What Tottenham Hotspur could look like with a back three

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 29: Nuno Espirito Santo the manager / head coach of Tottenham Hotspur at full time of the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Watford at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on August 29, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 29: Nuno Espirito Santo the manager / head coach of Tottenham Hotspur at full time of the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Watford at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on August 29, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images) /
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Tottenham at Paços de Ferreira in Conference League
PACOS DE FERREIRA, PORTUGAL – AUGUST 19: Matt Doherty of Tottenham Hotspur FC with Antunes of FC Pacos de Ferreira in action during the UEFA Europa Conference League match between FC Pacos de Ferreira and Tottenham Hotspur at Estadio Municipal da Capital do Movel on August 19, 2021, in Pacos de Ferreira, Portugal. (Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images) /

Tottenham in the 5-3-2 formation

Santo often used either a 5-3-2 or a 5-4-1 formation at Wolves as an alternative to the 3-4-3. If hearing five in the back makes you think defense first, you would not be wrong. Essentially, if Tottenham is going to ever park the bus under Nuno, some variation of this formation would be it.

It was a back-five formation where you often saw Matt Doherty starting at fullback for the Wanderers. With less room to cover than you would in a back four and the odd opportunity to burst forward, it was a formation that suited Doherty and at times the Wolves well.

With the counter-attacking ability of Tottenham, using a back-five formation would not be obscene, however, it is certainly more defensive than most fans want to see the team. To compensate for that, we have Lo Celso in the midfield three and have dropped Oliver Skipp, leaving Pierre Hojbjerg as the loan defensive midfielder.

The team could be made ultra-conservative keeping Skipp in the middle and leaving Lo Celso on the pine. Given the need to run all day in the midfield Dele rounds out the three. Of course, Son is up top with Kane and could slot to either outside midfield position if the team really wanted to go 5-4-1.