The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder thinks he has a solution to Mauricio Pochettino’s side’s recent plight.
The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Danny Murphy has urged his former side to change their system.
Tottenham have employed a diamond formation in recent weeks – something which the Spurs midfielder Moussa Sissoko recently voiced his displeasure, claiming it causes him and his colleagues to tire too quickly.
And according to Murphy, a switch to a four-three-three, complete with a couple of personnel changes, could have a positive effect on Spurs’ alarming form at home and in Europe.
“(Kyle) Walker-Peters – good young player. Stick him in at right-back,” Murphy told Talksport on Monday morning. “I think it was a mistake to let (Kieran) Trippier go but that’s life. (Davinson) Sanchez could play with his pace, alongside (Jan) Vertonghen or (Toby) Alderweireld and then your left-back, Rose. Then you play four-three-three. Now, four-three-three, Liverpool and (Manchester) City play it for a reason. Barcelona have played it for years for a reason. It’s balanced. Players get it. They know how to play. You can tweak the three in the middle – two and one or one and two – you could bring your wide men in a bit, or you can push them out wide. Four-three-three at the minute is a balanced way to get your players on board and get yourself back into being hard to beat. Because a four-three-three can become four-five-one, where you’re hard to beat, and then you can break. At the minute they’re playing a different formation, different personnel every week and it’s not working.
“I think he should go back to two holding. I think (Tanguy) Ndombele was supposed to be doing that job with (Eric) Dier at the weekend but he’s not a holding midfielder – he just flies out and plays. He’s a good player but he’s an attacking midfielder. If you’re going to play wide men they’ve got to give you some width and track the full-backs. I’d play (Heung-min) Son and (Lucas) Moura. Son and Lucas Moura wide with (Harry) Kane up top is a front three that will cause teams problems. It’s got pace, it’s got goals in it and Moura and Son will run back. Then play three in the middle of the park, maybe Sissoko, (Harry) Winks – maybe (Christian) Eriksen with those two, maybe Ndombele with those two. And then have a settled back four and get back to being hard to beat. At Brighton they were all over the place. It was like a group of under-14s just not playing in positions.”
That said, in Murphy’s eyes, the mentality of some of those players must also change if Tottenham are to get their season back on track.
“I actually think on this occasion a couple of them don’t really want to be there,” he added. “It’s not that they don’t want to be there – they’re thinking ahead. I think Alderweireld’s not been himself. Eriksen’s not quite been himself. I don’t mean they go onto the pitch and consciously don’t try – I don’t believe that for one second. Eriksen ran more than anyone else on the pitch at the weekend, by the way, which some people will find surprising. But you’re preoccupied with what’s coming next so you’re not 100 per cent focused on the job in hand. The problem is, if there’s two or three in that boat, it’s infectious. It’s a mistake here, a mistake there. And if you go a goal or two down, the desire to get back on track isn’t the same because you think, well I’m not going to be here anyway. I can see the body language isn’t what it was for a lot of those Tottenham players.”
Tottenham are back in action a week on Saturday at home to Watford, before games against Crvena Zvezda, Liverpool and Everton.
Spurs have dropped to ninth in the Premier League and third in their Champions League group over the course of the last week.
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