After seeing his Tottenham Hotspur team brush aside FC Copenhagen in the Champions League, Thomas Frank may be having ideas about a tactical tweak in the future.
It was crucial that Tottenham picked up a win this week after a disastrous showing against Chelsea at the weekend. While fans voiced their displeasure towards the Spurs players on Saturday, they left the ground buzzing on Tuesday night.
Goals from Brennan Johnson, Wilson Odobert, Micky van de Ven, and Joao Palhinha secured a 4-0 win for Tottenham who maintain their unbeaten start to the Champions League and push themselves into the all-important top eight for now.
However, it’s not just a sense of relief Thomas Frank will have gotten from that victory; he will also have been given food for thought regarding his formation after van de Ven’s wonder goal.
Danny Murphy predicts system change for Tottenham
On the latest episode of talkSPORT Daily as part of the Champions League round-up, former Spurs man Danny Murphy discussed that incredible goal from Micky van de Ven and suggested how it could help Frank mix things up in terms of his tactics.
He said: “It’s an unbelievable goal, honestly. And actually, I was looking at it thinking, maybe we’d see this more often if he plays in a three [at the back]. Maybe that’s something Thomas Frank’s thinking about, because we saw Brentford play in a three many times, didn’t we?
“And that will give him the license to go and do this type of thing. It’s just a beautiful, wonderful goal.”
Spurs fans will recall van de Ven going on a similar marauding run last season to provide a dazzling assist against Manchester United, so he’s clearly got this in his locker. If Spurs were to give him that freedom to roam it could be a gamechanger.
The only problem is, van de Ven will attract a lot of attention from other clubs if he keeps playing like this.
Pros and cons of playing a back three for Spurs
So, would it be a good idea to go for a back three at Tottenham? Obviously the benefits are clear to see, in that it would give players like van de Ven the freedom to advance and would give the backline plenty of stability.
It’s not just van de Ven who would benefit. You think about players like Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, who are very attacking full-backs, and it’s clear they would relish playing in the wing-back role as part of a 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 formation.
Kevin Danso is also worthy of a place in the Tottenham team. He’s just unfortunate that Cristian Romero and van de Ven are such a phenomenal pairing, but make them a trio and everyone wins.
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Poll: Should Tottenham change to a back three?
Still, would this shift leave Frank sacrificing Tottenham’s attacking intent at times? With more defenders on the pitch, the team would naturally gravitate towards a more defensive mindset. We saw this happen at Chelsea last weekend, and Spurs fans were furious with their team for it.
It’s simply a case of judging this on a game-by-game basis. When the situation calls for it, a back three would be a shrewd move. But, use that formation in the wrong situation, and Tottenham fans would surely let Frank know about it.