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*** OMT Tottenham vs Emirates Marketing Project (3/3) ***

elltrev said:
Personally I think playing a back 5 is the way forward against Emirates Marketing Project away from home, as with De Bruyne and Silva they basically play a front 5:

View attachment 6470

Silva and De Bruyne will always get in behind your midfield, and with a back 4 you’ll always be overloaded.

E.g. For their first 2 goals on Wednesday our full-backs got dragged inside and had to leave Sterling and Silva respectively in acres of space. To some extent for their third too, with De Bruyne overlapping on the outside this time. And for their fourth Rose didn’t come inside to pick up De Bruyne, and so he was left alone to run at the defence and then play in Aguero.

I think you’re right that you risk getting pinned back with a back 5 - I guess you have to decide whether you want to be open and have chances to counter (like Wednesday) or be tighter with less chances to counter. Having said that, I think 5-3-2 is the best of both worlds - leave 2 up top to counter, and have midfield 3 shuttle side to side to watch the full-backs (who tend not to overlap loads anyway as the wingers are providing their width).
Click to expand...
Problem is that their wide midfielders will push the wing backs way back, or their wide players will enjoy a lot of space against the centre backs.

Deep wing backs leaves the three man midfield with a lot of space to cover and their attacking full backs will find a lot of space. Unless you sit way back and the front two take up a position to cover their deep midfielders, but even then the midfield three will have to leave space for Silva, Silva and De Bruyne.

I don't understand why the first game back four system that we played in the first game, the system we seemed to revert to towards the end of the first half of the second leg, isn't the way to go.

Pochettino had Sanchez on the bench when Sissoko was injured. The back 3/5 option was there and obvious, with Llorente the only real option to keep a back 4. He chose the back 4, I definitely think that was the right call.
 
I just hope to hear 90 minutes of "Champions League and we're having a laugh" chanted from the away end
 
braineclipse said:
Problem is that their wide midfielders will push the wing backs way back, or their wide players will enjoy a lot of space against the centre backs.

Deep wing backs leaves the three man midfield with a lot of space to cover and their attacking full backs will find a lot of space. Unless you sit way back and the front two take up a position to cover their deep midfielders, but even then the midfield three will have to leave space for Silva, Silva and De Bruyne.

I don't understand why the first game back four system that we played in the first game, the system we seemed to revert to towards the end of the first half of the second leg, isn't the way to go.

Pochettino had Sanchez on the bench when Sissoko was injured. The back 3/5 option was there and obvious, with Llorente the only real option to keep a back 4. He chose the back 4, I definitely think that was the right call.
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I agree the 4-2-3-1 worked well in the first leg, and I was surprised Poch changed it for the second. But then again, City played more of a 4-2-3-1 in the first leg too (with Fernandinho and Gundogan deep) so they weren't getting two players behind our midfield constantly like they do with D Silva and De Bruyne playing together:

6f4660a5-e267-488e-963c-418879c07a86.png


Yeah 5-3-2 does leave the midfield 3 with a fair bit of 'horizontal' covering to do, but I'd rather risk them being stretched and overloaded than our defenders being stretched and overloaded. And in the 5-3-2 system that I'm suggesting the CBs would all step up aggressively as soon as D Silva and De Bruyne got behind our midfield, so those two wouldn't be the sole (or even prime) responsibility of our 3 midfielders.

If you haven't already, watch City's Wednesday goals again - to me it seems crystal clear that all 4 stem from our defenders being outnumbered by City's attackers. Of course no system is perfect against City, but I think the priority has to be ensuring that our defence doesn't get overloaded.

Edit: in fairness I think playing 4-2-3-1 again could also work, as long as the CMs are instructed to track City’s two AMs deep.
 
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AjaxDeSuperYids said:
Son got a rest in the game before against huddersfield and will also have another enforced rest in the first leg of the CL SF.

I would go Son and then Llorente can come on for him later in the game.

Also we can potentially withdraw Eriksen at some point for Lamela if he makes the bench.
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That's a good point about Son, though I would want him fit and firing for the Brighton and West Ham games, which are sandwiched between this game and the first leg of the semi final.
 
elltrev said:
Personally I think playing a back 5 is the way forward against Emirates Marketing Project away from home, as with De Bruyne and D Silva they basically play a front 5:

View attachment 6470

Silva and De Bruyne will always get in behind your midfield, and with a back 4 you’ll always be overloaded.

