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AVB & Spurs Tactics and Formations discussion thread

I don't think the formation would last long and it would be risking our defenders, bearing in mind that Gallas, King and Nelsen are all vulnerable to injuries. I also think that the opposition would double up on the flanks and so would cause us real problems whether they had speedy wingers or not. That is part of the reason we struggle lately when we play Bale and his wandering sideshow and Kranjcar on the other week as both want to be in the middle and so we look too vulnerable on the flanks.
 
Personally I hate this formation, but each to their own.

I normally do too! But it worked well for Wigan today, and without Lennon we rarely look natural with a 4-4-2 (or variation of that).

I don't think the formation would last long and it would be risking our defenders, bearing in mind that Gallas, King and Nelsen are all vulnerable to injuries. I also think that the opposition would double up on the flanks and so would cause us real problems whether they had speedy wingers or not. That is part of the reason we struggle lately when we play Bale and his wandering sideshow and Kranjcar on the other week as both want to be in the middle and so we look too vulnerable on the flanks.

I agree that we could be vulnerable down the flanks, but I think against Stoke we'd be okay as a) we'd have most of the possession, and b) I don't think their full-backs or right-midfielder would be a worry to us. I certainly wouldn't want to play it against Chelsea. And this wouldn't be a long-term thing - just something to try in certain games whilst Lennon is injured and we don't have a good replacement for him.

And in this system I would tell Bale to stick religiously to the left flank - we'd already have VDV and Niko playing freer and more central roles.
 
I don't think our players are intelligent and adaptable enough to keep switching between 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 and I don't think we have the players to make 3-5-2 work permanently.
 
We have no width with this formation.

Play our own game and fudge the opposition.

Changing our formation to deal with the mighty stevenage fudged us up.
Changing our lineup to deal with the threat of Phil fudging Neville fudged us up.
 
We have no width with this formation.

Play our own game and fudge the opposition.

Changing our formation to deal with the mighty stevenage fudged us up.
Changing our lineup to deal with the threat of Phil fudging Neville fudged us up.

Bale and Walker would provide the width. And the fact is that it's difficult to play with width when Lennon is injured, because we don't have another wide player to replace him.

I didn't suggest this formation based on our opposition, I suggested it based on it possibly being better for us when Lennon is injured.

Three at the back worked superbly at Stevenage.

oh wait...

That was a pretty different system and lineup though. Switching to three at the back at half-time against Stoke worked pretty well too.

I don't think our players are intelligent and adaptable enough to keep switching between 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 and I don't think we have the players to make 3-5-2 work permanently.

I wouldn't want us to play like this permanently. You might be right that switching between the two wouldn't work very well, who knows.
 
Another thing i really don't get is why did Redknapp use :

----------------------------Sandro--------------------------------

------------------Parker----------------Modric--------------------

--VDV--------------------------------------------------------Bale-

------------------------------Adebayor----------------------------



against Norwich which resulted in us playing some of our best stuff this season. Then uses it away to Swansea which was very close to being a win in a very hard away fixture.......and then just stop using it? i don't get it?
 
Another thing i really don't get is why did Redknapp use :

----------------------------Sandro--------------------------------

------------------Parker----------------Modric--------------------

--VDV--------------------------------------------------------Bale-

------------------------------Adebayor----------------------------



against Norwich which resulted in us playing some of our best stuff this season. Then uses it away to Swansea which was very close to being a win in a very hard away fixture.......and then just stop using it? i don't get it?

Because Lennon came back?

We did look good in those two games, although Bale was a bit nullified in the second.
 
Because Lennon came back?

We did look good in those two games, although Bale was a bit nullified in the second.

The point i was trying to make is that it was successful the 2 times we tried it out. You would think the next time Lennon got injured Arry would revert to that formation but instead he completely ignores it and goes with 4-4-2.
 
According to the media experts/ex footballers, Spurs without Lennon and Bale are useless.

Would love to see a stat of games won/drawn/lost with or without both Bale and Lennon in the side.
 
According to the media experts/ex footballers, Spurs without Lennon and Bale are useless.

Would love to see a stat of games won/drawn/lost with or without both Bale and Lennon in the side.

Tbf it certainly feels that way mate!! With no Lennon we really lack a right hand side it's depressing.
 
Not a very strong case considering he went off against Arsenal when it was 2-2, he didn't come on against Utd until we were 3-0 down and didn't play yesterday.
 
I don't think their full-backs or right-midfielder would be a worry to us.
Shotton tore us apart at the lane

I am 100 percent against 3 at the back. Our players would be confused, hesitate, concede. Even more than the last 3 games
 
When the dust settles I think we can see that there are a few things that have led us to where we are (both positive and negative):

- Harry is a motivator and man-manager. He can spot and encourage players to do what they are best at and usually plays them in their best/preferred positions
- Harry is NOT a tactical innovator, but he is often able to react within a game (though often this comes with high risk if we haven't been set up properly and find ourselves chasing a game
- Harry is not a manager that can comfortably manage AND ROTATE WELL a squad the size of ours. If everyone is fit the favoured 11/14 players will start most games until injueries/suspensions force his hand
- This often leads to certain players not getting much rest (e.g. Walker, Parker) and those who could potentially rotate with them not seeing much playing time and getting fustrated/asking for moves and/or if they do comein to replace them are often completely ring-rusty (e.g. Krancjar, Pienaar, Bassong)
- the lack of a clear set of patterns of play (beyond our skillful front 5/6 just individually outplaying teams) means that when the favoured 11/14 get injured/suspended and there is no like-for-like replacement, we often seem to struggle unneccesarily (in terms of our general play and organisation)
- we are probably also suffering from not playing in a reserve league; this would help ease our players back to fitness from long lay-offs and also keep other parts of the squad match-fit and ready to join the fray when they're needed
- Because of some of the above points we rush back members of the core 11/14 and they end up coming back too early and going into a breaking-down/not fully match fit/'blimey, we need them back ASAP' cycle.

I'm hopeful that the individual quality of some parts of our squad may just about allow us to pip the goons/chelski to third. And make no mistake, the Goons/Chelski are a shadow of their former sides. It would almost be an embarrasment to finish behind them given their issues this year (although you could argue the PL this year is less than it was overall in terms of quality, but there you go).

We need Redknapp to get us to the finish line by going back to what he has done best and played most positions simply (eg. could Sandro have done a good job on the right of midfield? He may not be Lennon going forward but he'd have protected our right side and given Walker some better protection. Oh and Bale and Modric would have been playing in the natural positions. I think it's often better to have just one playing out of position that two/three..)

P.S. - We are really missing Pienaar in terms of cover and versatility, IMO
 
[h=3]HARRY REDKNAPP insists he got it right by switching Gareth Bale from the left flank.[/h]



Some Spurs fans were left scratching their heads as Wales wonder Bale started on the right.
And they cheered when he reverted to the left in the second half.
But boss Redknapp said: "The right is a problem area for us at the moment.
"You couldn't play Rafa van der Vaart out there because Leighton Baines would have run forward and Rafa would have had a problem chasing him all day if you stuck him wide right.
"We haven't a natural wide-right player apart from Aaron Lennon but Gareth can play there.
"People who moan don't understand the game. People switch wingers now.
"Lots of left-sided, left-footed wingers play on the opposite side. It happens all the time.
"Bale likes playing there. He plays there for Wales and Gary Speed played him there all the time. He played wide right — he didn't play left.
"He did all right against Everton. He did better than he has done on the left in the last few weeks — it's not a problem."
 
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