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Much has been made of the 4-3-3 formation that Andre Villas-Boas is expected to bring to Tottenham Hotspur, but he went with something that the players are a bit more familiar with to start his tenure as manager, deploying his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation for the entire duration of the Stevenage friendly. David Bentley got a run in the attacking midfield spot to start the game, and Gylfi Sigurdsson played the second half in the role.
Villas-Boas spoke about this and a bunch of other things following the friendly. His explanation for going with a 4-2-3-1 instead of a 4-3-3 for his first friendly in charge was an understandable one.
#thfc AVB: "I think it’s what the players at the moment feel the most comfortable with. Of course changes will come when we need them."
— Ben Pearce (@BenPearceSpurs) July 18, 2012
More after the jump.
On the performance and Sigurdsson:
"Bearing in mind the physical effort they are putting into training, coming here and doing what we are trying to do was very gratifying.The main thing was to pick up match minutes and the main objective was achieved ... We were more incisive in the second half. Our possession was good in the first and second half, but the space opened up a little more in the second half and we managed to get behind them ... [Sigurdsson] has tremendous goalscoring attributes that he showed last season at Swansea," said Andre. "He managed to turn his marker and shoot. It was a great goal and important for him."
"The young boys were immense. The development squad deserve credit, that is the continuous process that allows us to count on these players and put them on the pitch without lowering the level. They handle it well. It's very pleasant to see the way they communicate and they want to play football. This is all down to the work that has been done with quality from the first team down."
Spurs TV also released a video of Villas-Boas talking about the game, which contains some of those quotes.
Do you guys expect to see any serious changes for the American friendlies, or do you expect Villas-Boas to stick with a 4-2-3-1 formation for the time being? Got any guesses on who starts on the 24th?
