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Monday, September 16, 2013

High full-backs stifled Norwich

Posted on 11:30 AM by Unknown
Prior to the game on Saturday Spurs season statistics, as shown in the graphic (acknowledgement and grateful thanks to whoscored.com for their production), showed us having had 53 shots, which apparently equates to us having created more chances per game than any other side! Rather goes to show that stats can't tell you everything.

Norwich as you can be see like to attack down the wings and why wouldn't they with the excellent Snodgrass playing, an underrated player who would do well at a bigger club I believe. If Norwich had a threat it was going to come from his delivery. Rose might have a tough day, at least that was the thought prior to the game.

Andre Villas-Boas's system was put into action superbly, 63% possession tells it's own story, there was only one team in it. That's not because Norwich City were bad but that we were that good, we simply had the better players, the better tactics and executed them better.

Hugo Lloris had a holiday, Norwich had one shot for him to save and that was straight forward. He must have been bored when he came out to punch a cross that was marginally outside the penalty box and got booked for his troubles. So why did we dominate so much?

Putting aside the extra quality of player we had, the answer lies in the system we play and the player movement we showed. I have been talking about our system in the tactical series and wrote ast about the role of our full-backs within it. You can catch up on it below.

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The full-back role
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There were two keys to our dominance, the first of which was our misunderstood full-backs, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose. This game demonstrated the points I have been making. In our system the full-backs both attack together, joining the others to form a seven man attacking force, a striker, an attacking midfielder, two wide men, two full backs and the link midfielder.

Now I have not been Danny Rose's biggest fan but I have acknowledged that he is learning and he is getting better. Against Norwich full praise to him. He was excellent throughout, his positional play at the back was better, his linking with the midfield inside him in defensive areas was better, this week he drifted covering the wide man instead of leaving him and he was alert to the danger when Vertonghen went down in the box to rush across and prevent a free strike at goal. In previous games he has been tracking further back and wouldn't have got there, 2 yards change of position to be with his man instead of behind him made all the difference.

But the other area, the area he is better at, going forward is also improving, his delivery into the box has over the last two games improved, his pass into Soldado which led to our first goal was an example of that. But the point I'd like to make here and the key element was that he was playing in the advanced role AVB wants from his full-backs. The Norwich wide men were hardly seen as an attacking force, they spent most of the game in defence trying to cope with Walker and Rose overlapping.

Attack is the best form of defence as the saying goes, Walker and Rose kept their wingers busy in the Norwich half, between them they put in 9 crosses (Rose 6, Walker 3). Walker currently sits third in the creativity league table for the whole of the Premier league, that's not a league table for full-backs that's for everyone. Needs to be replaced does he? Like I say some people don't know what they are watching, don't understand what our full-back roles actually are and these are usually the most vocal element of forums.

Walker consistently plays more passes for us in a game than anyone else. He created as many chances as any other player and more then the whole Norwich team put together, yet I have still read people complaining he was out of position. His defensive stats were excellent but that doesn't fit in with their blinkered view so they ignore it. His pass success rate was 84% from a whopping 98 passes, he lost the ball just once, won all his tackles and made all his clearances.

Perhaps people need reminding we have conceded 1 goal in 4 games, less than everyone else apart from Liverpool who are yet to concede in 3 games. Not bad for a defence, where if you listen to some, 75% of it needs changing!

Because we had so many players in their half we were able to press very high and win the ball back a distance from our own goal which of course minimises the threat of conceding. We hunted in packs and their players had to quickly pass the ball which meant they were passing it to whoever was available and didn't have time to pick the pass they wanted. The result is panic passing which will eventually lead to a mistake or nobody to pass the ball to and our pack pounce to win possession back. Of the 11 interceptions we made 6 were in the opposition half, 3 were on the left of midfield and just 2 central in front of our box. Those stats show we kept them away from our area for most of the game.

The other key element was the movement of our midfield. Because we had advanced full-backs and were able to press them back Paulinho and Dembele were able to alternate who went forward and who sat. Paulinho crossed the ball for Sigurdsson's second remember and that came from an Eriksen pass after Townsend had over run the ball going for another greedy shot. Dembele was the holding player on the occasion, a holding player in their half though.

If you park the bus against a 4-3-3 it can be difficult to break down but the movement of our midfield, wingers and full-backs was such that their defence got pulled all over the place creating holes that we exploited. As I have mentioned in another piece off the ball movement is key to this system working. If you have movement all over the pitch the defender has to constantly make decisions, do I go here, do I go there, do I follow a run and that is when mistakes occur.

Our off the ball movement was exceptional, Townsend was cutting in with the ball, Walker could overlap and Rose do the same on the other side where Sigurdsson didn't put in a single cross all game. The Norwich players ran themselves ragged because Dembele and Paulinho can interchange. Dembele can drag a player out of position, Paulinho step forward and a hole is created, they have swapped roles and the midfielder is marking the wrong man.

One can drop back to collect the ball off the central defender or the other one can, each time a Norwich midfielder would come with them but as they were playing 4-4-2 that left them with only three midfielders and only one in the middle, so no only did we out number them we had space to work in as well.

They always look to give the option of a pass between the opposition players, everyone is doing this, it sounds simple but England for instance weren't doing it. When the England back four had the ball there was no movement. Next game keep half an eye on the movement off the ball and see how easy that makes each pass.

Chris Houghton commented on our movement in his poat match interview. "We had no complaints today. We were beaten by a very good side and we needed periods of possession on the ball. We didn’t do that well enough. Tottenham are too good with their movement and they can hurt you. They will definitely be up their challenging come the end of the season."

AVB also commented on it saying our movement wore them out in 45 minutes.

“I’m very happy for the team, I’m even happier because of the football we played, especially after an international break, which is always difficult. We knew that Norwich would sit back and wait for the counter-attack, they do it so well and did it against Everton (first game of season) to nick a point.

“We had to be patient and move the ball well and we did it so fast, so quickly that it really made the difference. In the end, in 45 minutes, we managed to make Norwich exhausted physically and they couldn’t really cope with our quality out there.

And his view on what the key was to that type of performance was:

“First of all, the quality of the players to understand which pass is most important, they linked up very well to create so many chances. Also, our defence stood up to press really high, so we managed to recover every single ball straight away, so we never allowed them to be in a position to threaten us. We controlled the set-plays as well, so overall, it was perfect. There were many positives for us.”

As a blueprint for how we want to play the game and as an example of the tactical side we have been going through, you couldn't have asked for a better example.

Tromso can't come soon enough and nor can Cardiff City.





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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Bassong in praise of Eriksen

Posted on 11:46 PM by Unknown
Former Spurs player Sebastien Bassong was impressed after the new look Tottenham defeated his Norwich City side 2-0 with ease. He was full of praise for Christian Eriksen.

"Ozil must be one of the best number 10s in the world. He is a fantastic player, and Eriksen is not far from him.

"Ozil is more famous, he has played for Real Madrid and has loads of games under his belt.

"But I think Eriksen is a player I really like, the way he moves.

"He knows where to put himself, he was floating between the lines.

"And as soon as he gets the ball he is a threat, he is a top-quality player and it's hard to know whether to follow him as he can make the difference as soon as he gets the ball, in a split second. That is how top players are.

"Hopefully for Spurs and for him the Premier League will suit him well.

"I have seen him play before. He plays very simply with his touches, vision. He sees the right pass at the right moment and is moving well in-between, which makes him hard to pick up. For his position he has good qualities to perform.

"They brought good players in, top-quality players, and as soon as they get up to speed they will do very well.

"AVB has brought a different mind-set to the club. He brought this new mentality and a different way to play, different players, and I think it is working well.

"Lots of players went and some have come, the club is still the same but the team is much better than when I left.

"The club is getting bigger and bigger.

"I hope they will be up there challenging for the title.

"They have loads of players and if they can get them into a good team they will be very dangerous."





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Full match replay and Eriksen match highlights

Posted on 11:47 AM by Unknown
For those of you who have not seen the whole game you can watch it via this link: Spurs vs Norwich City

You can watch the 10 minute video below if you just want to catch up on the debut of our new creative central midfielder Christian Eriksen, a debt Phil Thompson was raving about, mind you he thought all the Spurs players were outstanding!

One swallow doesn't make a summer but his performance in his debut game was certainly promising. Cardiff City away and then an important game against Chelsea at home will tell us more.

Erik Lamela should have settled in a little bit by then as well. I'm looking forward to Thursday night as I'd expect him to start and get a game under his belt, along with Defoe, Kaboul, Holtby, Naughton and Chiriches if we have his work permit in time.






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Friday, September 13, 2013

AVB looking for players to step up their game

Posted on 11:29 PM by Unknown
Andre Villas-Boas is looking for a positive result against Norwich at White Hart Lane this afternoon. In three games last season Spurs were unable to secure a victory against them and with Norwich having strengthened all the Spurs new boys will have to gel quickly to not stumble again today.

