Many teams in modern football use what’s called a ‘Front 4’ three attacking midfielders, two out wide with one in the creative No.10 position all behind the main striker. Spurs have a history of playing the traditional 4-4-2 formation but over the last 2 years the Club have been trying to implement the 4-2-3-1 system into the squad, with varying results.
Andre Villas-Boas was the first to try it and initially it had success, partly down to the brilliance of using Gareth Bale in the No.10 role which meant Bale could run the game for Spurs, but the opposite effect was the rest of the side lacked penetration in the final third of the pitch often because the main striker was left isolated on his own and he was very easy to mark out of the game.
Then after Bale left, the players who tried to fill the void couldn’t deliver, largely down to AVB’s insistence on a very rigid system where every player had to stay in position which made the build-up play
very predictable.
This season under Mauricio Pochettino, he’s experimented with 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1, whilst it hasn’t worked every game, he’s had the ability to be flexible and try different systems and it seems he’s settled on 4-2-3-1 and as demonstrated on Saturday away at West Brom, it worked brilliantly.
We had Kane as the main striker who dropped deep often to link-up play and be effective, and behind him was Lamela, Dembele and Eriksen. All three were constantly interchanging, switching positions, looking for the ball and passing effectively, which made it very hard for WBA to mark anyone because of the freedom Pochettino has given them.
It seems that under Pochettino we have a developing formation which is showing success, players who are willing to work and have freedom to play and if it continues to go well, who knows what the possibilities are for Spurs.
