New Spurs, new system?

Last updated : 29 July 2008 By Oliver Lister
Anger followed shock and shortly after I was diagnosed with 'Spurs' Remorse' - the all too familiar ailment caused by prized assets being sold. "Sleep on it", I thought.

The beaming grin of our now ex-vice captain clothed in an unfamiliar tracksuit did nothing for the taste of my porridge. Ant-acid, paracetamol, even primal scream therapy could not restore me to rude health. I languished in the nadir of Spurs supporterdom.

My blood boiled as I saw Keane loft a red scarf above his head, my vitriolic imp telling me he had three pieces of sliver in his back pocket. The betrayal I felt was personal, had he lied to us all along?

In situations like these there is only one thing to do: watch the highlights from last night's match against Norwich.

After viewing the opening exchanges I was impressed by the link-up play between our newest signings; Modric and Dos Santos provided flair, width, pin-point passing and vision. The tempest blowing in my head seemed to ease.

What struck me was the formation Ramos had put out: One up front with two holding midfielders and three attacking midfielders with the licence to roam. This was a new look Tottenham, less direct and far more patient. Maybe I had not been seeing the whole picture.

As the match wore on, Spurs played with greater verve and panache, eventually shredding the Canaries to ribbons. Darren Bent, the target of some unfair criticism last season, was in the deadliest of form. He hassled and harried the defence, showed poachers instinct and real technical class, and was more than worthy of his four goals.

Awesome foursome - could Bent flourish under a new system?
















Okay so it was Norwich, hardly the Harlam Globetrotters of the football world, but a reasonable outfit in front of a packed home crowd; a more than decent pre-season test. What we may be seeing the end of is good ol' 4-4-2 system, and in its place a more continental system with only one lone striker.

Whether this assessment proves to be accurate remains to be seen, though it did offer some solace following the Merseysider's smash and grab. Ramos is now in the process of building his first Spurs team, he has his own ideas on how the game is played, and this does not necessarily mean he will replicate what he did at Sevilla in terms of formation and tactics.

Comparing the palaver of Berbatov's 'will-he-won't-he', to that of Keane's departure, there has been relatively little fuss on the latter's behalf. It may be that Keane, as good as a player as he is, did not feature heavily in Ramos' plans.

If Ramos does plan to deploy a one man strike force next term then Keane would not have been the man to fill the role, Berbatov and Bent are. Indeed, Keane can play in an attacking midfielder role, but given the cornucopia of talent in players such as Modric, Dos Santos, Lennon et al, was there a place in the team for Keane?

Levy may be the master conjurer, and we all may have been tricked by his smoke and mirrors. Could it be that we were waiting for a decent offer for Keane, then when one comes in, make a real stir so as to ensure top dollar for him? If that is the plan, then I hope it pays off and we haven't let one of our best players of the last ten years go without a fight.

As we stand on the brink of a new dawn let's not start it licking wounds, no man is an island after all. Keane was good but there may be even greater players that pull on the hallowed white shirt in the years to come.