Antonio Conte has become the darling of the English media for bringing the 3-4-3 formation to English football with the best possible execution. Since the Italian manager shifted to this formation a month ago, the club has managed five consecutive wins with 16 goals scored and no goals conceded. Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino also switched to this formation in the weekend game against Arsenal. However, this led to suggestions that the Argentine was trying to copy Chelsea’s system and it provoked an angry response from the manager.
Tottenham used Danny Rose and Kyle Walker as wingbacks in order to nullify the threat from Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal. The team also used midfielder Eric Dier as part of a back three which included Jan Vertonghen and Kevin Wimmer. Even though the latter was responsible for Arsenal opening the scoring, it was largely a successful experiment from Pochettino. The game ended as a 1-1 draw, as Spurs were able to rally in the second half and score through the returning Harry Kane.
It is not the first time Pochettino has deployed Spurs in this formation, but it has been almost a year. Chelsea’s incredible rise since switching to this formation has been well documented. After the recent 5-0 win over Everton, the club have moved past Arsenal and Manchester City in the table. Pochettino, though, says that any team can play any formation as they are not patented. According to the Evening Standard, he said:
“I cannot say if it is a better way to play in the future but it is important to be flexible and it is a good step forward for the team to use different systems, different ways to try to play.
“Chelsea, when they played here, started with a back four and after 3-0 in the 60th minute they changed to three. But last season we played against Watford, December 28, with three centre backs. Just because Chelsea won 5-0 yesterday, they didn’t discover the system.
“Nobody owns some system like we played today.”
It remains an incredible response from the manager who has been under pressure for the last few weeks. Spurs are yet to win a game since the 2-0 success over Manchester City at the start of October. Even after the switch to the new formation, they remained below par in terms of the overall 90-minute performance. Spurs had only had one shot on target compared to Arsenal’s five, and the return of Kane gives the team a major boost going forward.
One of Chelsea’s biggest successes in this new formation has been finding a perfect role for Eden Hazard. Spurs will be strengthened by the return of their injured players like Alderweireld and Dele Alli. It remains to be seen if the manager would persist with the system for the club’s upcoming London derbies. After having just concluded a London derby, Spurs move onto two games against West Ham and Chelsea with a Champions League match against Monaco sandwiched in the middle.
Action does not resume until the latest international break comes to an end.
One of the major advantages Chelsea have is the lack of European football. It has allowed Antonio Conte to fine tune the system. Pochettino does not have the same luxury and it will be interesting to see how he copes.
