Article: Could we play the Barcelona formation and would it affect where we need to strengthen? | Football, Tottenham

In my view...........

A "false no. 9" does what a traditional no.10 would do - drop deep, drift wide, pop up all over the final 3rd etc..... The difference is that a traditional no.10 would usually have a traditional no. 9 ahead of him as a target - for example Rooney playing off Hernandez for Utd. Whereas a player such as Messi, who if he played his position traditionally as a no. 9 would be the furthest player up the pitch most of the time, in reality does the work of a traditional no.10 without a no. 9 ahead of him. This creates space for Villa and Pedro to move into. When you add into the face that the Villa and Pedro (for arguments sake the wingers in this case) often swap sides it means that the Barca front 3 is damn near impossible to mark - as any one of them could conceivably end up in any of the 3 forward positions at any time, and all of them can operate either out wide or through the middle effectively.

This to me is one of the 3 reasons why Barcalona are so effective at the possession game:
1. they create more chances than any other team using this tactic
2. their players are the best at doing this, especially given how their forwards operate
3. when they lose the ball they have the fitness and desire to get the ball back ASAP

Hope I didn't lose anyone in the 1st paragraph there

 

Look Sirfuckwit. Ensil and I have disagreed about things. However, we try to do it in a civilized manner. I don't have to always agree with someone, however, if their point is well made, then I respect their opinion.
One thing we do always agree on, however, is our love of Spurs, and our desire to see them do well.
You, on the other hand are a Gooner, who is, at this moment, just about tolerated on here. If you don't like what you read on our board, please feel entirely free to **** off back to your, oh so stimulating, Gooner board.

 

Don't feed the WUMs please, NSIS.
Just ignore him or PM a mod.
They all just enjoy the attention.

 

Drew 2-2

 

****ball's on my ignore list

 

He's not clever enough to be a WUM, PNP. I was just "gently" reminding him that he's a guest on our board.