What Is Tottenham’s Best XI For The 2010-11 Season?
By Ollie Irish
“My squad is triffic. Triffic bunch of lads. It’s scary.”
Okay, I’ll handle this…
The formation: Arry as got his time tuned into a 4-4-2 formation, which may not be fashionable but it does seem to work with the players he has. I’m not one to disagree with the gaffer, so 4-4-2 it is.
The line-up:
Heurelho Gomes
Vedran Corluka – Michael Dawson – Ledley King (c) – Benoit Assou-Ekotto
Aaron Lennon – Tom Huddlestone – Luka Modric – Gareth Bale
Jermain Defoe – Roman Pavlyuchenko
Fairly straightforward, I think. Younes Kaboul is very athletic and strong on the ball, but he’s an accident waiting to happen at right-back, which is not his natural position, so Corluka – who is no natural there either but far more comfortable than Kaboul – gets the nod, as he did against Man City on Saturday. Assou-Ekotto is playing really well, still, which frees up the fast-improving Bale to torment defences with his power and pace.
Modric and the Hudd make an odd couple in the centre of the pitch, but they seem to work very well together, and make a more bold pairing than the destructive Wilson Palacios +1. Palacios will come in for the Hudd in away games at places like Stoke and Blackburn, I guess.
Up front, it has to be Defoe plus either Crouch or Pavlyuchenko, with the Russian getting my vote, just, because he’s more mobile than Crouchinho. Robbie Keane has looked sharp in pre-season training, and can make a big impact coming off the bench.
That’s my XI. Now let’s see yours…
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Heurelho Gomes
Vedran Corluka – Michael Dawson – Ledley King (c) – Benoit Assou-Ekotto
Gio Dos Santos – Tom Huddlestone – Luka Modric – Gareth Bale
Jermain Defoe – Roman Pavlyuchenko
Heurelho Gomes
Vedran Corluka – Michael Dawson – Ledley King (c) – Gareth Bale
————-Aaron Lennon – T. Huddlestone – W Palacios—————
——–Aaron Lennon—————————–Gio Dos Santos
————————– Luka Modric —————————
—————————J Defoe (but pref. a new signing)
Unlikely that he will play 4-4-2 in the Champs League so i’m guessing tonights line up will be same as yours but instead of Pav he’ll go with Palacios in a 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 formation.
Harry’s problem may then be altering the system from week to week whether players can adapt.
if there is one thing we learnt last season its that 11 world class players means squat in a season that demands 22 premiership class ones
I’d love to field 2 lennons and play 12 people but don’t think its allowed!
gomes
Kaboul King Daws(c) Bale
Lennon Hudd Modric Kranj
Defoe Pavs
subs:
cudicini
bassong
palacios
bentley
dos santos
crouchy
keano
Crikey! Spurs will be unstoppable if they play 11 outfiled players!
Gomes
A another Dawson King Bale
Lennon Sandro Modric Gio
Defoe + a another
Two glaring gaps!!! Happy to give Gio a go and Bale behind would be magnificent. If Gio fails we have Kranjcar as back up. If we cant get 2 a anothers then Corluka and Pav
COYS
£$£$$£$”Best XI For The 2010-11 Season”£$£$£$£$ Not 4 CL… LOL
GOMES
CORLUKA DAWSON KING BALE
PALACIOS
MODRIC HUDDLESTONE
LENNON GIOVANI
DEFOE
Gomes
Corluka King Dawson A&E
Lennon Modric Thudd Bale
Gio
Pav or Crouch ( but preferably Fabiano / Adebayor )
Subs : Crouch or Pav
Pletikosa / Cudicini
Krancjar
Defoe
Bassong
Sandro
Messi
Outs : Jermain Penarse
Bentley
Hutton
Keane
Alnwick
Maybe so Pristar but if he wants to succeed in the CL then he wont play 4-4-2, certainly not in the group stages or we will get hammered, try learning a lesson from how England performed in the WC adopting these tactics, so he will have to weigh up whether he changes his team for CL and League.
I’m sure he’d love Ledley to play tonight but he wont so i’m guessing Bassong alongside Dawson.
Also notice that no one seems to be thinking about Sandro who will certainly feature at some point.
I mentioned Sandro but cannot justify including him until I see what he has to offer .. also forgot to add Palacios to the bench. I would have started him 9 times out of ten early last season but was surprised @ how well Hudd & Modric coped when it really mattered. Palacios is a woeful passer of the ball to boot ( + his rather large hampton seems to restrict his movement somewhat )
Maybe so Mike but if you play 4-5-1 away from home your inviting pressure from start to finish. One mistake by BAE and we have conceded a goal. Try learning a lesson in how tactics work in football. England were crap in the world cup because the manager is a joke and the players themselves are overrated.
I’d agree that that is our best starting 11. But I think crouch should play against the young boys as theres going to be alot of supply coming in from the wings against their 3-4-3 formation
either way, i think we should play 4-2-3-1. kranjcar as amc, modric on aml and GDS as amr. bale would work well as attacking fullback.
Gomes
Kaboul Dawson King Bale
Sandro Huddlestone
Lennon Modric Dos Santos
Pav
Gomes
Corluka Dawson(v.c) King(c) Assou-Ekotto
Palacios Huddlestone
Lennon Bale
Modric
L. Fabiano
Gomes
Corluka–Dawson(v.c)-King(c)-Assou-Ekotto
———- Palacios—Huddlestone——-
Lennon——————————Bale-
—————–Modric——————
—————L. Fabiano—————–
Maybe I’m crazy but I still have a lot of love for Crouch. I think that Crouch and Defoe work a lot better than Pav and Defoe and certainly Keane and Defoe.
Gomes
Corluka-Dawson-King-Assou Ekotto
Huddlstone-Placios
Lennon-Modric-Bale
Defoe
Change That
Gomes
Corluka – Gallas – King – Assou Ekotto
Huddlstone – Van de Vaart
Lennon – Modric – Bale
Defoe
Subs:
Sandro
Kranjcar
Placios
Crouch
Pavlyuchenko
Dawson
Gomes
Corluka – Galles – King – assou ekotto
lennon – van der vaart – modric – bale
defoe – crouch
100%