He is extremely happy with the transfer window and has begun the task of finding the best version of his system to suit the unit so as to get the best out of all it's component parts.

"All of us have done good business in the transfer window, but Manchester City and us maybe a little bit more than Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. "We are happy with what we have done in the transfer window, extremely happy. Arsenal did a great least minute coup with Ozil but they will be as competitive as they were before.

"He is a wonderful, gifted footballer and in the end Arsenal paid heavily for a player of that dimension. It's a €50 million transfer for a number 10 that nobody has any doubt over his ability. They have lots of players for that position also but they have become even stronger with Ozil."

"This is a squad with great potential which has the ability to achieve our objectives that we couldn't last season. At the moment, we are trying to do that -- to put these players together and find a style in our play that brings out the best potential of each individual. That is the main objective.

"What we have improved on from last season is the individual quality we have on board and all the players are striving with big motivation to achieve it [Champions League football].

"That is the only thing we can do. The frustration was big after the Arsenal game because we had an opportunity to continue our perfect start to the season, and get a win over our rivals, but we didn't create enough clear cut chances in that game even though we had lots of possession. We wanted a result there.

"The players have come back here now looking ambitious to get the result we need and hopefully they can step up their game so the team can do exactly that."




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The FA masterminding England's decline

Posted on 12:00 PM by Unknown
With news that England are to slip to 16th in the FIFA world rankings behind Switzerland and the USA and the disjointed mess we witnessed in the Ukraine, Gerg Dyke has beaten the drum.

Newly appointed boss of English football [FA Chairman] he has to be seen to be doing something, he has to make his mark. His approach is a fact finding mission which is a sensible place to start.

He needs to welcome the likes of Gary Lineker who is willing to sit on his crisis commission into the state of English football.
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Last night's article in the tactical series:
Walker - understanding the maligned full-back role
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If you look at the stats Glenn Hoddle was doing an excellent job as England manager, he should certainly be another to sit on the commission. We don't have to many people who played abroad but their opinion would be valuable. What we don't need are the same people with the same ideas that don't and haven't taken England forwards. There will be some, and I have always had the impression Trevor Brooking was among them, who have ideas worth pursuing.

It would help if we stopped picking the wrong managers like Kevin Keegan, Steve McClaren and Roy Hodgson and stick with the right ones when you find them like Glenn Hoddle.

It should be compulsory for all players to be released for all internationals at whatever level and we should be sending the best team to international tournaments, not sending them to pointless money making matches in Brazil. Premier League managers should not be able to dictate to the England boss who can play and how long they can play, if you don't want international players playing for their country don't buy them.

The touble is there is to much money in the game, players are paid to much and they are more interested in earning money than what should be the ultimate honour, representing your country. National pride has gone missing, to many fans the Champions League has taken over and international football now gets squeezed into slots convenient to clubs. That has to stop.

International football has to be put first again and nations allowed to arrange their own fixture dates when they want to, not when the clubs want them to. If you lose a player that's tough.

There are issues with both FIFA and UEFA. It is unhealthy to have two people in the top jobs who simply stay there. Sepp Blatter will tell you he got re-elected and he did against nobody, he refused to allow anyone to stand! We pointed out bribes were being dished out that it had become a votes for cash organisation. Blatter having overseen all this corruption backed his opponent and the English were condemned for 'causing trouble', his opponent of course was guilty.

Blatter recently made comments about traditional football nations should no longer tell everyone else what to do, by that he meant England. I'd have had a private investigator looking into Blatter by now and exposing him for what he is.

Platini heads UEFA and wants tackle free football basically, an end to transfer fees and clubs 'owning' players. Both these men need to go before they do any more damage.

Quite how we are going to win back the support of the rest of the footballing world I don't know but I certainly applaud us for standing up for what is right, even if the rest are corrupt. Nobody should be allowed to serve on FIFA or UEFA for more than 4/6 years as a national delegate to help prevent corruption but who is going to vote to stop their own gravy train?

The English FA need to embark on the impossible task of bringing back tackling back into the game, refs give out yellow cards for nothing these days, when was the last player booked for simulating an injury? Isn't unprofessional conduct a bookable offence?

The rest of the world take age group football very seriously, we don't, we even appoint failed managers to manage them, where is the sense in that? What have Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate done as coaches/managers? They couldn't hack it, it all smacks of an old boys network.

I wonder do the FA talk to a club like Crewe Alexander who produce a conveyor belt of talent, do they take young coaches and managers like Eddie Howe and develop them?

All England age groups need to play the same system so they become totally familiar with it and players can step up a level knowing their role. They can't be an island with one coach playing the way he wants to and another another way, you are just pulling against each other.

Whilst we have a disjointed approach we'll achieve nothing. We need English players playing in the Premier League and more players playing abroad, quite frankly we need more players brought up abroad. The EU is blocking us with restraint of trade laws so although the like of Platini [UEFA] want more national playing in their own leagues there is little he or the FA can do about it.

Something needs to be done about English managers, the lack of them in the Premier League is restricting who we can appoint as a manager. More managers should be prepared to go and work abroad, I doubt many seek work beyond these shores, which it seems limits them to Championship and below.

Relationships like the one we have with Real Madrid should be encouraged and used at coaching level to exchange not only ideas but personnel. Six months coach exchange programmes to give insights and practical experience into foreign methods, foreign mentality.

How our children are taught needs to change. I wrote that article on Eric Dier and showed how he was taught to play in different positions, he had no choice, as a defender he had to learn to be an attacker and play it in competitive youth football. It is not a coincidence that foreign centre-backs are better on the floor and more composed in front of goal whereas ours basically have to rely on headed goals.

Player development was the priority for youngsters in Portugal, not winning as it appears to be over here. We stunt player development for meaningless wins. You win the battle but lose the war.

This is not a subject that can be really done justice here but the hub of the problem is the FA itself. Are the people who consistently appoint the wrong managers sacked or do they continue to be allowed to multiply their mistakes?

The FA seem to appoint faces that will fit rather than talent and that is a recipe for disaster. The organisation as a whole seems to have the wrong focus.

I have been, and stated on my Facebook page [Tottenham Memorabilia], worried about England qualifying for the World Cup in 2014 as soon as Roy Hodgson was appointed in what was simply a money saving exercise, his salary is £2m whereas he predecessor was paid £6m.

I suspect we have a load of people in the FA who are comfortable in their cushy jobs ambling through, doing what they do but not with any passion or burning desire to make a difference, to achieve anything.

The FA seem more concerned with running media campaigns, be it racism or their latest version of political correctness, an attack on Spurs fans.

Talk is cheap so unless Mr Dyke is going to refocus the whole FA approach and weed out the pen pushers not much will change, except for a bright new shiny media campaign to tell us it has.



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Thursday, September 12, 2013

Team vs Norwich

Posted on 12:37 PM by Unknown
Next up is Norwich City at White Hart Lane on Saturday at the unusual time for us of 3pm! I'm looking forward to seeing the new boys in the flesh.

With Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen not being seen yet, except for a small Lamela cameo and Vlad Chiriches new as well, what our long term first choice team will be is a little early to predict so we'll look at this weekends upcoming fixture.

The back five at the moment pick themselves, Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen and Rose.

We have just had an international break for 2 weeks and we have a Europa Cup game coming up on Thursday verses Tromso also at White Hart Lane kicking off at 8.05pm (20.05hrs) UK time. With that in mind and Younis Kaboul working his way back to match fitness, now mat not be the time to tinker with the central defensive pairing.

Come next Thursday it will be interesting to see who AVB goes with, presumably Kaboul, but will he play Chiriches as well? Anyway as I say it doesn't seem the right time to be tampering with the centre-backs, although you could make an argument that Dawson and Kaboul will have been training together for 2 weeks so could start leaving Thursday for Chiriches to make his debut alongside the experience of Vertonghen.

Kaboul and Vertonghen haven't been training together so pairing them against Norwich would be a risk. All things considered the back five remain the same.

Midfield, where we seem to have an embarrassment of riches, hinges around one decision really. Sandro will play the holding role and presumably Eriksen will play the attacking role so it's a toss up between Paulinho and Dembele.

Paulinho offers more going forward with penetrating runs into the box so he grabs the link midfielder role, Dembele will have to make do with a slot on the bench. Holtby is returning to fitness but is more likely to figure on Thursday.

Soldado will play central with Defoe yet again sitting on the bench, he must be getting sick of it already so he'll be needing a run out on Thursday as well. The wide men may not be so cut and dried as everyone things. Adebayor, who is another behind with his fitness due to the death of his brother is in Togo and won't be returning until Monday, not that he would have figured anyway. He has been told he will be training with the youth team when he gets back until Andre Villas-Boas decides otherwise.

