
Hutton---King---Woodgate---Bale

-----------Huddlestone---------
------Jenas--------O'Hara------

----Dos Santos----Modric------
---------------Bent----------


The reasons for their selection and placements are as follows:

§ The Back Four – This is one of the few areas that really picks itself. With each of these players fit and firing on all cylinders I don’t think there’s any argument with their selection. King and Woodgate are by far-and-away, in my opinion the best CB partnership outside the top four. Corluka is a versatile customer whose adaptability makes him an asset in the positions he plays in. However, it is the CB spot that I believe that he is at his at his best and would provide adequate cover for either King or Woodgate. Regarding Bale and Hutton, I see them as our flying-full backs, a la ‘Carlos and Cafu’: both Bale and Hutton possess the athleticism, work-rate and consistency that’s helped propel them to starting berths in their respective national first-team’s. This is in no way a slight toward Gunter and Assou-Ekotto because when called upon they’ve done very well; more so it is the fact that the players in front of them have either the experience, or the greater ability in their position.

§ Huddlestone – His critics (including myself) have labelled him as slow; immobile; lumbering etc. and in the 4-4-2 system these deficiencies are brought to bear even more so than we would like. Why include him then? As the anchorman his imposing physique and technical ability means he would be the lynchpin of our team able to ‘quarterback’ our play from his deeper position. I’d envision him to be in the same mould as someone like Sergio Busquets, perhaps. Calm and measured in his performance without looking overworked; Busquets really does look the ‘real-deal’ in midfield, even keeping Yaya Toure out of the first team. I think this variation to the Hudd’s role is by no means beyond his ability.

§ Jenas & O’Hara – In the positional sense, I’d see Jenas as the most advanced player of the midfield trio there to support the front three. The ability, mobility and athleticism Jenas possesses make him a very good fit in this area of the midfield. O’Hara’s industry and willingness to do the ‘ugly-work’ would help to give our midfield solidity, which in itself gives the more flamboyant and creative players greater licence to express themselves.

§ The Front Three – Modric and Dos Santos represent two of the most creative forces we have had in our team for a long time. Modric’s ability to pick out a pass, and Dos Santos’ quick-footed directness would make them a scarily dynamic proposition for any team. With the shackles off, putting these guys in a far more advanced position would make them a far more prominent threat than what’s been seen of them already. With regards to Bent he’s played the lone forward before; his pace, mobility and proven league experience means he’d get the nod at this moment in time. With the creativity of Modric and Dos Santos backing him up I firmly believe we’d see an upturn in his goal scoring fortunes. What would be the fates of Pavluychenko, Bentley and Lennon I hear you ask? Respectively they could fit into the roles of the front three when called upon; perhaps Bentley could be used in Jenas’ slot if need be.


I understand that there will be those detractors who will lambaste and decry all the points I’ve made here. This formation and selection, as much as I’d hate to say it, is only an answer to the question posed by the situation. At the very least this formation may present us with a team that would be exciting, and maybe fun to watch.

Essentially I’d just like to see our side with a more robust and braver outlook. This formation, for me, is a statement of intent that we are a team not perturbed, or made fearful by the size of the task, but instead ready to engage the situation with a sense of exuberance and vitality indicative of the Bill Nicholson-era that defined the Tottenham way.

Whatever the answer maybe a unique opportunity has been presented to our management. Its at these times that I’m reminded of the famous quote made by the great industrialist Henry Ford when he said: “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” If that’s not optimism I don’t know what is.
 

superspurs

Member
Jun 10, 2003
60
0
Midfield cant dominate as a 4, would get trampled on as a three, especially if o'hara and huddlestone are two of those 3 and without zokora (who imo hasnt played that badly this season in the games i've seen in full). Im not sure the game would be more fun to watch i just think we'd end up losing by a greater margin.

As for modric, he has done nothing in a Spurs shirt to show me that he's one of the most createve forces we've had in a long time. For all that people say about his final ball i find it difficult to call a team from our current squad our best possible line-up without Lennon's name there. Despite all the critics, when he gets the ball things happen and he lifts the crowd and I'm sure the team because he can break free at any moment and produce an opening even if the final ball can end up wayward. In the form he's in at the moment when Modric gets the ball the crowd anticipate nothing.

Tbh the formation doesnt even look alien to me i wouldnt be surprised if we've had those 11 playing at some point, most likely to chasing a deficit. The team needs more cohesion and incisiveness. I dont think it's a formation problem - our signings need to find their feet quickly and if they havent done so by january and we find ourselves lingering down the bottom of the table, then we need to sign a couple of players with a bit more steel and determination about them.

If we could find ourselves a cahill and a zaki, adding a couple of players like them, 1 up front and 1 in midfield would make all the difference imo.
 

badajozjim

Member
Dec 6, 2006
297
1
The reason it works so well in Barcelona are their exceptional players and movement without the ball our players are far too static and don't have the same technical ability as the barcelona players. Wht is impressive about Barcalona is their youth set up, it really works well. Their first team includes Valdes, Puyol, Busquets, Pique, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Pedrito, all of whom have played together in their first team. They also produced Fabregas. La masia as their youth system is called is based on technique while i fear that british youth set-ups seem to be based on physique. We should nick thier coaches.
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
Yes but there is a constant longing on here for tough,enforcers.
Quality players like Modric,Jenas,Giovani,Lennon are always being downgraded and limited players like Tainio and Ohara are hailed as the answer to everything.
Zokora has been man of the match two or three times this season and I would like to see him retain his position. Huddleston hasn't been given a chance and Modric has been injured.
Would prefer a 442 setup with Modric in midfield and Lennon or Giovani in the hole with Pavlyuchenko or Bent.
But you could play all day with systems and players.Lets stick with quality and play them off the pitch,not kick them.
 

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
42,341
77,595
As a fan of Barca myself i've thought about this formation. I just cant see it though. First off, we can never play like Barca. They have a squad full of World Class players. We arguably dont have any World Class players left now. Potential World Class players at best. Secondly, we cant keep the ball like Barca do. And third, no formation will work if the players continue to play the way they are anyway.

I think you're right about Giovani and Modric in the front three though. Giovani on the right and Modric on the left both have the skill and trickery to come infield with fullbacks overlapping. Those are our best players to play in that role out wide. Trouble with that is, Modric is the only player we have that can be our Xavi in the heart of midfield. So we'd need someone else wide left. Probably Aaron Lennon. But Lennon and Giovani aren't Messi and Iniesta.

Huddlestone hasn't got the positional awareness for the holding role. He'd need someone alongside him to do the nitty gritty work aswell because he cant tackle well enough. Maybe if you're thinking of Huddlestone and O'Hara in the middle and Jenas as the most advanced of the three, it could work ok. But its not Xavi, Keita and Toure. And we still have the age old problem of no leadership and lack of experience.

And then theres Darren Bent. He's sure as heck not Samuel Eto'o class. He wont create as many chances up front on his own. He wont score as many goals. He wont have the consistency and he wont be a match winner like Eto'o.

Besides, haven't we already played this formation? Whenever we've played with a lone striker, we've always looked to push the wingers forward in support of the striker. And we've always tried to push one of the centre midfielders forward. But the problem is, we dont dominate the opposition the way Barca do. We dont force the play into the opposition half the way they do. Where Barca have players close to their frontman, Spurs isolate the frontman too much. Play too many hopeless long balls from the back. And dont keep the ball well enough in midfield.

The trouble with this subject is, we're a team desperately lacking form. Theres no reason why, when all players are performing to their standards, that either formation we try couldn't work well. Be it 4-3-3, 4-5-1 or 4-4-2.
 
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