How we should line up?

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Siggy has looked a bit lacklustre so far, whereas Lennon has looked decent. So for now i'd stick with lennon on the right of a 3, depsey middle and bale left for the next game

Sandro
Debele
Lennon Dempsey Bale
Adebayor
 
Siggy has looked a bit lacklustre so far, whereas Lennon has looked decent. So for now i'd stick with lennon on the right of a 3, depsey middle and bale left for the next game

Sandro
Debele
Lennon Dempsey Bale
Adebayor

Yeah agreed on the Siggy bit. That's why I starred him in my formation. His set pieces haven't been too great either (curse of WHL that, just ask Bale and Rafa <laugh>).
 
Yeah agreed on the Siggy bit. That's why I starred him in my formation. His set pieces haven't been too great either (curse of WHL that, just ask Bale and Rafa <laugh>).

there are a number of curses on WHL as far as i'm concerned. Didn't they consider turning the cockerel around at one point so it wasn't facing towards the Arse in an attempt to cure the injury curse? Lol.

1 - Injuries. Lots. Constantly
2 - Late goals (been a problem as long as i can remember)
3 - Set pieces. Just ****e, no matter the player or manager.
 
there are a number of curses on WHL as far as i'm concerned. Didn't they consider turning the cockerel around at one point so it wasn't facing towards the Arse in an attempt to cure the injury curse? Lol.

1 - Injuries. Lots. Constantly
2 - Late goals (been a problem as long as i can remember)
3 - Set pieces. Just ****e, no matter the player or manager.

LOL! I hadn't heard that. The things people believe in are brilliant... Only at Spurs <laugh>

Yeah injuries are just a f*cking every day thing with Spurs now.
 
LOL! I hadn't heard that. The things people believe in are brilliant... Only at Spurs <laugh>

Yeah injuries are just a f*cking every day thing with Spurs now.

There were other rumours that some construction in one of the stands had been done by Arsenal fans and they'd buried something in there. Bunch of whack-jobs us Spurs fans.

I still think its worth turning that bird round if they didn't do it :)
 
Getting concerned that AVB will always have 2 defensive mids. He seems very supportive of Jake, who doesn't look in good form to me - always with Sandro withdrawn first. I hope we will be more attacking when everyone is fit and available.

SoS's team for me, with Parker and Hudd covering Sandro and Dembele (Jake to shore things up when he is playing better). Lennon and Defoe to come into front 4, who have a lot of variations they can play (Dempsey can play any one of the 4 roles, and Siggy could probably play eny except the lone Striker role)
 
When everyone's fit and settled, bar the long term absentees:

Lloris
Walker Dawson Vertonghen Assou-Ekotto
Huddlestone Sandro
Dempsey Dembele Bale
Adebayor​

Play a little more narrowly then we normally do, with the width provided by the full-backs and Huddlestone playing pretty deep, covering the defence and distributing the ball.

Which would give us a second XI of:

Friedel
Smith Caulker Gallas Naughton
Carroll Parker
Lennon Sigurdsson Townsend
Defoe​

I don't think that's how Villas-Boas will do things though, unfortunately and it still leaves the problem of Defoe in a lone role, if we line up like that in the cups.
 
When everyone's fit and settled, bar the long term absentees:

Lloris
Walker Dawson Vertonghen Assou-Ekotto
Huddlestone Sandro
Dempsey Dembele Bale
Adebayor​

Play a little more narrowly then we normally do, with the width provided by the full-backs and Huddlestone playing pretty deep, covering the defence and distributing the ball.

Which would give us a second XI of:

Friedel
Smith Caulker Gallas Naughton
Carroll Parker
Lennon Sigurdsson Townsend
Defoe​

I don't think that's how Villas-Boas will do things though, unfortunately and it still leaves the problem of Defoe in a lone role, if we line up like that in the cups.

This looks fine to me and I think the only major diffrence AVB will have is Livermore for THudd. More than adequate to beat the bottom half of the league and solid enough to take more points from the top half. I'm no fan of Defoe but he should be better in this formation than 451 because the attacking three give more support.
 
This looks fine to me and I think the only major diffrence AVB will have is Livermore for THudd.

Which is why his system isn't hasn't worked, so far.
Two holding midfielders just doesn't give us enough creativity. Huddlestone, Dembele or Carroll, for me.
 