Lamela played in Peru for Argentina in the early house of Wednesday morning, by the time he gets back to training he'll have little chance to work with the team so he may well start on the bench again. That gives us Townsend and Chiriches, assuming Lennon is not fit, to start on the wings.

Team:
Lloris
Walker, Dawson, Vertonghen, Rose
Paulinho, Sandro, Eriksen
Townsend, Soldado, Chadli

Subs: Friedel, Naughton, Kaboul, Holtby, Lamela, Sigurdsson, Defoe

Now I wrote this piece on Tuesday and was waiting until Friday to see if Lennon would be fit but AVB has made some comments today which coincide with my thoughts so I've released it a day earlier than planned.

On Christian Eriksen he told them: "What we did in the transfer market is in the expectancy of these players becoming world stars. I think what happened with Christian is a bit like what happened with Van der Vaart and Sneijder when they were at Ajax.

"They reached a moment in their careers where they became extremely important for the team, and the club that goes there and gets them makes a great transfer move, and we expect great things of Christian Eriksen. We would like to develop him into becoming that type of important player for us as well.

"Will he be in the line-up this weekend? There is a big possibility but it's not a certainty yet."

On Erik Lamela he told the media: "I think the qualities that he brings to our team are his creativeness, his ability to find a pass and the last pass that leads to a goal.

"He is a natural talent. He is not a pure winger, he is creative and likes to come inside and find different spaces. He's a player with tremendous potential that we have to work on.

"He is going to suffer problems of adaptation, bearing in mind the fact that he doesn't speak a word of English. He has to adapt to a completely different culture and mentality.

"Also the Premier League is very specific in its intensity. It's nothing like the Argentinean league or Serie A, so that will require some kind of adaptation, but for somebody so gifted it shouldn't be a problem. He is a wonderful, gifted footballer.

"The fact that he's yet to train with the team puts him in a very difficult position to start the game, but it's not impossible."

On Vlad Chiriches he said: “His work permit is not finalised yet. It's a process that takes a bit more time.

“He's fit and training and was involved in both games for Romania, but there's a possibility we won't see him involved.”




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Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Walker - understanding the maligned full-back role

Posted on 1:46 PM by Unknown

Over the last few articles we have looked at a tactical analysis of our game, seen a video of the basic 4-3-3 concept, what it's trying to achieve, established player roles within the system and looked specifically at our own game and how our Head Coach (Manager) Andre Villas-Boas has us operating his version of the 4-3-3 system.

The greatest area of confusion and misunderstanding is over inverted wingers and full-backs which polarises opinion about certain players, Walker being a prime example.

Traditionally full-backs played alongside centre-backs in a flat back four but that is generally no longer the case. Now the full-back starting position is well in advance of the centre-back. Next time the ball is with Hugo Lloris look at the starting positions Rose and Walker take. During the game have a quick look where they are, you'll see them much further forward than you'd expect.

In today's game the full-back is an attacking weapon who needs sprinting speed to get back and defend. Where it is usual within the system for one to attack and one to hold back, alternating depending upon which side the ball is, under AVB's version of the system they both go forward at the same time to join the attack giving us seven attackers. If we lose the ball we can initially look to hunt the ball back in numbers.


AVB likes to play with one winger who can play as a winger or cut in inside and one more traditional winger, that's the approach he adopted with his treble winning Porto side and the approach so far adopted with us. We get into problems if both wide men want to come inside all the time as we lose the element of surprise and are asking the full-back to do an immense amount of work. Constantly overlapping and constantly having to get back is tiring, fitness is key.

Let's look at defending. The full-back tucks in when defending so as not to leave a big gap between them and the centre-half the attacking team can exploit. If the ball goes to a wide man he has to rush out to them, that is his role, Walker does it well, yet fans amazingly complain that he's doing it, thinking he is out of position and not tight on his man, man marking him as it were. What he mustn't do is get to close to his central defender so that if the ball is played to the wide man there is nothing he can do about it.

It is his role, along with the wide forward to patrol the area outside the penalty area to the sideline so when defending Chadli against Arsenal should be helping Rose out when Arsenal scored, however he and Dembele don't get back in time and Capoue has to come across. Rose shouldn't have been the one to close down the player on the ball but Arsenal had worked a two-on-one situation. Had Capoue covering taken that role on Rose could have drifted wider to cover Walcott. I highlight and show a video of this not to blame Rose (he has almost been forced into this) but to demonstrate a point how one lapse can be costly.

Play the video below and stop it after just 3 seconds.


Look at the defence, Rose goes to the ball when the player inside him, which I think is Capoue, should be the one doing that so Rose can cover the wide man. Ideally it should be Dembele or Chadi there undertaking that role but they hadn't made it back yet.

Moving back to attacking, playing with advanced full-backs we then have options. The full back can stay behind the wide winger, he can come inside ready to play the ball in behind the opponents full back (Walker looks for this pass a lot with Lennon, Townsend isn't reading this pass yet) or he can overlap the winger when they come inside. The example below against Crystal Palace shows Walker about to play the ball in behind the full-back and Lennon you will notice has already set off for the pass to beat the defender to it.


Lennon is proactive, he has read the game, knows what is going to happen, Townsend understandably is still developing that understanding with Walker and is currently more reactive, he goes when the pass has been played. Many fans when they see Walker play this ball and when nobody gets on the end of it knock him calling it a bad pass, but it's not, it's the right pass, it's a defence penetrating pass, exactly what we want, so unless he over hits it it's down to the winger if he watches and doesn't get on the end of it.

By the full-back being heavily involved with attacking play when we lose the ball again the same fans complain Walker is out of position, well quite frankly he's not because that's where AVB wants him to be. I use Walker as an example here but equally the same can be said for Rose.

The three man defence, two centre-backs and holding midfield player, are tasked with holding up play until the full-back can get back. It's disappointing when Walker has to shut his Twitter account because of abuse from fans who simply don't understand the role of the modern day full-back. Let's hope Rose doesn't have to suffer the same fate.

Now with an attacking full-back overlapping the winger has an unseen role to play here.

Think about this, if you want Walker and Rose to be putting in a lot of crosses from near the byline for you, they have a long way to keep sprinting back. Now that's OK but how many times a game do you want them to do that and how long before they get tired?

What happens when a player get tired, usually late in the game, he has lapses in concentration which lead to mistakes. As a winger you can't simply cut in all the time and expect your full-back to have super human qualities and be overlapping every time. The winger has to manage the full-back if you like. If Walker or Rose has just sprinted back from the byline they need a minute or two to recover. This may simply be a thumbs up between them or the winger appreciating that next time he gets the ball he'll attack on the outside instead of cutting in to give the full-back some recovery time.

There was a prime example of this in the England game against Moldova at Wembley. Walker was beside the opposition penalty area with an England attack, however we lost the ball. He was then in picture sprinting back the full length of the pitch and caught his man before our penalty area, we won the ball back, he played it inside and obviously he needed a little breather. The ball came back over to Theo Walcott who had tucked in a third of the way into the opposition half and he simply back flicked the ball without looking and it went out for a throw in to Moldova. Walker was standing on the half way line, not expecting the flick and quite frankly not wanting it, he wanted, needed a breather. It's something simple, a piece of game management, player management, but it immediately gave the opposition the ball.

Lennon and Walker operate very well together, they have developed an understanding, they are both very quick and can help each other out defensively. Townsend on the other hand, if playing on the right, simply wants to cut in and have an eye catching shot. Great for the cameras but it puts Walker under an enormous amount of pressure to be supporting the attack overlapping to stretch the defence all the time.

For those of you shouting Bale did it, I'll remind you once again of the stats. Bale's shooting accuracy from outside the box last season was the best in Europe, 44%, Townsend's was 18% and he created nothing for his teammates either. It has it's place but greater game awareness is needed otherwise Walker is effectively playing as a winger and a full-back and has the physical effort of being in two places a t once almost.

It's end product that counts and at the moment we are not getting an end product from our wide men. They are not feeding Soldado who scores goals from inside the box. One blocked shot from a cut back in the first 80 minutes against Arsenal should tell you all you need to know. Erik Lamela will quickly need to form an understanding with Walker and be the team player Lennon is, interlaced with moments of individuality.

For Townsend to flourish as an inverted winger he has to learn when to come inside, when to go outside and to use his right foot, which Les Ferdinand tells us he is doing. Our winger options are Lennon as a traditional winger on the right, Lamela, who can use both feet, as a traditional winger who can also play like an inverted winger, Chadli, who can also use both feet, can perform the same on the left and Townsend who can play traditional on the left or inverted on the right.

Quite a few options and Rose and Walker have to form an understanding with all of them. Tough job being a full-back. Fortunately we have a set system and players come in to fill a role within that system, in their individual way, so we don't change our basic game simply because someone is injured or suspended.

