Team and Tactics v Spurs (Home)

We all know what Spurs bring to the table. Redknapp rarely fiddles around with his formations beyond alternating between a 4-4-1-1 or a 4-4-2, generally relying on the pace of Lennon/Bale allied with the intelligent passing of Modric and Van der Vaart. Defensively they’re nowt special especially if King doesn’t play, although the full-backs Assou-Ekotto and Walker are formidable going forward. Without Adebayor, expect Jermain Defoe to operate in tandem with Vdv, supported by a midfield pairing of Parker and Modric – Sandro is out apparently.

As for City, the return of Micah and Mario make the squad a bit more respectable, but I’d stick with Zaba and Edin for this game – Zaba has shown in previous Spurs encounters that he has the ability to thwart Bale (and Lennon, iirc), while Dzeko need a run of games under his belt to return to top form. However, I do favour the 3-5-2 at the moment, so this is my line-up for the game -

—————————HART—————————
——ZABALETA———-SAVIC———LESCOTT———
RICHARDS—————————————CLICHY
————–MILNER———–BARRY—————–
————————–SILVA————————-
—————-AGUERO————DZEKO————–

BENCH: PANTS, KOLAROV, REKIK, NASRI, DE JONG, BALOTELLI, AJ

Micah is encouraged to attack as much as is prudent, whilst Zaba is there for insurance vs. Bale and Assou-Ekotto. I also like Zaba’s presence in the back line as a foil to Defoe – the Tottenham striker is adept at finding pockets of space against less nimble (both mentally and physically) opponents, and both Lescott and Savic tend to fall into this category at times. Van der Vaart is also an elusive player, so both the defence and the midfield should be switched on to his threat.

Barry and Milner pair up in midfield, and they should have an evenly matched battle against Parker and Modric. Silva is key as usual – if the lad can find space, I feel that the Spurs defence are vulnerable, more so without King’s ability to read the game. If the Spaniard is being shut down, Aguero and/or Edin must provide extra work rate and movement for the likes of Micah and Clichy to latch on to – this will in turn require plenty of running from the wing-backs, so hopefully Richards is fully fit.

Spurs’ pace is the major concern, but we have the players to hurt them, too. I anticipate goals bearing in mind the way these two teams play, and if the game unfolds as expected, we could be in for a classic. C’mon City!

BLOOVIC