e-Spurs Tactics Board - Spurs v FC Basle

Our tactical writer Matt Tumminia previews our Quarter Final 1st Leg against FC Basle and the potential tactics AVB may need to employ against the Swiss side.

This coming Thursday, Tottenham will be welcoming the current Swiss Super League leaders and 15-time champions, FC Basel, in the Europa League Quarter-Final first leg. Many of us remember the exploits of Basel in last year’s Champions League where they stunned Manchester United in Switzerland, knocking the Red Devils out, and then putting a scare into Bayern Munich in the round of 16, leaving Basel with a 1-0 win. Of course, the Swiss club then got rocked in Munich to the tune of unanswered 7 goals in an absolute mauling by the German giants, but they returned home with their heads held high knowing that they punched well above their weight and crushed many Mancunian hearts. Besides being one of the more successful clubs in the league, they have also captured the Swiss cup 11 times, therefore, it should be understood that they are not the minnows that many thought when we were drawn with them.

Opposition Formation and Projected Lineups

FC Basel tends to play a 4-4-2 with a main target man in Marco Streller, who happens to be the top scorer in the league, and a second striker, club captain Alexander Frei, playing right off of him. Through the midfield, they play with two deep lying midfielders and two wingers, similar to how Spurs used to play. They have twin brothers playing for the club in Phillip and David Degen, the former typically plays right back while David plays as a right midfielder. I would suspect that the lineup would look something like this:

Yann Sommer

Steinhofer, Sauro, Dragovic, P. Degen

D. Degen, Yapi Yapo, Serey Die, Stocker

Frei, Streller

This formation, although very attack minded, could easily be over-run in the midfield (as we all remember during the Jol years) and I suspect AVB will set us up to retain possession while over powering their two central midfielders. I think a central trio of Parker, Carroll and Holtby/ Siggy could pick them apart while creating space for our wingers and fullbacks. If we are able to occupy their two central midfielders, one of our three could have ample time to pull the strings from deep with balls over the top or some perfectly weighted through balls. Spurs will have to pay attention during their attacks as with the natural width of their play, our fullbacks, if left with little cover from our wingers, could be caught on the overlap. As the Swiss side boasts a frontline of the 6 foot 5 inch Streller and wily veteran Frei, they will be looking to send balls in to our box often to get a knock down as Streller’s aerial dominance will put our central defenders under a lot of stress. I can see Daws being given the role to mark Streller, similarly to when he had to mark Ibrahimovic against Milan, a job which he did extremely well.

Marco Streller

I would like to see Parker/ Livermore hounding the ball carrier at all times and then moving up the pitch to occupy their central midfielders so again, Carroll could work his magic from deep. In my preferred formation, I would have two of the three CM’s act as “shuttlers” with Carroll sitting deep, playing a “Pirlo” role to pick out passes, similarly to how Juventus plays with Parker/ Jake and Siggy/ Holtby playing the Vidal and Marchisio roles, doing the dirty work while Carroll dictates play from a deeper position. As Kyle Walker will be out due to suspension, Naughton will be asked to play from his preferred position of RB, but as he presents a less of an offensive threat, I do suspect that the majority of our attacks will be on the left or through the middle.

Philipp Degen

Prediction Time

While I do believe that Spurs will win this match by a few goals especially if AVB continues his trend of playing full-squads for these matches, I can see us losing focus for a moment or two and conceding a silly away goal. I do say we end up with a 3-1 or 4-1 win as, if they choose play an open 4-4-2, I think with our technical abilities and raw power and pace we should beat them comfortably, no offence to the Swiss leaders, but I really believe this is a tie that Spurs should win by a healthy scoreline.

Thanks for reading everyone! COYS!

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