Chadli and Rose seem to have struck up a working relationship very quickly, they have started to work as an attacking unit well together with Rose looking for the flicks that sets him free. I've not looked at them as a defensive unit much yet, apart from the video example of the Arsenal goal in Monday's article, only Rose in isolation so that's one for the future.

Across on the right hand side Walker and now Lamela one expects, haven't yet played together so will have to learn each others game and develop an understanding. Townsend will continue to develop his game and that will put Lennon under pressure for probably the first time.

Previous articles:
Tottenham - A Tactical Analysis
Video - The 4-3-3 explained
Player roles within a 4-3-3
Players attacking roles within a 4-3-3 system
AVB Formula for Success

Think about the system we are playing, watch the 4-3-3 video again and you'll be watching our games in a new light.




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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

AVB formula for success

Posted on 2:21 PM by Unknown
With AVB saying we are likely to continue to play 4-3-3 for most of the season we have been looking at it through a series of articles. This one looks at the Andre Villas-Boas team make up. You can fins links to previous articles at the end of this one.

Under Harry Redknapp Spurs game centered around Luka Modric and when he was sold fans called for his replacement, howver Aandre Villas-Boas has adopted a different approach that involves the team instead of the individual. Now there is a more patient probing approach to the Spurs game.

A look at the Porto side gives us the basic formula that Villas-Boas is using with a little tweak.

He coached a highly talented Porto team to an undefeated Portuguese league title, won the Portuguese Cup and won the Europa League. He had them playing a 4-3-3 system. The front three were left-footed player (Hulk) on the right wing, a goal scorer central (Radamel Falcao) and a more traditional winger on the left (Silvestre Varela, James Rodriguez).

Look at Spurs new squad and you will see similarities, Lamela, Soldado, and Chadli. One is a young, goal-scoring winger, a poacher central and a more traditional winger on the right, although perfectly capable od scoring themselves. As back up you have another poacher type in Defoe, a traditional type winger in Lennon and Townsend with an eye for goal. Adebayor offers an alternative but is a goalscorer when on his game.

His Porto three-man midfield operated in a triangle with a holding player at it's base. The key elements were movement and interchangeability to be able to transform defence into attack quickly.

When he arrived at Chelsea he amended that approach, saying: “You lose a little bit of balance in the Premier League if you play that way. Transitions here are much more direct, making the importance of the number 6 to stay in position most decisive."

The creative hub of Porto was a deep lying playmaker (Joao Moutinho) who of course we tried to sign but that approach now looks to have been abandoned with the purchase of Christian Eriksen, in favour of creativity higher up the pitch. The number 10 role behind the striker is now the creative hub with a solid defensive midfielder (Sandro, Capoue, Holtby) and an energetic box to box midfielder (Paulinho, Dembele, Holtby). Gylfi Sigurdsson it would seem is now the understudy to Eriksen in this system although Chadli can play there also. Plenty of fans like Holtby there but AVB has already said and Holtby agreed that his best role is probably as a number 6 and not a number 10.

The high line defence was a Porto trait and has been replicated at Spurs. Danny Rose and Kyle Walker are both very quick full-back able to support attack and get back into defence. Jan Vertonghen is a mobile central defender comfortable on the ball. Chiriches is in the same mold. Dawson, it is safe to say, has surprised AVB with his adaptibility and Younis Kaboul is again quick and likes the ball at his feet.

The Spurs squad now resembles his Porto squad, we can expect a similar brand of football with a tweak in midfield, the creativity moved forward. When you hear of transfer targets the first thing to do is look at the type of player they are and which position they would slot into, remembering all we are doing is replacing a cog. That will tell you if they are a genuine transfer target or just a newspaper fiction.

The midfielders must be strong and mobile to close down the middle of the field and win the ball back in positions to transition quickly into attack.

The forward and wingers who receive the ball quickly can combine with the attacking midfielder to create chances. That is one option.

The other is grind them down. Our game often seems slow and to be built on relentlessness rather than creativity. The overriding impression last season and the beginning of this one is not one of speedy attacks but more of a tank moving forward, again and again and again until something gives.

Our philosophy looks to be one of, if you sustain the pressure long enough your opponent is bound to crack eventually, and when they do, a combination of skillful attackers will play an important pass, finish a lightning-quick move, and score a goal. The possession stats seem to bear this out, 52% possession at home and 53% possession away last season.

Spurs game is no longer centered around one player but a new system approach involving the team which makes it a lot easier to replace a part, you simply slot a replacement in. If you lose a star player it won't destroy the system, it's the healthy approach rather than unhealthy centered around one player approach. There is room for individual brilliance of course there is but that is merely the cherry on top.

Within the system the squad can now be rotated, all playing the same way rather than having to change the system because a player is missing. Having said that there is still the ability for tactical flexibility, a 4-3-3 can change into a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-1-4-1 with very little disruption.

The other crucial and overlooked element by most fans is the mental side of the game. AVB was charged with changing the mentality of the club form we hope to achieve success to we expect to achieve success, he was asked to create a winning mentality.

During the first part of the season Spurs were regularly conceding goals, partly this was due to taking off strikers and bringing on defensive players pushing the defence back thereby abandoning the high line. This creates a negative mindset, an all hands to the pump firefighting type of feeling. When AVB realised this and after we conceded two against Everton having been in a winning position after 90 minutes, the training was changed.

Concentration had to be improved. No more were defenders brought on to hold a lead and the result was only one goal conceded after 80 minutes for the rest of the season, a penalty against Liverpool. At the other end however late goals were scored against Man Utd, Everton, Southampton and Sunderland at home as well as West Ham, Chelsea, Wigan and Stoke away. The most memorable in Europe was the Bale free-kick against Lyon with virtually the last kick of the game.

There is now a never give up mentality, a determination not to concede late that augers well for the future.

Now that AVB has the pieces in place it will be interesting to see how the system develops and performs as it is in place for years to come.

Previous Articles:
Tottenham - A Tactical Analysis
Video - The 4-3-3 Explained
Player Roles Within A 4-3-3
Players Attacking Roles Within A 4-3-3 System




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Eric Dier a 19 year-old to watch

Posted on 7:27 AM by Unknown
I brought to the attention, through my Facebook page [Tottenhem Memorabilia], around March time a young English player by the name of Eric Dier.

I reported how he had grown up in Portugal and learnt his football there with Sporting, formerly known as Sporting Lisbon. The article was looking at training methods and the difference between his football upbringing and the upbringing of footballers in the UK.

During the summer the England U19 player was linked with Chelsea, Arsenal, Man Utd and ourselves among others. He has now graduated to the England U21 set up and played against Moldova recently.

Portuguese newspaper Record are reporting that he has been offered a new deal, his existing one runs out in 2016, but that he is unlikely to sign it unless it is improved.

He current contract was when he was coming through the ranks but he is now established in the first team, after breaking through last season and so is after an improved contract. They report that the Portuguese club want to insert a £38.02 million (€45m) release clause in his contract but can't pay him the wages to justify it, which does rather leave them in an awkward situation.

Apparently he has a £16.90 million (€20m) buyout clause at the moment which is either standard or an indication of how they see him developing. I would suggest the former but wishing to over double his value does suggest they consider him to be a valuable asset they can capitalise on at a later date.

That all sounds reasonable enough but with English clubs circling more money will be on the table over here so it's a decision he will have to take. He is unlikely to walk into a side a side though so if he did sign, would he stagnate, would he be loaned out to a Premier League or Championship club or would and should he be loaned back to Sporting.

It seems to me that when clubs eventually get their heads round Financial Fair Play and devise a strategy to deal with it, buying up all the young talent is going to be a major part. I can then see them being loaned out to learn their trade and get regular football to develop.

If this is the case it would be sensible to have tie ups with clubs in various leagues around Europe who we could loan players to, much like we have done with Swindon Town. It would require discussions with club management and agreements in place as to the type of football each team is going to play in the long term, in other words we would want footballing teams and not long ball merchants. Both Chelsea and ourselves have a tie-up with Royal Antwerp in Belgium, it would make sense to have one in Holland.

At the end of the day having bought young talent and developed it you would sell a lot of it on for a profit and keep the best for yourself, just the way the academy works at the moment.

Tim Sherwood is in charge of player development at Spurs and is highly though of by Daniel Levy. I wonder if Spurs already have this in mind and that Sherwood's role is going to become more international and arguably more important.

Franco Baldini has certainly been tasked with unearthing new young talent and our scouts are working towards that end, only recently we read stories of a young 18 year-old Frenchman at PSG being watched by our scouting team.

