KaKa

I agree about rozehnal coming in. They don't really have a burly target man type forward. Their main threat is the pace of Benjani and Utaka as wide forwards, which Rozehnal is better equipped to handle than Faye.

We will also need two hard working midfielders to deal with Muntari and Diop who do a good job getting forward and are two physical specimens. Butt and Barton would be the way to go.

Alan Smith should definitely start upfront too as he will help out the midfield defensively as we will essentially be lined up in more of a 4-4-1-1.

I think if we are going to move forward with Owen as our main striker then we absolutely have to partner him with Smith who can do the job of holding the ball up when we attack, but who will also do a good job of helping out the midfield when we defend as his workrate is excellent.

Playing Owen and Viduka will mean two strikers upfront who don't contribute anything when we are on the backfoot and we have to defend. These two should only ever be played upfront at home against lesser teams.

Absolutely terrified of this game. I don't know how much you have seen of Portsmouth but it's not going to be fun. They play a 4-3-3 that is very effective and they have a lot of power and pace.

I don't know if we can play against them with a 4-4-2 and have any kind of chance. Their midfield three of Davis/Mendes along with Muntari and Diop will eat us alive the way we've been going lately. Of course Kanu is back now too, so they will have Benjani, Kanu and Utaka upfront. Bloody frightening if you ask me.

If we don't go 4-3-3 to match up with them we will lose this game in my opinion. I'm not looking forward to this one at all I'm afraid.

A bit depressing really, but I think the reality is that without the freedom to implement his preferred 4-3-3 system Allardyce won't bring the level of success we all hope for.

We were all worried that the 4-3-3 would mean less exciting football, but the 4-4-2 under Sam has actually been far less exciting than any football played he ever played at Bolton.

In the 4-4-2 it appears as though Sam feels the midfield four have to be more defensive minded because unlike the 4-3-3/4-5-1 the system is not as tight and solid in the middle of the pitch. This of course means we always have either Geremi or Smith on the wing along with one of Milner or Zoggy. This really hampers our attacking play and has hurt us in a lot of games.

Ironically I also feel that Sam's 4-4-2 system has us playing more long balls than his 4-3-3 because he is less willing to risk losing the ball in the middle of the park as there is one less man in there and therefore less protection.

I can't help but feel had we stuck with the system we started off with at Bolton that we would really be coming into our own right now and really beginning to play better football than we are at the moment in this 4-4-2 with no genuine wing play.

With all our players fit I think a midfield three of Geremi, Smith and Barton, along with a front three of Zoggy, Viduka and Martins is probably the most exciting we could have as an attacking unit. It is also more likely Sam would be comfortable with this setup because defensively we could easily play a 4-5-1 which would keep things tighter as he prefers.

So is Owen alone preventing this? And if so is that fair?

Cesc.

Struggling to think of many in world football who are better.

Owen just isn't worth keeping around. Not necessarily because I don't think he is a good enough player or anything.

The reason is because I don't think Sam is comfortable with the 4-4-2 formation and therefore his team selections for this formation aren't great.

Just heard from someone that Ramos might end up at Chelsea!

Man City ... yikes!

Aaaaaaaaaaaah fugedaboutit!

Why was Faye taken off for Milner?! Too risky.

Where we playing 3-5-2 then?

I would love it if we win this.

We have to become a team that gets results on our worst days.

Kamara says we are rampant now ...

We're in it folks! We can steal this!

Always room for improvement on another day. Let's mug these guys and make a run for it.

Hope this spells the end of Butt. He kills us in these sorts of games he really does.

At least Sam's made the right sort of changes. I think we could still get a result in the game.

Kitson is our bogeyman.

How embarassing ...

Pop goes the weasel.

Kamara talking about Owen's lack of pace, which means he can't get in behind.

Well we've managed to come in at halftime at 0 - 0.

Let's see if Sam can tweak things a bit and get us going. I always feel Butt is the main problem. As a defensive midfielder he doesn't do enough. He needs to be able to get the ball off the defenders and get us playing. A skill he seemingly doesn't posess.

I would love to see Rozehnal groomed to take over from Butt in that position.

Is it any clearer what the formation looks like?

Martins will be feeling good right now.

 

I'm expecting at least 2 from him today.

 

You're surely setting yourself up for dissappointment?

 

 

Not at all. Trust me, Martins will be good today.

Martins will be feeling good right now.

I'm expecting at least 2 from him today.

Midfield diamond tbh.

If so I hope Emre is at the top of the diamond to encourage him to stay further forward which he doesn't usually do.

We've got good attacking full backs, putting Butt and Barton in the middle gives protection to allow them to bomb on, Emre and Geremi will also happily track back.

 

Beye and Enrique are therefore the key players for me in this formation

Excellent point and I agree completely.

Enrique and Beye will get forward and provide extra width for the team, and Emre and Geremi will do a good job of covering for them when they need to as well as assisting them defensively in general.

I actually like this lineup a lot. Emre will do better out wide than he has done for us through the middle. I really only prefer Emre through the middle in a 4-3-3.

Pleasantly surprised that Sam is giving the Owen and Martins partnership another go. Good stuff.

Not the most pacy midfield but they can all pass the ball very well (aside from Butt) and this should work very well for Martins and Owen upfront. Emre has played out wide for Turkey and should be comfortable there.

I think this could work very well for this game. It is Reading afterall, and they are not the quickest team in the league or the strongest defensively. I don't think the lack of pace in the midfield will be as much of a problem.

I think Emre will be a pleasant surprise on the left especially in linking up with Enrique who does such a good job of getting forward.

I like the lineup 

Ramos has already lost 3-0 to Arsenal this season.

He is perfect for Spurs. He already has Harry Kewell lined up too.

Rozenhal will get plenty of games if anyone gets injured, he can fill in for Butt also.

I think Rozehnal will eventually play in midfield in place of Butt in the longterm.

Can you just imagine a Tottenham fan watching this after last night?

 

 

This is the team they were supposedly guaranteed to finish ahead of this season.

 

 

 

not to sure about that tbh

Oh! How quickly you forget! That's all your fans were saying all summer pal.

Anyway Mr. what was that you were saying about Walcott not being anything special last time around? Already looks a much better player than you prized posession Lennon.

Can you just imagine a Tottenham fan watching this after last night?

This is the team they were supposedly guaranteed to finish ahead of this season.