Three ways Antonio Conte should immediately improve Tottenham Hotspur

Conte and Tottenham will man you up

With a defensive three ready to run up on the ball or shut down space behind, leaves the Tottenham formation in better shape to defend in the offensive half. As does have the wing-backs with the freedom to go from box-to-box without giving away the farm behind them.

However, maybe the two biggest changes that we will see defensively will be the man-to-man marking Spurs will do in the attacking half and the pressure that is caused by having two strikers. Instead of just Harry Kane trying to cut the pitch and force the defense one way or the other, there will be a second striker to help pressure the ball, with everyone behind picking up men.

The wing-backs can handle the wings on deeper balls or push up and close the space if the opponent tries to play out of the back.

With a single deep pivot in front of the back three and then a four-man box between the midfielders and strikers the team will be ready to pick up runners in the middle and apply pressure almost immediately.

Conte’s Inter had a lot less pressure than Tottenham did last season in the defensive and middle third, with 970 fewer ball pressures in those 2/3s of the pitch. However, Inter had 180 more pressures in the attacking 1/3. As most fans remember from the Pochettino heyday, those turnovers in the attacking third are more likely to lead to goals and that is where we will start to see more pressure.

Again, while the deal is not done, it sure seems likely and if that is the case, we have a lot to look forward to. We can expect our formation to be solid and the defense to be organized. We can expect to get some real action on the wings and some service into the box. And we can expect to see more pressure up top, trying to create havoc in the opponent’s half of the pitch.