Dier is currently 19 and we were apparently prepared to pay £4.22 million (€5m) for him but Sporting wanted £6.34 million (€7.5m). He played 14 league games last season as a right-back, a centre-back and defensive midfielder before he fractured his rib in April. He scored 1 goal which came in only his second game, from right-back. He also appeared for England at the Under 20 World Cup playing 3 times, the Under 19 European Championships playing 3 times and 2 international friendlies at age level.

I pointed him out as one to keep an eye on, it seems teams are now doing just that.



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The series continues tonight 10.21pm

Posted on 1:14 AM by Unknown
Released tonight at 10.21pm (22.21hrs) UK time is another in the tactical series, which has grown from an initial article, where we are continuing to look at the 4-3-3 system Andre Villas-Boas expects to play for most of the season.

The system changes into what looks like a 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-4-1 or 4-5-1 depending upon the game situation but starts and reverts back to a 4-3-3.

The article tonight entitled, AVB Formula For Success, is the 5th in the series and looks at the replication of his Porto side at Tottenham. Is there a misconception over his use of inverted wingers? Tonight's article will help you answer that.

Once you see the team blueprint you will be able to identify the type of player we want, you'll better be able to see which future targets are genuine and which are newspaper speculation when it all starts again in a couple of months.

Previous Articles in the Series:
Tottenham: A Tactical Analysis - looks at our system through the eyes of the Arsenal game
Video: The 4-3-3 Explained - explains player and ball movement within the system to enable you to recognise patterns of play.
Player Roles Within A 4-3-3 - lists the basic defensive roles for each player
Players Attacking Roles Within A 4-3-3 System - lists the basic attacking roles of each player

Immediate Future Articles:
AVB Formula For Success - (tonight 10.21pm , 22.21hrs UK time)
Walker - Understanding The Maligned Full-Back Role  (Wed  10.46pm, 21.46hrs UK time)

Looking further forward I'll produce articles to look at the centre-backs, midfield, wide men and the central striker, although I don't suppose we should leave the goalkeeper out, can't have him feeling unloved, so an article on his role as well.

That makes for around 11 articles to begin with, I say to begin with, there were only going to be two but a series has morphed out of it so who knows how many there will eventually be. Spread over time, although I've crushed a few in before our next game to aid your viewing experience, I hope you are enjoying and will enjoy the series.

Thanks for your comments, I do read them, it would appear generally you appreciate having something to read about the club we all love that is different from the norm, different from the rehashed news available on many others websites.

By the way when you see rehashed new it is possibly because the website is automated, software grabs an article from another website, more software automatically re-writes the article and it is then auto posted so there is no human involvement. I don't suppose I can convince you my frequent errors are deliberate to show you I'm human, no I didn't think so!

This series started because searching the web I came across a good article by NBC. As it agreed with my views, I took the basis of it, gave it my own twist, added to it and the beginning of a burgoning series was born.

Finally if there are future topics you would like me to cover, or indeed fancy penning an article yourself, do leave a note in the comments and I'll pick it up.





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Monday, September 9, 2013

Players attacking roles within a 4-3-3 system

Posted on 1:41 PM by Unknown
We have looked at the player roles in a 4-3-3 in defence, prior to that a video explaining player movement and basic idea plus a tactical look at the way we play it.

Before we look at positions here are the players attacking roles which I was going to tackle later but a post comment rightly shows it's relevance now.

I'll put off looking at the full-backs play until Wednesday evening after the Ukraine vs England game is out of the way.

THE GOALKEEPER
1) Accurate distribution – diagonal distribution
2) Support defenders for balls back.
3) First thought to play short. If not on to play short play long and wide (taller winger if kicking increases chance of success).

DEFENDERS – FULL BACKS
1) Provide outlet support for goalkeeper and central defenders.
2) Quick and accurate distribution to target forwards, both in the wide and central channels.
3) Pass either directly into the forwards or beyond them and the opponents’ back line forcing both the forwards and the defenders to turn and engage in a foot race to establish ball possession (i.e. ball inside a full-back for winger).
4) Think like an outside midfielder to provide width, overlap and the option for switching attack.
5) Think like a winger in the final third.
6) Push up on offensive restart opportunities (high pressure to ideally win the ball back in opponents half).

CENTRAL DEFENDERS
1) Spread the width of the penalty area to receive and give quick, accurate distribution to full-backs, midfielders or attackers as situation demands (Dawson is designated to have the diagonal ball option to a tall winger under AVB - less room for error than to a short winger).
2) Provide depth support for midfield.
3) Switch attacking sides of play when situation demands.
4) Come out of defence with the ball if sufficient cover, otherwise don't.
5) Provide a scoring threat from dead ball situations.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER(S)
1) Dictating the speed of the game.
2) The link from defense through midfield to forwards. Find space to receive ball from defenders.
3) Switch side of attack when possible, through midfield (give-and-go passes) or pass from central defenders.
4) Stay available to attack to redistribute the ball forwards and start another attacking probe/scoring opportunity.
5) Take shots from outside of the box (30 yards or closer).

ATTACKING MIDFIELD(S)
1) Provide immediate support for midfielders to establish possession dominance.
2) Provide accurate forward passing to teammates.
3) Use combination play (give-and-go passes) to create space in center of the field.
4) Switch side of attack when possible.
5) Stay available to attack providing a pass outlet.
6) Make penetrating runs with (receive cut back from wide player) or without the ball.
7) Take shots from outside of the box (30 yards or closer), score goals.
8) Provide creative defence splitting through balls (make chances).
9) Understand that ball retention in the final third allows time for penetrating runs from forwards having moved the opposition out of position.

CENTRE FORWARD
1) Play deep, off-shoulder to check back and receive as the ball as the primary target.
2) Look to spin and get in behind.
3) Look for penetrating through runs for balls into space, look for quick switches to wings.
4) Make penetrating runs to drag defensers out of position and create space for others.
4) Take outside shots to high corners to catch keeper off their line.
5) Go strong to the box to finish crosses and through balls.
6) Create scoring opportunities and score goals.
7) Be mobile in the penalty area whenever crosses are imminent (movement is difficult to mark so attack the space the ball is likely to go).

WINGERS
1) Near side support and runs off target player; far side runs for quick switches.
2) Provide outlet opportunity from the full backs.
3) Look to switch play if solid defensive set-up.
4) Attack the space for through balls, overlaps and corner runs, avoid running in straight lines.
5) Attack the space behind defenders by dribbling past them.
6) Attack in the box to finish crosses and follow-up opportunities when the ball is on the opposite side.
7) Provide width and off the ball running to stretch the defence or pull defender out of position.
8) Provide crosses (forward or cut back) for attacker and attacking midfielders arriving in the box.
9) Make chances, score goals.

Previous articles:
Player roles within a 4-3-3
Video: The 4-3-3 Explained
Tottenham: A Tactical Analysis

Next installment in the series Wednesday 9.46pm (21.46hrs) UK time.




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Adebayor -It was high time Bale achieved a very good season.

Posted on 4:21 AM by Unknown
Emmanuel Adebayor is returning to fitness after having time off after the death of his brother. Like the season he joined us he is therefore behind the group and has a bit of catching up to do. It's one of those things and perhaps he can channel his efforts into football to help him ease the pain of his loss.

It is rumoured that he has had a clear the air chat with AVB. Last season it was clear his attitude and commitment were unacceptable. Failing to return from the African Cup of Nations and therefore being unable to start a game he was required for showed where his priorities lie, revealing an undesirable attitude towards Tottenham. It is believed he has told AVB he will now buckle down and become a valuable member of his squad. Let's hope that is true and he demonstrates that both in training and when he is given game time. He does have something different to offer, an aerial threat our other strikers can't match, as well as his goalscoring and hold up play.

If he can reproduce his best form then he would be an asset to the squad, but he needs to produce it on a consistent basis to turn round fans opinion. He had a very poor season last season that damaged his reputation in our eyes, when we were looking forward to a similar season to the one we had witnessed when he first arrived from Man City.

The interview which began with him being asked if he ever thought of  leaving the club is reproduced below.

“No, I stay until the end of the season.

“You learned about Schalke because it was in the press but there were many clubs that wanted me and whose  proposals were still on the table.

“But I decided with my manager, even before the start of the transfer window, that I would not leave Tottenham and that’s what I did. I have never thought of leaving Spurs. I am here, my family feels great here and I do not see myself in another city.

“In the life of every footballer there are always ups and downs but I’m not complaining. It all started well in pre-season. We flew to Hong Kong [for a pre-season tournament] and there I learned the news of the death of  my brother, so my morale took a hit. I went back for the funeral. I had a very difficult time.

“When I went back to Tottenham, I talked to the coach and he told me that I was not ready yet for the pro group. I had to go to work in the reserves for two to three weeks to regain my confidence, my sense of goal, etc . . . And I complied with his advice.

“Was it a punishment? Not at all. I’m not at a training centre to get punished by my coach. There has been no argument.