E.g. For their first 2 goals on Wednesday our full-backs got dragged inside and had to leave Sterling and B Silva respectively in acres of space. To some extent for their third too, with De Bruyne overlapping on the outside this time. And for their fourth Rose didn’t come inside to pick up De Bruyne, and so he was left alone to run at the defence and then play in Aguero.

I think you’re right that you risk getting pinned back with a back 5 - I guess you have to decide whether you want to be open and have chances to counter (like Wednesday) or be tighter with less chances to counter. Having said that, I think 5-3-2 is the best of both worlds - leave 2 up top to counter, and have midfield 3 shuttle side to side to watch the full-backs (who tend not to overlap loads anyway as the wingers are providing their width).
Click to expand...

Might even be worth us playing 5-4-1. I think that helps protect us in the wide areas where City absolutely killed us on Wednesday. Play Moura on the left of the 4, with license for him to get up and join Llorente. Eriksen on the right perhaps, able to tuck into the middle when necessary. So it's like a hybrid 5-3-2/5-4-1. KWP has decent pace, so get him forward when we can, but have Davies sit back more on the left flank?

--------------------lloris
kwp---foyth-----sanchez-----toby----davies
----eriksen--skipp--wanyama(?)---
----------------------------------moura
------------------llorente
 
----------------------Lloris------------------------
Trippier-----Toby ---Sanchez---Davies
--------------------Wanyama--------------------
Lamela------Dele-----Eriksen-------Son
----------------------Moura-----------------------

Subs: Gazza, KWP, Rose, Verts, Skipp, Foyth, Parrot
 
the dza said:
Might even be worth us playing 5-4-1. I think that helps protect us in the wide areas where City absolutely killed us on Wednesday. Play Moura on the left of the 4, with license for him to get up and join Llorente. Eriksen on the right perhaps, able to tuck into the middle when necessary. So it's like a hybrid 5-3-2/5-4-1. KWP has decent pace, so get him forward when we can, but have Davies sit back more on the left flank?

--------------------lloris
kwp---foyth-----sanchez-----toby----davies
----eriksen--skipp--wanyama(?)---
----------------------------------moura
------------------llorente
Click to expand...

Yeah definitely an option I think, though with one less outlet it increases the risk of us getting pinned back and offering no threat on the break.
 
It's virtually impossible to come up with a system to negate Emirates Marketing Project especially if they are at full strength.

Most of us probably see this game as something of a free hit in that we are banking on collecting full points from the other 4 matches but no way Poch will - he will be thinking whatever team he puts out is capable of getting a result (and if he didn't think like that he shouldn't be our manager)!

I'd go with a 4-5-1 possibly with Walker-Peters playing in front of Trippier and Lucas on the left in front of davies and then a midfield three of Eriksen, dele and Wanyama (assuming Sissoko unavailable) and Sonny up front.

Lloris
Trippier Toby Vertonghen davies
kwp-----dele---wanyama---eriksen----lucas
Sonny

To beat City at any point you need to perform at 100% and then hope their levels drop to sub 85% and that you get a little luck along the way too. Most unpredictable variance for me will be City's mindset and mental strength; could go one way or the other following wednesday night.
 
Can’t believe how cavalier some are being about this game. We’re probs third favourites for the CL even at this stage and top 4 is far from done and dusted. We only have a maximum of 8 games left so I’d put a strong side and maybe rest a couple of players. Not to mention we’re likely to be in 5th place come Tuesday night if we lose which will put huge pressure on the players.
 
Jurgen the German said:
Can’t believe how cavalier some are being about this game. We’re probs third favourites for the CL even at this stage and top 4 is far from done and dusted. We only have a maximum of 8 games left so I’d put a strong side and maybe rest a couple of players. Not to mention we’re likely to be in 5th place come Tuesday night if we lose which will put huge pressure on the players.
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I agree, just put our strongest side out from now on (unless the players are really only half fit). Liverpool have done that this season. If we get injuries we get them, resting a player is them missing a match anyway. It's better taking the risk of injuries, than handicapping ourselves intentionally.
 
5 at the back, 2 in midfield. The other three to man mark de bruyne, sterling and aguero.
Keep it 0-0 until the 89th minute, then score an own goal and get everyone to do the salah yoga celebration.
 
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