There were other rumours that some construction in one of the stands had been done by Arsenal fans and they'd buried something in there. Bunch of whack-jobs us Spurs fans.

I still think its worth turning that bird round if they didn't do it :)

We did it to them...

http://www.spurs.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=31064

Apparently they never used the site portaloo's either, crapping as much as possible in the foundations! <laugh>
 
It has to be 4-4-2 at home for me.

Lone Striker......
I can't really see the 'lone-ranger' tactic working for us at the Lane. Formations involving a single striker (one) amounts to gambling, not only with results at home, but with the well being and prosperity of key players in the squad, IMO.
Spurs just havn't got that type of striker on the books and in trying to re-invent Adebeyor and/or Defoe as one will prove costly in the long term. They both need to be partnered and the sooner Levy and AVB take grasp of our shortfall in this respect, the better.

I can't remember if Spurs have won anything of merit, when playing a lone stricker., Fast attractive, attacking football and going out to win, is what has brought most of the previous success to this club. I for one, don't want to witness this rather stagnated offering., which appears to be we score one goal and hope for the best thereafter. Whilst our two DMs are running into each other and pointing in different directions.

I'm not blaming Andre Villas Boas entirely., for the tactics employed thus far. You see, up until now, IMO he's been fighting a rear guard situation (covering his arse in other words). Its recognisable, there's been more heat turned on his ass over the last couple of months then he has ever felt. To AVB I beleive, it was more important not to lose those two opening home games then it was to win them. The damger is however, that playing two DMs with a single striker becomes comfortable on paper and the 1-1 draws at home become the norm. Which is not why we are here.

We need to be putting away more of the chances which will continue to be created.
 
I can see lone striker working at home to a degree, if we have Dempsey playing off Ade - but more as a midfielder getting forward than a forward dropping deep (a la Tim Cahill at Everton)

Then again, we pretty much have to use one striker in most games, as we only have two of them...
 
I can see lone striker working at home to a degree, if we have Dempsey playing off Ade - but more as a midfielder getting forward than a forward dropping deep (a la Tim Cahill at Everton)

Then again, we pretty much have to use one striker in most games, as we only have two of them...

And neither looks entirely happy playing the 'lone strikers roll.
 
In the near future I see our best team as

Lloris
Walker Dawson Vertonghen Assou-Ekotto
Parker Sandro
Dempsey Dembele Bale
Adebayor
 
I think our back 4 and keeper are going to be fairly predictable, injuries apart. It's the front 6 that is the issue for me.

A 4-1-4-1 could have

Sandro
Lennon Dembele Sig Bale
Ade

A 4-2-3-1 could have

Sandro Dembele
Dempsey Sig Bale
Ade

A 4-1-2-3 could have

Sandro
Dembele Sig
Dempsey Ade Bale

In short the possibilities are almost endless, due to the depth and versatility of our attacking options (apart from in the striker department obviously......)

The strengths we have are that we have 2 excellent goalscoring midfielders in Sig and Dempsey who are also very versatile across the frontline, two excellent defensive midfielders in Sandro and Parker (with Livermore progressing as well), and the fact that we can use Dembele in a more withdrawn role (which I would advocate) or further forward.

Our weaknesses lie in our lack of deep lying playmakers to replace what we had with Modric. Dembele and Hudd are both options in this position, and both provide good, albeit different options there. But one of them needs to play alongside a destructive midfielder to make us effective, as two defensive midfielders should not be an option. Maybe it would be if we were closing out a close game at, say Old Trafford, but at home? No nay never. I'd even be happy to see Carroll there rather than play the two DMs.
 
How about

Lloris; Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Bale; Sandro, Parker; Sig, Dembele, Dempsey; Ade

the two defensive midfielders would allow cover for Walker and Bale to bomb forward as well as allowing inclusion of our best creative and goal threats

Back up would be
Friedel/Gomes/Cudicini; Smith/Naughton, Gallas/Caulker, Dawson/Hall, Assou-Ekottu/Townsend; Huddlestone, Livermore/Jenas; Lennon, Carroll, Falque/Bentley; Defoe/Coulibaly
 
Getting concerned that AVB will always have 2 defensive mids. He seems very supportive of Jake, who doesn't look in good form to me - always with Sandro withdrawn first. I hope we will be more attacking when everyone is fit and available.

Agreed, me too. Also these two are prone to give away dodgy free kicks especially late on when they are getting tired.