“I have been playing professional football for 11 years and my brother’s death was a blow to me in recent weeks but since then I found my spirits. I will find my feelings and my place in the group.

“I am a footballer who loves competition, challenges. Remember when I signed in Monaco in 2003-2004, there were big names like [Ludovic] Guily, [Javier] Saviola, [Dado] Prso, [Shabani] Nonda,  [Fernando] Morientes. But that did not bother me. I stayed, I did my thing. I’m a competitor, this is what allows me to give the best of myself. At Arsenal, there was [Dennis] Bergkamp, [Thierry] Henry and [Robin] Van Persie before me but I snatched a place.

“At Tottenham, there was already [Jermain] Defoe for years. Today, there is Soldado, who is a very good player and who I also respect very much. I hope he will score many goals for the team.

“There are stats that speak for a man in football. Today I will not tell you that I’m stronger than Soldado or Defoe or Lamela. Do a Google search, you will see the goals I’ve scored in my career.

“We are now four in the attack, I do not know who ranks first, second or third but I know at the end I will be the first and that is the most important.

“Two years ago, I was top scorer and best passer at the club. Last season was not great, it is true. I do not want to relive that this season but there is no revenge or anything. This season, I have not started yet but rest assured that when I start I will be working very hard.

“This [Bale transfer] does not change anything. He is a very good player. Last year was a great year for him but it was seven seasons since he was there and it was high time he achieved a very good season.

“Now he will play for the biggest club in the world and I wish him much success.”





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Sunday, September 8, 2013

Player roles within a 4-3-3

Posted on 1:01 PM by Unknown
Andre Villas-Boas favours the 4-3-3 system and so far we have looked at a tactical analysis and a video explaining the moving parts of the system and how it basically works. Today we will list the basic player roles within the system and tomorrow we'll look specifically at the full-backs.

AVB has a slight twist in so much as he plays the system with advanced full-backs both attacking together and a holding midfield player, who plays a crucial role covering for them so there is always three at the back.

The back four defends in a zonal system, the defender defends a space rather than a player. The two central defenders stagger themselves depending upon which side the ball is. If the ball is on the right the left centre-back is deeper and the opposite on the other flank. Inside the penalty area the system switches to man marking.

In front of the defenders sits a defensive midfielder who protects the central defenders and covers the full-back if the team loses possession while they are up-field. A quality defensive midfielder is required who can read the game, stay in position, intercept passes, make tackles and know what passes are available when the ball is recovered. It is his role to set the midfield line of defence, the rest on the midfield and wide men take their lead from him.

When defending the two wingers need to drop back to make up a five man midfield and crushing the midfield area. There should then be little space for the opposition to operate in and the team bides its time until the time comes to pressurise the man with the ball and all the men around him in a pack.

Our two banks of players (midfield and defence) ensure they ate not defending vertically behind each other but to the side so we are covering the greatest area and have the best view to read the game.

The defenders have to think three things, where is the ball, where are my defensive colleagues and where is the opponent and he thinks those in that order in just a moment. The defenders have to work as a unit as if they are tied together with string. When a full-back goes out to his man the other three move across, if a central defender has to go out imagine where that piece of string would take them and you have a rough idea of where they should be. Ideally you want your defensive midfielder to be doing that so the back line can stay together as a unit.

The responsibility of each player defensively in a basic 4-3-3 are:

GOALKEEPER
1) Be vocal in organizing the defense. He sees the whole field and directs players where to go.
2) Make quick and confident decisions to come off the line for balls behind the defenders; come out strong for balls in the air and in one-on-one situations.
3) Agile feet and sure hands for shot stopping.

DEFENDERS – FULL BACKS
1) Immediate pressure on the ball when the opposition wide players are in possession of the ball.
2) Be strong and confident in tackles with no diving in.
3) Be compact (tucked in) to support central defenders and close down dangerous space.
4) Provide depth and balance on opposite side of attack; cover for otherʼs mistakes (In AVB's system both full-backs attack together rather than the normal one attacking one defending).
5) Scan the field to make certain all players are marked; no ball watching!

CENTRAL DEFENDERS
1) Must be in constant communication with one another; play as one.
2) Delay central attack; strong and decisive tackles when appropriate.
3) Immediate pressure on ball with the other in supportive space.
4) Stay compact in central, dangerous space.
5) Cover for outside defenders if they are beaten.
6) Be strong in the air to clear balls sent in high.

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER(S)
1) Deny the attack from entering center of the field.
2) Become a second defender supporting full-back delaying the attacker.
3) Screen the central defenders and deny penetrating passes in behind the defence.
4) Winning aerial balls in midfield and starting the attack from restarts.

ATTACKING MIDFIELD(S)
1) Immediate marking of opposing central midfield players.
2) Move in as second/third defender to assist delaying the attack.
3) Mark area at the edge of the box for any outside shots or drops.
4) Win balls in the air to clear from dangerous areas.

CENTRE FORWARD
1) Pressure defenders with other forwards.
2) Cover the “hole”, roughly halfway between penalty box and midfield, to win balls cleared by his teams defence or played back by opposite attackers.
3) Communicate and organize defence from the attacking side.
4) Drop back to defend against restarts.

WINGERS
1) When losing the ball get goal side quickly, ball side immediately.
2) Apply immediate pressure on opposing defenders with the ball.
3) Become front defenders to deny passes into the midfielders or forwards.
4) Drop into a midfield five to blanket the midfield.

Tomorrow, Monday, we'll look at the full-back position and the wingers 'player management' role. That article comes out at 9.46pm (21.46) UK time.

Previous article:
Video: The 4-3-3 explained





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Saturday, September 7, 2013

VIDEO: The 4-3-3 explained

Posted on 2:01 PM by Unknown
Andre Villas-Boas has indicated that we will be playing 4-3-3 for most of the season, although it often looks like 4-1-4-1 and 4-2-3-1. It is easy for the basic 4-3-3 to morph into these so I have sourced a video rather than created one to explain it.

The video at the end of this article by Michael Jolley, who is a High Performance Football Coach currently with Crewe Alexandra, explains very well the 4-3-3 system, the player movement and ball distribution.

It breaks down the system and looks at player and ball movement. You may want to stop the video from time to time to read the notes that come on screen as these will help your understanding and you'll miss some of them otherwise. Having watched the video you will have a greater understanding of what is trying to be achieved within each phase, which is to get he ball into an attacking area as quickly as possible.

As you watch a game you'll start to be able to read the play and anticipate what might happen next, what the player on the ball is looking for, what the players off the ball might do. It will give clarity for instance to the holding midfielder role and the passes he makes and the triangle concept of players and passes to beat opponents.

The speed of forward movement is something we are currently struggling with as a host of new players learn our system. Think back to last season and we had the same problem, remember the home game against Wigan for instance when all we seemed to do was pass the ball sideways and lacked ideas of what to do against a packed defence. As the season wore on and the players understood more instinctively what off the ball movement they should be making, our performances improved. I am expecting exactly the same to happen this season.

If we are to shift the point of attack then a slow passing across field make it easy for the opponents defence to shuffle across, if however we switch in two passes, the wide man then has a small window of time to attack the isolated full-back before the defence has time to shuffle across. Once you have the opposition out of synch like this (not moving as one) that is when players start reacting to situations as individuals and you can pull them about to create openings.

Whilst you have the two banks of four acting as if they are tied together with string and moving sideways together defending is easier. Think about it, four players in a line tied by string, what movements do you need them to make to break that string?

Rose, Chiriches, Capoue, Paulinho, Townsend, Chadli, Lamela, Eriksen, Soldado all now have to learn the AVB system. Eriksen played the 4-3-3 at Ajax and Soldado is used to playing as the lone striker (poacher) so it will be more the speed of the others learning that will determine how quickly we improve this season.
Playing two games a week leaves little chance to work in training on it, so expect to see strong teams in the Europa League as we learn as we go in competitive matches.

The video lasts five minutes, take your time, pause it and you'll enhance your viewing the next time we play.




In the next article on Monday evening at 21.46 (9.46pm) UK time, we'll look at the much maligned Kyle Walker and the full-back role. We'll look at how the full-back has to work with the winger as a unit and not as two individuals. We'll also see the Rose/Chadli error that led to the Arsenal goal.



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Pritchard scores a brilliant free-kick

Posted on 5:20 AM by Unknown
Alex Pritchard has scored a brilliant free kick putting Swindon Town 1-0 up at half-time away to MK Dons.

Swindon of course have a bunch of Spurs youngsters and former Spurs youngsters and both teams are playing passing football which is good to watch.

If you want to watch passing and movement, triangles, exactly what we are trying t play in the Premier League then I suggest you turn Sky Sports 1 on and watch the second half.




