4-4-2 to 4-4-1-1?

[benbray]

As much as I admire Redknapp and what he has done, I can't help but question some of his decision making over this past season.

It was obvious that 2009/10 was a great season for us. During that season, we usually lined up with a 442. We beat City away, Chelsea and Arsenal with this formation. Defoe thrived on the formation too and as a result, scored over 20 goals. We had a goal difference of 26.

Why change a winning formula?

I don't think it's a coincidence that we've been less effective since we have switched to a 4-4-1-1. This season, (so far) I believe we have a goal difference of 8, a significant difference to that of the previous season. The change in formation was a consequence of signing Van Der Vaart. Now, I have nothing against VDV, he is clearly a quality player. But, did we really need him? He does not fit into a 442. I think the mistake Redknapp made here is that he got too carried away with the cheap £8 million price tag rather than thinking about whether the lad would suit our system. I understand that perhaps a 442 is not a good idea for CL football, but VDV expects to play every game, hence, we are having to play a 4-4-1-1 every game, rather than just CL matches. Without VDV, we could have played a 442 in domestic competitions and played a 4-4-1-1 in European football, placing either Modric/Kranjcar/Pienaar behind the lone striker.

Crouch is perhaps the only striker in our squad that is capable of playing on his own. Defoe and Pavlyuchenko have been far less effective playing up on their own. As Defoe doesn't fit the system, he has played far less and his form has dipped. I think Redknapp has only really thought about fitting VDV into the Spurs side rather than trying to play to our team's strengths. If you have a poacher like Defoe in the side, then why play him on his own where he will have to link up more?

Do you think this is the main reason for this season being less successful? Or do you think there are other reasons?

Thanks

[mattyvw]

the balance hasn't been right this season with vdv coming in. For now til the end of the season i'd keep it 4-4-2. Next season i'd like to see us play 4-3-3 with sandro holding and hudd and modders either side. Then new centre forward and bale and vdv either side.

[Dancubus]

It wasn't Redknapp though. Levy bought van der Vaart, Redknapp had no idea until the deal was done.
If thats wrong, someone correct me, but I'm pretty sure thats how it went down.

I do agree though, I think if you're going to bring in a player and change the system for him, you need to bring other players in who also thrive in that system...like a striker who can lead the line on his own. That's the major issue.

It was so last minute though, we couldn't really do anything else...although we did have January.

[ctw01]

I couldnt agree more, VDV is a good player but accomodating him has not been best for the team .

[benbray]

I also think that we should go back to a 442 to the end of the season, purely because we need goals as we are behind in the race for fourth. For me though, Lennon has to play ahead of VDV on the right. VDV is not a winger. The trouble is VDV is not going to be happy about being left out, so Redknapp is faced with a dilemma. Maybe next season we could begin to experiment with alternative formations like a 433.

[ctw01]

Experimenting with formations will probably cost us vital points in the PL though.

[benbray]

Possibly, but either the system needs changing to accomodate our strikers more, or we sign a striker who is capable of scoring goals and playing on his own. Unfortuneatly, quality strikers like this are hard to come by and expensive to buy.

[spursman18]

Possibly, but either the system needs changing to accomodate our strikers more, or we sign a striker who is capable of scoring goals and playing on his own. Unfortuneatly, quality strikers like this are hard to come by and expensive to buy.

This needs to be done and all the formation chat will go out the window........You find a striker who can lead the line on his own, and has a pretty good understanding with VDV and 4 4 1 1 will work.

[MagnaThor]

I miss the Defoe-Berba linkups

[alex3]

gomes
kaboul gallas dawson BAE
VDV hudd luka bale
crouch defoe
at home

and away this:
gomes
kaboul gallas dawson BAE
lennon sandro luka bale
VDV
crouch

[eoghan_mullan]

I think we should go back to 4 4 1 1. we should play with walker and lennon on the right side and ekotto and bale on the left. but on the right side we would be open to attack because as you know walker likes to go forward( a lot) so this would leave lennon to stay back and lennon isnt good at defending. so if we lined up this way i would play with hudd(defensive mid) and modric in the middle( as a box to box midfielder). this would make things a bit more defensive and can allow walker to go forward much more often as he is brilliant at doing so. van der vaart behind the striker that hopefully we sign this summer. hopefully we sign either llorente , damiao , rossi or vucinic !

[Brodjah]

that hopefully we sign this summer. hopefully we sign either llorente , damiao , rossi or vucinic !

Vucinic is hardly in the same league as the others. I'm not even sure he would be an improvement to what we have.

[eoghan_mullan]

well the way spurs are heading it doesnt look like were going to get anyone better than what we already have .

[Quinny]

Hey guys,

well to be honest the reason (i think anyway) that 4-4-1-1 may not work as well as the 4-4-2 is that we need lennon and which ever lone striker to do alot more.. lennon needs to start scoring some more goals and we need a great all round striker ( its all ifs and buts) but if we could mold our strikers into 1 then it would be fine, but our best lone striker seemed to be Pav, as he was never afraid to shoot and can unlike crouch, and doesnt seem to be offside as much as defoe.

But we do need a good lone striker, now we have gone up a level... stop and think of it like this, above us - arsenal, chelsea, man utd and man city.. each one has at least 1 striker we would happily take:

arsenal - van persie
chelsea - drogba/torres
man city - tevez, adebayor, dzeko, even ballotelli :-)
man utd - rooney, chico and would u have berbs back?

but from our strike force, would anyone in the top 6 want them? i would say no, so its time for us to actually upgrade like the others do

[Chorazin]

There are so many options here for formation variations, 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1(4-5-1), 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1(4-5-1)

4-4-2
Walker/Corluka ------- Dawson ------ King/Gallas ------ BAE
Lennon/VDV ------- Sandro/Thudd ------ Modric ------- Bale
------------------- Defoe ------------ Crouch/Pav

4-4-1-1
Walker/Corluka ------- Dawson ------ King/Gallas ------ BAE
Lennon --------- Sandro/Thudd ------ Modric --------- Bale
------------------------- VDV ---------------------------
------------------- Crouch/Pav/Defoe -------------------

4-3-3
Walker/Corluka ------- Dawson ------ King/Gallas ------ BAE
------- Sandro -------- Modric ------- Huddlestone --------
----- VDV/Lennon ---- Pav/Crouch/Defoe ------ Bale -------

4-2-3-1
Walker/Corluka ------- Dawson ------ King/Gallas ------ BAE
------------- Sandro ---------------- Thudd -------------
---- VDV/Lennon -------- Modric ------------ Bale --------
------------------ Pav/Crouch/Defoe ---------------------