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Match Tottenham Hotspur v. West Ham United

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Not sure why there are people who want the 352 with Wanyama and Dembele in midfield again for this match. It's West Ham at home, not Woolwich away.

Lloris
Walker-Dier-Vertonghen-Rose
Wanyama-Dembele
Sissoko-Eriksen-Son
Kane

I'm not a big fan of starting Son after the long trip he had, and I'm not a big fan of Sissoko in general, but with Lamela out and Alli a bit of a doubt, I don't really see an alternative to be honest.

Anyway, I have a good feeling about this, the international break was somewhat of an actual break this time. Quite a lot of our players got rested for at least one match and some didn't even play at all.
 
Not sure why there are people who want the 352 with Wanyama and Dembele in midfield again for this match. It's West Ham at home, not Woolwich away.

Lloris
Walker-Dier-Vertonghen-Rose
Wanyama-Dembele
Sissoko-Eriksen-Son
Kane

I'm not a big fan of starting Son after the long trip he had, and I'm not a big fan of Sissoko in general, but with Lamela out and Alli a bit of a doubt, I don't really see an alternative to be honest.

Anyway, I have a good feeling about this, the international break was somewhat of an actual break this time. Quite a lot of our players got rested for at least one match and some didn't even play at all.
Having 3 cbs doesnt neccesarily mean we are aiming to be more defensive. In fact Poch himself stated his swith to 3 at the back was to create more scoring opportunities as we found it hard as of late. We created a decent amount of chances against gooner scum and it would be pretty silly to change back to 4-2-3-1 so soon after a good result/performance.
 
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The Stratford City Firm (SCF) more than likely now....................
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Having 3 cbs doesnt neccesarily mean we are aiming to be more defensive. In fact Poch himself stated his swith to 3 at the back was to create more scoring opportunities as we found it hard as of late. We created a decent amount of chances against gooner scum and it would be pretty silly to change back to 4-2-3-1 so soon after a good result/performance.
It allows both wing backs to attack at the same time and gives us the option of putting two up front. It might look defensive on paper but in practice it can be a great attacking setup.
 
Having 3 cbs doesnt neccesarily mean we are aiming to be more defensive. In fact Poch himself stated his swith to 3 at the back was to create more scoring opportunities as we found it hard as of late. We created a decent amount of chances against gooner scum and it would be pretty silly to change back to 4-2-3-1 so soon after a good result/performance.
I have to disagree. Playing against Woolwich away from home is completely different to playing against West Ham at our place. For one, you get much more space to operate in because Woolwich actually try to play football. I'm not convinced that it will work against teams that park the bus on us, and it wouldn't surprise me if West Ham do just that. Btw, we only drew the match, not bad obviously away from home in a tough derby game, but it's still not the three points that have eluded us for so long now. I'm not sure the 352 is necessarily the answer for getting us to score more.

I agree that the 4231 hasn't worked out for a while, but a big part in that was the absence of Kane and Alderweireld imo. Janssen is far to one-dimensional atm to play as a lone forward. With a fully fit Kane back though I don't see why we couldn't play the 4231 again. Also, the absence of Alderweireld meant we were somewhat less impressive at the back, both defensively and also offensively in terms of passing out from the back, so getting another CB in for defensive security and for freeing up the other CB's to attack more made sense.

It allows both wing backs to attack at the same time and gives us the option of putting two up front. It might look defensive on paper but in practice it can be a great attacking setup.

The 352 system worked well against Woolwich and I agree that it doesn't necessarily have to be a defensive-minded system, it can be very much an attacking setup. I actually like the system and am not opposed to using it, even against West Ham, but you have to take personnel into account. Venables for example used it with England and at times played Anderton and McManaman as wing-backs, and the likes of Redknapp, Platt, Ince and Gascoigne in midfield. That was obviously very offensive-minded. However, as I said it depends on who you play, the variant we played against Woolwich was pretty defensive, with actual full-backs as wing-backs, and on top of the three CB's an out and out DM and a box-to-box one in Dembele. That's too defensive for West Ham at home imo. You would only have three attacking players in there.

If people really want to use the 352 against West Ham I suggest we actually put a winger in as wing-back, though I doubt we currently have anyone available who would be suited for that role. Or alternatively, replace Wanyama or Dembele with a more offensive-minded player. I'm not sure that would really get the best out of our team atm though, hence why I think it would be better to go with the 4231 for this game.
 
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I have to disagree. Playing against Woolwich away from home is completely different to playing against West Ham at our place. For one, you get much more space to operate in because Woolwich actually try to play football. I'm not convinced that it will work against teams that park the bus on us, and it wouldn't surprise me if West Ham do just that. Btw, we only drew the match, not bad obviously away from home in a tough derby game, but it's still not the three points that have eluded us for so long now. I'm not sure the 352 is necessarily the answer for getting us to score more.

I agree that the 4231 hasn't worked out for a while, but a big part in that was the absence of Kane and Alderweireld imo. Janssen is far to one-dimensional atm to play as a lone forward. With a fully fit Kane back though I don't see why we couldn't play the 4231 again. Also, the absence of Alderweireld meant we were somewhat less impressive at the back, both defensively and also offensively in terms of passing out from the back, so getting another CB in for defensive security and for freeing up the other CB's to attack more made sense.



The 352 system worked well against Woolwich and I agree that it doesn't necessarily have to be a defensive-minded system, it can be very much an attacking setup. I actually like the system and am not opposed to using it, even against West Ham, but you have to take personnel into account. Venables for example used it with England and at times played Anderton and McManaman as wing-backs, and Ince and Gascoigne in midfield. That was obviously very offensive-minded. However, as I said it depends on who you play, the variant we played against Woolwich was pretty defensive, with actual full-backs as wing-backs, and on top of the three CB's an out and out DM and a box-to-box one in Dembele. That's too defensive for West Ham at home imo. You would only have three attacking players in there.

If people really want to use the 352 against West Ham I suggest we actually put a winger in as wing-back, though I doubt we currently have anyone available who would be suited for that role. Or alternatively, replace Wanyama or Dembele with a more offensive-minded player. I'm not sure that would really get the best out of our team atm though, hence why I think it would be better to go with the 4231 for this game.
We simply don't have the technique or pace to exploit the spaces in the last third
 
Whilst the mullering we gave them last year was a joy to behold, I almost prefer this.....



because for half a second, they thought they had beat us

no little spammers, get back in your box
 
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