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Friday, September 6, 2013

Tottenham - A tactical Analysis

Posted on 1:46 PM by Unknown
Spurs have scored just twice in the three Premier League games so far, both of these coming from the penalty spot. The 1-0 defeat to Arsenal higlighted the attacking problems we need to overcome.

Andre Villas-Boas played Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele, Paulinho and Andros Townsend in front of a sitting Etienne Capoue against Arsenal and the same formation against Crystal Palace and Swansea.

Our full-backs overlap whenever we attack, which leads many supporters who don't fully understand what they are watching to wrongly claim they are out of position a lot. As you will see it's part of the system we are playing. Roberto Soldado plays a lone front role. We don't want to lump long balls to a centre-forward but build through midfield on the floor, that is evident.

On Saturday we were rather slow to change the point of attack so the opposition defence are out of position and had to resort, as we too often have to, to shots from outside the area, which without Bale's 44% accuracy (Townsend 18%) are unlikely to and indeed are not going to be successful enough.

We looked like a team, understandably, who have been given a pattern and were playing it but don't really know it yet, just like if you are given an instruction at work, you perform it slowly while you learn it and as you do you become better at it and speed up. Of course we have further options, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela are creative talents to add ideas and incisiveness to the mix to come in.

From the back Hugo Lloris looks for a short pass, six from seven distributions were successful. Usually he looks for Dawson because our two full-backs push up and our centre-backs split wide level with the side line of the penalty area.

The player receiving has two options, look for Capoue/Sandro first or bring the ball out themselves and distribute a short pass forward. Do note though that part of our system is for Dawson to switch the point of attack by hitting an alternative long diagonal ball to a six foot winger (Chadli) in space. There is less room for error with a tall winger as there would be to a small player like Lennon which is why Dawson rather than Vertonghen is tasked with it and explains why Lloris looks for Dawson rather than the more technically gifted Vertonghen. The winger can then use the space, with the defence out of position, to create a dangerous situation for them. This is an example of shifting the point of attack quickly, mentioned earlier.

Capoue/Sandro will rarely stray from between the centre-backs unless it's to allow another midfielder to drop back there but even then they rarely venture forward when the ball does. The example below their working area in this situation.


Their responsibility is to sweep in front of the back line and play short, forward passes to continue the build-up. As the ball moves forward so the full-backs follow and overlap. We then attack with seven players, both wide midfielders pinching in and one central player, Paulinho or Dembele to date, advancing next to Soldado.


You can see from the example above both Walker and Rose are advanced, normally only one would advance but AVB's system requires both to do so together giving us seven players in attack. This serves to tie up opposition players, Arsenal here have eight players in shot, but does leave us open to quick counter attacks. Thus Capoue/Sandro are tasked with staying back so there are at least three in defence at all times, tasked with holding up any counter-attacks until assistance arrives.

Having advanced full-backs allows us to try and win back possession high up the pitch if a front man loses it as we can hunt in numbers rushing opponents into mistakes when they have few passing options.

This was the system we started last season with. In the example above notice the pinched in wingers, Townsend on the ball and Chadli. They are not always pinched in though sometimes they operate wide. Gareth Bale last season started off in this pinched in winger role and wasn't having the success he had later. He had a chat with AVB and told him he wasn't enjoying his football. AVB showed his flexibility and coaching prowess by making two adjustments to the system for him. First he pushed Bale wider and further forward, an unseen adjustment by most, then he gave him a free role to roam from that basic position. That impacted on Dempsey's attacking role leading to moans from supporters about him. We all know the affect it had on Bale's game, it turned him into the most expensive player in history.

Against Dinamo Tiblisi AVB pulled Townsend wide after 39 minutes, having a word with him on the sidelines and against Swansea he started from a wider position. The full-back, Walker in this case, then sits behind and inside waiting for Townsend to move inside so he can overlap to isolate their full-back. It also puts him in the position to play the ball in behind their full-back for the winger, Lennon and Townsend thus far, to run on to and attack the space.


The above shot shows the attack from the previous example broken down and Arsenal counter-attacking. We have the three at the back, Capoue is filling in as required and their objective is to slow it down and allow Rose, Walker and Dembele or Paulinho to join them. Hugo Lloris has to be aware of the through ball and be prepared to come off his line if necessary. Playing this system with both full-backs advanced it is imperative that they are both quick and can sprint back. Again this is where most fans assume Walker and Rose are out of position, depending upon which side the attack is, but they are merely following the coaches tactics. Understand this point and supporters should start to see the error of their ways.

Back to the other end and Roberto Soldado received 21 passes, just 3 of those inside the area. Inside the area is where he scored all his 24 goals from last season. That statistic in itself highlights the creative problem we are having at the moment. Of those three passes he had two shots. He thrives on balls cut back from the byline but has been starved of them thus far in the first three games.

Danny Rose played 16 balls to Nacer Chadli and Walker played 13 to Andros Townsend, who wanted to come inside dribble and shoot. He was successful with 6 of his 9 dribbles. It catches the eye but unless there is a pass at the end it does nothing to create chances. For the first 80 minutes, after which we were trying to get the ball into the box as quickly as possible, Soldado received 1 cut back from 19 attempts, which resulted in a well blocked shot. Inverted wingers work when they can go outside their man as well as cutting inside, indeed Arsenal play a 4-3-3 and scored by Walcott going outside Rose, who was tucked in too much, then cutting the ball back for Giroud. They did to us what we need to do to other teams, they gave Giroud the service Soldado wants.


The key to solving our lack of goals is more through balls into the box and more cut backs for Soldado to tuck away, to often he was isolated in attack as you can see in the example above. Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela will aid that considerably I would suggest and when all the new boys become accustomed to our system a run like last seasons may then not be far away.

Coming up soon will be post including a video on 4-3-3 to show player movement and player triangles at work. Watch this and you'll see it in our game in operation and help you see where the players are going to move, why and what pass they are looking for. Until then I hope you've enjoyed the read and have yourselves a good evening.




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Thursday, September 5, 2013

Spurs 24 man Premier League Squad List

Posted on 12:51 AM by Unknown

Tottenham have submitted their 25 man squad list to the Premier League and it contains 10 homegrown players, although in our case only 24 players are included.

Here is the list with 'Yes' or 'No' indicating homegrown or not:
Emmanuel Adebayor (No)
Etienne Capoue (No)
Nacer Chadli (No)
Vlad Iulian Chiriches (No)
Mousa Dembele (No)
Bradley Howard Friedel (No)
Lewis Harry Holtby (No)
Younes Kaboul (No)
Hugo Lloris (No)
Jose Paulo Bezerra Maciel Junior (Paulinho) (No)
Sandro Raniere Guimaraes Cordiero (No)
Roberto Soldado Rillo (No)
Jan Vertonghen (No)
Heurelho Da Silva Gomes (No)
Michael Richard Dawson (Yes)
Jermain Colin Defoe (Yes)
Aaron Lennon (Yes)
Kyle Naughton (Yes)
Jonathan Obika (Yes)
Daniel Lee Rose (Yes)
Gylfi Thor Sigurdsson (Yes)
Andros Townsend (Yes)
Kyle Andrew Walker (Yes)
Simon Dawkins (Yes)

Any Under 21 players do not count against the 25 man squad limit and there are the surprise names of Dawkins and Obika in the list. Dawkins is not a youngster so being 25 he needs to be included to be allowed to play and Obika is 22 so the same applies.

The absentees, Lamela and Eriksen for instance are found in the Under 21 list which we have also submitted to the Premier League.

Spurs Under 21 squad list:
Akindayini, Daniel Oluwaseun
Amos, Luke Ayodele
Archer, Jordan Gideon
Ball, Dominic
Bentaleb, Nabil
Brown, Zodel Yeboah
Campbell Young, Channing Shelby
Carroll, Thomas James
Ceballos, Cristian
Coulibaly, Souleymane
Coulthirst, Shaquile Tyshan
Dombaxe, Laste
Eriksen, Christian
Fredericks, Ryan
Fryers, Ezekiel David
Gallifuoco, Giancarlo
Georgiou, Anthony Michael
Goddard, Cy
Gomelt, Tomislav
Harrison, Shayon
Kane, Harry
Lameiras, Ruben
Lamela, Erik
Lancaster, Cameron Paul
Lesniak, Filip
McEneff, Aaron
McEvoy, Kenneth
McGee, Luke Paul
McQueen, Darren
McQueen, Alexander Luke
Michael Percil, Roman
Miles, Jonathan David
Miller, William
Oduwa, Nathan
Ogilvie, Connor Stuart
Onomah, Joshua
Priestley, Liam Joseph
Pritchard, Alex David
Pritchard, Joe Cameron
Ross, Lloyd
Sonupe, Emmanuel Olukolade
Stewart, Kevin Linford
Veljkovic, Milos
Vigouroux, Lawrence
Vincent Young, Kane
Voss, Harry William
Walker Peters, Kyle
Walkes, Anton
Ward, Grant Antony
Winks, Harry

Some of these U21 players are out on loan of course but as they can be recalled would need to be included to be available.


