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That's essentially the 343 we played though isn't it? If you want to stretch play going forward you need your full backs / wing backs to get advanced and offer some width.
Plus the gap between the middle two and the CB's is where we will get caught out, so the problem (not a bad one to have) is start Dembele in a more defensive role or play Wanyama and drop Alli or play Alli in the more advanced role and drop Eriksen?
Spurs formation is more like 3-4-1-2: Tottenham Formation 2016-2017
http://www.squawka.com/news/how-poc...ams-3-4-1-2-system/819755#BVIrGMATCgPxTafM.99
http://www.squawka.com/news/how-poc...ams-3-4-1-2-system/819755#BVIrGMATCgPxTafM.99
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Sort of yeah, though I wouldn't call the way we played a 343, more like a 352 (3412). With Kane and Son as the strikers and Eriksen in the number 10 postition.
You already have three CB's though, so I'm not sure how much of a gap there is when you always have that extra CB to cover. Personally I think playing Wanyama, especially next to another physical player in Dembele is a bit over the top in this formation, considering you are also playing with 3 CB's and two wingbacks. It was alright against Woolwich, since our intention there was to defend first and foremost, but against most teams I wouldn't play the two of them together. Alli and Dembele seems like a fine pairing to have in a 352. In fact, they have even played together in our 4231.
It's more the space in front of the defensive three that you risk getting exploited on the counter. There are some good examples earlier in this thread i think. Or maybe in the match thread... Basically if the back three get stretched then gaps appears centrally for runners. Woolwich didnt do a great job of exploiting this space as no one was making vertical runs.
Dembele was at his mercurial best surging forward, i for one would be disappointed to see him shoehorned back into a screening role.
Alli can play in one of the deeper roles as can Eriksen and i have no issue with them switching roles during the game to create confusion, but neither should be starting there. Alli is the second biggest goal threat in our team and needs to play the number 10 role when picked.
For me if we play this way when all fit:
Dier Toby Vertonghen
Walker Wanyama Dembele Rose
Alli
Kane Son
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If you're not willing to play Alli at 10 then you're going to have a problem getting some of our better players into that formation. If Alli is already at 10, where does that leave Eriksen and Lamela?
On the bench clearly. Eriksen (whose form has been questionable for best part of a year now) and to a lesser degree Lamela can come in to the position depending on injuries / form. Lets not mess about with shoehorning players into less than favourable positions just to get them into the side.
Its not something i would do week in week out, but its a useful system to have in our locker and if we do play it then we shouldn't feel like we need to force all our usual starters into it.
Probably me getting ahead of myself but would love us to play 4-3-3
Hugo
Walker - Toby - Jan - Danny
Dele - Dier - Winks
Lamela - Kane - Son
That's leaving out Eriksen who has been poor thus far, Dembele who is phenomenal but isn't the quickest at releasing the ball & Wanyama who has been fantastic for us so far.
Hugo
Walker - Toby - Jan - Danny
Dele - Dier - Winks
Lamela - Kane - Son
That's leaving out Eriksen who has been poor thus far, Dembele who is phenomenal but isn't the quickest at releasing the ball & Wanyama who has been fantastic for us so far.
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Wow, I really like that. That's putting a lot of confidence in Winks and Dele to run the game, but that may work very, very well.
Drugs are bad, mmkay
We were shit. We changed to 3-4-3. We became great. We changed back to 4-2-3-1. We were shit again. Time to change back to 3-4-3. I prefer it when we are great.
Would love to see that in a cup game. Its not very "Poch" though... he loves his two holding players!
ochbye:
Can't use 3-4-3 without Rose. Davies is a solid left back but he's not able to get forward and then back again anywhere near as quickly as Poch seems to want Rose/Walker to do in the 3-4-3. Probably can't use it without Vertonghen either. Lack of depth screwing over the team yet again.
I have to disagree with you here- I think Davies' best position for us is at LWB- he scored a goal for us from that position a few weeks back and looked good there. Of course Danny is a better player but we shouldn't use it as a reason not to play a 3-4-3. Davies would be fine in the Rose role.
We could play Dier-Verts-Wimmer back 3 very easily, and in fact should start doing so ASAP. It's not even our defensive frailities so much as it is our awkwardness getting the ball out of the back with a back 4- we've simply regressed at doing it since the 3-4-3 was effected. We need the extra man at the back as a passing option right now.
If that's true then someone should've told the club they can reinforce in January.
Bit frustrated we've moved back to what is less effective.
If Poch is dead set on not playing Wimmer we could even play Davies in the LCB role and play a wide man like N'Koudou at LWB. A few times yesterday Davies kept coming narrow when defending (into that LCB area) anyway, leaving our left open for someone to cross from.
Walker also excels in the 3-4-3 as he has more license to get forward. Yesterday he kept being caught out of position because nobody is covering the half space (RCB area) when he is forward. Last season when we had four at the back Dier would drop in between Toby and Jan, allowing them to spread and cover those half spaces. At the moment when we play 4-2-3-1 Wanyama isn't dropping in like that, so our centre backs are narrower and our fullbacks are either constantly out of position or unable to get forward and provide width, making us unable to stretch defences and attack effectively.