Tottenham’s 3-4-3 System Has Proven Difficult to Beat
Eric Dier, Christian Eriksen and Kyle Walker spoke to Tottenham’s official website and explained how they’ve been able to go on a winning run that has lasted for over a month.
Tottenham’s 4-0 win over West Bromwich Albion saw a continuation of Mauricio Pochettino’s change in tactics from his traditional 4-2-3-1 formation to a more game-changing 3-4-3.
Winning five straight Premier League games since December 14th and being in great form prior to hosting the Baggies helps too.
But ultimately the adulation from fans and media alike will likely be directed towards Spurs’ shift into a three-back system.
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Against the likes of Hull City, Watford, Chelsea and West Brom, all of them were beaten soundly and got dominated in the process, being outscored by a combined scoreline of 13 to one.
Hugo Lloris and Tottenham’s defense were hardly challenged, meaning that the only side doing all of the work was Spurs’ offense.
To have Danny Rose and Kyle Walker bomb up the pitch down the left and right flanks respectively, makes them contribute heavily on the attack. Both players will take on their defenders before sending in dangerous crosses.
It gives Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen the option to either overlap, recycle possession or get a shot off to score.
The possibilities are endless in a heavily dominated offensive attack that could expand up to seven players should Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembélé get involved too.
When the opposition manages to win the ball back, Spurs’ adjust accordingly with everyone high-pressing to reclaim possession.
Essentially, all 10 outfield players are going to fight for the ball making Mauricio Pochettino’s version of the 3-4-3 a difficult system to attack and defend against.
And according to Eric Dier, a change in tactics is what has gotten the north London club to play some of their best football this season where they look unbeatable at the moment.
“I think we did really well, we stuck to what the manager wanted us to do in this formation and it seems to be working well for us at the moment.” Dier said (via Spurs’ official website).
“We knew that it would be a very tough game, we haven’t had much luck against them in recent times, I think we drew the last three games against them and last year it hurt when we drew with them right at the end of the season here, so it was really nice to get the win and for it to be such a convincing one.”
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Those three previous draws — which all ended in a one-all score — happened when Spurs were still playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
A solid and effective formation that suffered from being very one-dimensional and predictable for opponents to simply sit back and defend, then go on a counterattack when an opportunity presented itself.
With three central defenders, what used to be a weakness of Spurs by having no sense of direction on how to attack opponents, unlock a stubborn defense and give Harry Kane some support up top, are a thing of the past now.
“I think you just feel a bit more controlled when you have three at the back.” Christian Eriksen stated.
“When you move the ball quickly you have space to move it forward and if you take a good decision, which we did today a few times, then you create a lot of chances.”
“I think they were just waiting and waiting for us which gave us the chance to build up and we did that very well in the first half.”
Indeed, Tottenham have been more decisive in their decision making for the past month.
They all understand that there is a fine balance between dominating possession in the opponent’s own half but also creating scoring chances and testing the goalkeeper.
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Mauricio Pochettino isn’t afraid to change things up if it will clearly benefit his team.
There’s a good reason why Eric Dier is no longer the starting defensive midfielder.
It’s because Victor Wanyama has proven that he is the better option at completely disrupting opposing players from advancing past the center circle.
Dier is still a good holding midfielder, but he has been given more freedom to roam around or push further forward as a wide center-back who can chip in with some punts and/or diagonal balls up the field.
That wouldn’t be possible without a new system that could take advantage of each player’s strengths to better maximize the starting XI.
As well as Spurs’ bench options who can in turn become super subs in advanced roles (Son Heung-Min, Geroges-Kévin N’Koudou and Moussa Sissoko to name a few).
In a nutshell, Spurs’ version of a 3-4-3 system is being proactive and aggressive, forcing their opponents to make mistakes and quickly capitalizing on the situation.
“I think we just need to keep going like this, keep wanting to improve and keep this ruthless streak that we’ve got at the moment where we’re not letting up, we’re aggressive and we’re on the front foot with and without the ball.” Eric Dier added.
“We’re doing well with that at the moment and we just really need to stick with that.”
It’s not surprising to see Tottenham go on a six-match unbeaten run in the Premier League — seven consecutive wins if you include a win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup’s third round.
This winning streak began when Mauricio Pochettino started tinkering with different formations and players starting. Eventually he found a system that has worked and stuck with it.
The results are a testament to Spurs’ success as teams are having trouble coping with the influx of attackers when Tottenham have the ball, as well as a smothering defense when players converge to reclaim possession.
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“It’s the system we play, it’s what the gaffer wants us to do and we just have to believe in the way we play.” Kyle Walker explained.
“Even if it’s not working, we still try to do the things we’ve worked on week in, week out. It’s paying off now. It’s still early though, we need to keep going with the same mentality and same attitude we have now.”
At some point there may come a time when a team finally figures out how to stop Tottenham. But until then, Spurs’ winning streak could continue for quite a while this season.