Case Study - Tottenham Hotspur

Prior to the start of the 2008/09 season, Tottenham were a team with lofty ambitions.  Having triumphed over Chelsea in the Carling Cup final, expectations were sky high.  "Let's aim for Europe", they said.  "Qualify for the Champions League!", ventured some more daring (or sarcastic) fans.  Starting the season on a low, it has just gotten worse and worse, in spite of Harry Redknapp's fairytale start to his role as manager after the sacking of Juande Ramos, which saw Spurs beat Liverpool 2-1 and draw with Arsenal in an incredible 4-4 tie at the Emirates.  Fast forward a few months, and they are fighting for their Premier League status with "undignified" opposition such as West Bromwich Albion and Middlesborough.  Before I go off on this tangent too much, let's take a look at what is seemingly a strong lineup.

(As of 09/02/09)

Goalkeepers: Cudicini, Gomes

Defenders: Corluka, Dawson, Woodgate, Assou-Ekoto, Hutton, Bale, King, Rocha, Chimbonda, Gunter

Midfielders: Zokora, Bentley, Huddlestone, Lennon, Jenas, Gilberto, Palacios, Modric, Taraabt, O' Hara

Forwards: Defoe, Keane, Pavlyuchenko, Bent, Campbell

*sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tottenham_Hotspur

First-team line up (most common on a week-to-week basis)

Goalkeeper: Gomes

Defenders: Corluka(RB), Dawson(CB), Woodgate(CB), Assou-Ekoto, Bale(LB)

Midfielders: Bentley(RM), Palacios (CM), Modric (CM), Lennon (LM)

Forwards: Keane(CF), Pavlyuchenko (CF)

A classic 4-4-2 if there ever was one.  We can see Corluka and Bale taking up the right and left back spots respectively, sandwiching the two centre-backs.  Palacios acts as the defensive midfielder here, the Honduran having been snapped up as a replacement for Didier Zokora.  Modric, who also excels at playing behind a single striker, is usually deployed in the creative role behind the forwards, while Bentley and Lennon provide the width, switching wings occasionally (although the effectiveness of Bentley on the left has to be debated).   Onto the forwards.  Pavlyuchenko plays as the target man, with Keane in his role as the free man.  

One thing to be touched on is that some wingers have the tendency to move significantly infield.  This can render a team's play very narrow, and thus easier to defend against.  I previously stated that wingers DO move inside, but only when the FULLBACKS overlap.  This lack of width has been an unfortunate feature of Tottenham's play this season, with Bentley in particular having the tendency to play almost as a central midfielder.  Corluka is not the most adventurous of fullbacks, which is perhaps why manager Redknapp sometimes switches the more width-focused Lennon onto the right-hand side.  In Bentley and Lennon we see contrasting styles of wingplay.  Lennon is your typical blinding-fast player, with quick feet and an eye for goal.  Being a right-footed player on the left-hand side, he has the tendency to cut onto his right foot and shoot, as opposed to bringing it onto his left to cross. He has an immense dribbling ability, and gets past most defenders with ease. Bentley, on the other hand, is not nearly as fast and agile as Lennon, but makes up for it with his footballing brain and ability to see a pass or a cross.  He resembles David Beckham in his prime, but Bentley is not YET as visionary a player as Beckham was. However, wingers of Bentley's type tend to do more defending than of the Lennon type, simply because they are less attack-minded. These 2 contrasting styles are pretty much stereotypical of the type of wingers in the Premier League.  

The 4-4-2 is adaptable to defensively-minded situations as well.  If, for instance, Tottenham lead by a scoreline of 1-0 with 15 minutes until full-time, the manger will in most cases take off one of the strikers (usually the secondary one) and replace him with a defensive midfielder.  In this case, the formation would be a 4-5-1, one on which I will touch later.  This means that there will only be one striker up front, with the playmaker (Modric) attempting to support him but in a much deeper role. The defensive midfielder will add an extra body to counter the attacking thrusts of the other team, and hopefully protect the lead.  

Conclusion: Tottenham Hotspur is a stereotypical 4-4-2 team.  The passing game works well with this system, with ballplayers such as Bentley and Modric contrasting with dribblers like Lennon.  However, leaky points in the 4-4-2 are the tendency of the wingers to drift infield and negate the width,  and the fact that strikers can drop too deep to get the ball, leaving little options up front.