Nine points 442

[jonnyrotten]

Players roles are more defined, we look more solid. Time to be brave at the San Siro and stick to the same formation? I think we would concede more with a 4-4-1-1.

Bye now, back to the pub.

 

[beats1]

You could we played 4411 with pav deeper and defoe further having the worst game i have seen him play

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Yeah, great performance. Not one decent chance and 46% of the ball.

You could hardly say the extra striker made any discernible difference to the quality of our performance.

 

[kaz Hirai]

Yeah, great performance. Not one decent chance and 46% of the ball.

You could hardly say the extra striker made any discernible difference to the quality of our performance.

indeed, and the previous two games weren't exactly flowing attacking football with defoe and crouch scoring a ton. too much emphasis placed on our formation

 

[lukespurs7]

indeed, and the previous two games weren't exactly flowing attacking football with defoe and crouch scoring a ton. too much emphasis placed on our formation

true

 

[WhiteHart4Ever]

Players roles are more defined, we look more solid. Time to be brave at the San Siro and stick to the same formation? I think we would concede more with a 4-4-1-1.

Bye now, back to the pub.

This 4-4-2 vs. 4-4-1-1 debate is a bit bollocks really. It aint nothing but a number and the difference is marginal. There's a touch some more difference to a 4-2-3-1 approach, in that you'll have two holding midfielders and less defending from your wide men. Is that how we play? Not at all.

I wonder whether your are actually suggesting dropping our most prolific forward and one of the top performers this year just to make sure there's no link-up play? In terms of being the "1" or part of a "2" VDV is not that different from the role Teddy and Keano's played for us in the past..

VDV should not drop as deep as he sometimes does regurlarly, but against Milan away it'll be fantastic to have a forward that can also fall into midfield and defend a bit..

 

[StockSpur]

we looked more solid in this game

 

[OpenHeartZoo]

Like others have said, 4-4-2 and 4-4-1-1 is near as damnit the same formation. We and the media are calling it 4-4-1-1 simply because we know VDV as a midfielder rather than a striker. Keane used to drop into midfield or the wing all the time and then we were labelled as 4-4-2.

We've been able to fight our way through the last three games by having a balanced back 4 (including Corluka, who has reminded us just how much more solid he is than Hutton), and having two energetic central midfielders breaking up the oppositions play.

If anything what these games are teaching us is that for the moment we need to consider striking more of a balance between defensive solidarity and attacking class, even if it means benching one of our top attacking players occasionally. To be perfectly frank, we really haven't played that much great football this year. We can maybe put part of this down to not having the right forwards, but we can't change that till the summer anyhow so we need to get the best results we can with what we have. For me thats going to mean suring up that central midfield a bit. If that means Bale sometimes has to play at LB and Modric on the wing then so be it. Maybe Lennon will miss out at times. I don't care. Lets get ourselves back in the Champions League and then in the summer we can have another stab at trying be a sexy footballing side.