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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Three games in ramblings

Posted on 1:00 PM by Unknown
Three games in, a defeat in the North London derby and nobody bought on deadline day and the doom and gloom merchants, the pessimists have come out in force. So what if Arsenal bought Ozil, who cares, it doesn't strengthen their weaknesses in defence and defensive midfield does it.

Three games in I wrote an article last year highlighting areas to improve which turned out to be accurate, this season it is a lot more difficult with 6 new regular first team players, possibly 7 if Kaboul or Chiriches cements a place as first choice centre-back. Basically our whole attack and most of our midfield has changed, plus of course our left-back. Where before it was largely players we knew learning a new system now it's players we don't know learning a new system to them.

Bale has gone but you can read about that on a thousand and one other websites so we'll concentrate on what we have. But before I do get away from him just remember what the club have done. They have made contingency plans incase they did lose Bale and then put them into practice. We leave the window behind with a far stronger squad than the one we went into it with, a young squad, deadwood diminished. A healthy situation.

We no longer have to rely on one player so much which in the long run makes us better, as AVB says, time for others to take responsibility. Lamela and Eriksen are two young talents to excite and become new heroes, I'm looking forward to seeing them in action first hand.

Now I wrote an article posted before the Arsenal game in which I mentioned the two areas of concern that could decide the game, Rose and Townsend. So what happened in those areas.

Arsenal scored their winner from our left where Rose was virtually standing at centre-half, don't know why. It is assumed by many that Dawson being slightly behind the defence kept Walcott onside but had he been a yard further forward Walcott would simply have stood a yard further back, received the same pass, made the same cross for Giroud to score the same goal. Walcott had all the time and space in the world to do what he wanted. Positioning is still an aspect of Danny's game that needs work but I'm sure they are working hard on it on the training ground.

On the positive side going forward this was probably Danny's best game for putting the ball into the box. He wasn't hitting the first man, he was putting the ball into areas, areas our midfielders could attack. None of them came off but that doesn't make them bad balls. That aspect of his play showed improvement.

He now knows with Benoit Assou-Ekotto out on loan at QPR and no replacement managed to be brought in that he is now first choice. Mentally he can now settle, he is not playing for his place and that may translate to confident performances, we shall have to wait and see.

What of Andros Townsend. The commentators told us during the game that the players had told Townsend to stop shooting so much and look for a pass, precisely one of the point I have been making about him. Against Dinamo Tiblisi Ferdinand told us he is working on his right foot another area of concern I've highlighted before.

Many of you won't like this but Townsend is a bit of a show pony. All he wants to do is come inside and have a shot without any regard as to what is best for the team. He wants to score. Nothing wrong with that but if your accuracy is poor (18% last season) then that becomes wasteful. Bale incidentally had an accuracy of 44%. That means Townsend only gets 18 shots out of 100 on target, most of which will be saved by the keeper.

Now what else could the side do with 100 plays to score more goals instead of shooting. Turn half of them into telling balls across the box to a finisher we have bought for that purpose is the answer. At the moment we are not providing him with any service at all and to rely solely on Eriksen would be folly. Fortunately we are not doing that. Until he can put decent balls into Soldado having attacked his man on the outside we will struggle if he plays on the right. Lamela will come in immediately for Townsend however. All is not lost for Andros though.

Chadli has got some talent, he needs time and he'll be inconsistent, he'll drift in and out of games I think but he can certainly whip in a telling cross, if we can get the ball to him quick enough and in space. We'll do that by speeding up the play. Townsend will certainly give him some competition for that slot as Andros certainly can cross with his left peg.

Arsenal cut us open several times but we didn't cut them open, how could we playing at 5mph. If you don't stretch the defence playing that slow there are not going to be the gaps to play balls between defenders. Creating chances will then be limited and just bringing in a creative player doesn't solve that on it's own.

To create chances we need width and Eriksen playing to play the passes into the gaps that defence stretching creates. Dembele will be the man to make way for Eriksen I expect, bit tough on him but someone has to miss out in this squad.

We looked exactly as we looked at this stage last season, slow. Just like last season we once again waited until they had 11 men behind the ball before we started to attack, a slow patient attack at that. Our new players, like Capoue, who is now out for a month so thank goodness Sandro is back, have yet to learn our system. The Europa League now becomes a blessing to aid that learning process in match conditions.

Last year we improved when the new players had got used to the way AVB wanted us to play so we can assume the same will happen this season. Our squad has greater talent and greater depth, hopefully it has greater desire and mental strength as well.

I know nothing about Chiriches apart from what I've read, I expect we'll get the chance to see him in Europe to begin with. I don't need to tell you Paulinho is quality, you can all see that for yourselves and hopefully some of you will have leaned that he is not a defensive midfielder but has a lot more up his sleeve.

Norwich City at White Hart Lane on the 14th September is our next game, I'll be there hoping to see a better performance and to see first hand what Lamela and Eriksen have in their locker. Being there gives a totally different perspective than seeing it on TV so Soldado and Paulinho will be interesting to see as well.



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Developing players

Posted on 1:30 AM by Unknown
There was an interesting article in the Daily Mail recently about former England player Ugo Ehiogu and his part-time work with our Under 16's while he is taking his coaching badges.

Ugo Ehiogu is taking his first steps towards eventually gaining his elite coaching badge and part of that is analysing the game so he has looked at the fact England have no structure, no DNA as he puts it, for how England are to play. He goes on then to tell us that Spurs do have a DNA in place.

He says "In my role as assistant U16 coach at Tottenham, there is a clear DNA outlined at the club through out the academy ages.

"That DNA is laid out and passed down from Tim Sherwood, Head of Football Development, John McDermott, Head of Academy, and the wonderfully experienced Chris Ramsey, who is Senior Professional Phase Coach.

"The way that Tottenham teams play is clear and all the coaches know what is expected of them. The emphasis is on technique at a very early age and the idea is to try and produce players who can progress into the first team, or go on and make a living in the game."

The important and often missed point on supporters there is at the very end of those remarks, "produce players who can progress into the first team, or go on and make a living in the game."

Our Development squad is not all about producing players for Spurs, yes obviously they want to, but as a club you cherry pick the very best, the rest you bring on and develop to be sold for a sum that then pays for the system to continue. Sales of players who come through the development system should pay for the whole system to operate, that's how Barcelona do it, Real Madrid do it, the principle is he same at Spurs.

Football is a ruthless business and ruthless decisions have to be made regarding youngsters. Opinions rage but take someone like Harry Kane, eventually a decision will have to be made, is he going to be good enough or do we sell. Then you have to decide if you choose to sell, when do you sell? How far do you develop a player, the more development the bigger selling fee. 

The loan system is crucial in this and we have recently embraced it under the guidance of Tim Sherwood. Now we have a whole host of youngsters go out on loan to gain first team competitive football experience. Remember these are young lads and they are often having to move away from home to new digs and look after themselves. They are learning to grow as a person as well as a footballer. 

We have clearly formed an unofficial link with Swindon. I have no doubt that Sherwood has had extensive chats with senior figures at the club and others, to discuss playing style and player development. Swindon will have presumably been settled on as a club who want to develop playing passing and moving football on the floor. We can then send players to Swindon knowing they are continuing to learn and develop in the style we wish them to. 

Such an arrangement would suit both clubs, having the arrangement with more than one club and at a different level would give our youngsters stepping stones. Obviously we still need to use other clubs, we have so many to send out on loan afterall but links with a couple give us a framework to build around.

Often in the older players contracts is a clause that they play a senior game, which is where the League Cup is so useful or European ties like Thursday when you can give some youngsters a game with some experienced players.

I'm looking forward to Thursday, it may be almost a dead game but I'm expecting to see Tom Carroll and Zeki Fryers start with Harry Kane getting some game time and possible a couple of others with later substitute roles.




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  • ▼  2013 (143)
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      • High full-backs stifled Norwich
      • Bassong in praise of Eriksen
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      • AVB looking for players to step up their game
      • The FA masterminding England's decline
      • Team vs Norwich
      • Walker - understanding the maligned full-back role
      • AVB formula for success
      • Eric Dier a 19 year-old to watch
      • The series continues tonight 10.21pm
      • Players attacking roles within a 4-3-3 system
      • Adebayor -It was high time Bale achieved a very go...
      • Player roles within a 4-3-3
      • VIDEO: The 4-3-3 explained
      • Pritchard scores a brilliant free-kick
      • Tottenham - A tactical Analysis
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      • Developing players
      • Arsenal vs Spurs - Two issues will decide the tie
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