Tottenham possible lineup and formation for the 2024-2025 season
By Tom Vinall
My "hear me out" set up for Tottenham to trial out is 3/5 at the back. This is why.
No doubt there would have been some eye rolls when reading that, with Conte-era PTSD kicking in, but this is completely different.
Spurs wouldn't have their back 3/5 consisting of Ben Davies and Eric Dier, nor Emerson Royal and Sergio Reguilon.
Instead, it would consist of (R/L) Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Radu Dragusin, Micky Van De Ven and Destiny Udogie.
Romero often excelled on the right of a back 3 under Conte. Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro played as wing-backs at Udinese and Sporting CP respectively.
Van De Ven's electric pace makes him a player who could easily fit on the left of a 3, having no issues defending wide areas and carrying the ball into space.
It would also allow Dragusin to get some much-anticipated game-time, allowing him to be the dominant defender in the middle of the 3.
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Tottenham possible lineup and formation for the 2024-2025 season
Of course, Ange does like to invert his full-backs, so that could be an issue. But playing as a wing-back does not mean you have to be high and wide on the last line of defense. Porro actually played quite an inverted wing-back role under Ruben Amorim at Sporting CP.
Alejandro Grimaldo has played quite an inverted wing-back role for Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen this season, so Udogie could combine his experience as 1) a wing-back and 2) an inverted full-back and become a top inverted wing-back.
A lot of people find this formation too negative, but a 3/5 setup is only inherently defensive if the wing-backs are defense-minded players. Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro are not defense-minded players, even if they are capable defensively.
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It could be worth a try in pre-season.