- Jun 13, 2008
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I actually thought dele and eriksen could play in a 3 but I’m not so sure now. I think it’s why we’ve been giving up so many chances and it restricts their attacking intent to much.
I'd personally never play Alli in any central midfield position at this stage of his career... However it might be possible (if both were working far more diligently than they have so far this season without the ball) in a 4-1-4-1 like Man City do - that has better pitch coverage and reduces the area needed for individuals to close down.
This shape, absolutely no chance of pressing, and so defending, well. Without the ball it basically becomes a 5-3-2, the wingbacks sinking into the backline, and just huge spaces wider out for the opposition to keep switching play. It's piss easy to bypass the two strikers (even though you cant fault Moura's workrate/pressing this season, Kane's though has been declining for 18 months at least not and is currently disgraceful) and then the three midfielders have massive gaps to cover and constantly having to chase the opposition. Your Dier/Dembele/Wanyama/Sissoko's are going to struggle doing that (as we have seen), let alone someone like Eriksen.
Here's a video as a good example of that concept, Cruyff explaining that point with his teams and about how much space you're asked to defend. About 2.30 on the vid (3 mins for the main part):