spintheblackcircle
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- Mar 1, 2002
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Isco and Meyer Spurs have been busy today. It's gonna be a good derby this year with Arsenal having Hummels and rues.
Spurs do need to make some signings. They've only brought in Wanyama and Janssen and have sold Mason, Bentaleb, Chadli, and Yedlin and apparently want to sell Son
They rejected a bid from Wolfsburg, and it seems like he won't be moving anymore
Or the bid just wasn't large enough. Too soon to know.
A lot wrong with this post. The difference between central defenders in a 4 man back line and 3 man back line is minimal. In my opinion, a lot of reputable center backs who play in a 4 man back line are better suited to a role in a 3 man back line. Mustafi and Sokratis for example.
3 man defenses have a lot more use than cracking the 4-4-2, which Leicester by the way used to great success last year and more and more teams probably will use in imitation of them. They are generally superior to 4 man defenses in possession due to their better access to the half spaces from the first line of attack, and can also be very effective against 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1. See how much del Bosque's Spain always struggled against 3 man back lines.
I don't see many teams copycatting Leicester because their resources are allocated so much differently. It also isn't in vogue to play long ball football.
Okay, now how does the three man defense work for Tottenham?
Vertonghen fits as the left central defender, but the other two positions would have serious questions in possession. Playing a three man defense also forces Lamela away from his best position wide right, and he's not smart enough to play the wing back position and track back enough that deep. I also think that to some degree your wing backs in that formation need to attack well enough to justify playing it and with Kane up top, it's in question how exactly he would play in that system.
The reason it doesn't work in England is because their development is not geared towards nurturing the talents required for their players and especially for defenders to utilize it. It's also difficult for big teams to justify spending their resources on it given how much acquiring center backs is like playing the lottery. It works at national team level because those resources aren't required and it works for Juve because they have three of the best in the world.
It's a great formation when used right, but United and Liverpool couldn't get it to work even though they spent a ton on defenders. Conte also hasn't used it yet with Chelsea and I don't think their parts are well fitting either.
Mustafi signing is so we don't have to watch ****in' Mertesacker start, that's even worse than Gabriel.I thought the whole point of signing Mustafi was so that Gabriel wouldn't be a regular starter.
Signing Meyer would be a very good signing for Spurs.
Schalke won't sell this late in the window.
Which CBs fit best where is influenced heavily by how a team builds. For some teams they'll want the better passing CBs in the outside spots to take advantage of the half spaces to better support the build up into the midfield; while for others they'll want their best passing CB in the middle for the ball to cycle back through. With Xhaka playing behind Mesut - Santi you'd probably want Mustafi in the middle with two CBs who can play the ball on each side of him.
I don't see what's unclear. Alderweireld should work nicely on the right; but if his passing is insufficient to play through that halfspace, then he could move into the middle with Dier shifting to the right. Davies - Wimmer - Wanyama as the back ups.
As for Lamela, I don't see why he shouldn't thrive playing through the channels off of Kane/Janssen; plus this would allow Eriksen to be more consistently influential, playing as a 10, and it would get the most of Son when he came on for Lamela.
It failing when poorly executed doesn't mean it can't work. Neither does Conte having crap at CB to work with. Tottenham however has the pieces & the coach to make it work; though another midfielder & CB wouldn't hurt.
Unbelievable signing, watch out this guy explode in Bundesliga, what stupid asset management by Sevilla
Schalke won't sell this late in the window.
Which CBs fit best where is influenced heavily by how a team builds. For some teams they'll want the better passing CBs in the outside spots to take advantage of the half spaces to better support the build up into the midfield; while for others they'll want their best passing CB in the middle for the ball to cycle back through. With Xhaka playing behind Mesut - Santi you'd probably want Mustafi in the middle with two CBs who can play the ball on each side of him.
I don't see what's unclear. Alderweireld should work nicely on the right; but if his passing is insufficient to play through that halfspace, then he could move into the middle with Dier shifting to the right. Davies - Wimmer - Wanyama as the back ups.
As for Lamela, I don't see why he shouldn't thrive playing through the channels off of Kane/Janssen; plus this would allow Eriksen to be more consistently influential, playing as a 10, and it would get the most of Son when he came on for Lamela.
It failing when poorly executed doesn't mean it can't work. Neither does Conte having crap at CB to work with. Tottenham however has the pieces & the coach to make it work; though another midfielder & CB wouldn't hurt.
Kane/Janssen - Lamela/Son
Rose - Dembele/Dier - Alli/Dier - Walker
Vertonghen - Dier/Wimmer - Alderweireld
Lloris
Yeah, and then Vertonghen gets hurt as he's done numerous times and the whole formation has to be scrapped. There's no reason for Spurs to play a three man defense. Their best 11 players are clearly Lloris, Rose, Vertonghen, Alder, Walker, Dier, Dembele, Alli, Lamela, Eriksen, and Kane. These players do not fit in a three man back line IMO, and they conceded the least goals in the league last season with a four man back line.
Some decent arguments as to why other teams should use it though.
Not sure why people are referring to Rodgers' change to a 3 man backline as a failure, especially in his last full season. He pretty much salvaged the season by switching to that formation -- the only thing missing was finishing. If he had forwards capable of putting the ball in the net they'd have finished top 4 that season (Sterling was especially bad). Keep in mind when he switched to the 3-4-3 they became one of the best defensive teams and went on a 13 game unbeaten run (winning 10 of them). The late season collapse was more about the circus going on at the time than the formation, too.