Mauricio Pochettino has sprung a few of surprises with his team selection for the visit of West Ham United at White Hart Lane.
The most notable introduction is that of Harry Winks. The midfielder makes his first Premier League start for Tottenham.
Spurs have seemingly scrapped the three-at-the-back formation that worked effectively at Arsenal a fortnight ago. Harry Kane and Vincent Janssen both start, and it looks as if Danny Rose and Kyle Walker will have to provide extra width without any wide midfielders in front of them.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to all the team news.
#THFC team: Lloris (c), Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Wanyama, Dembele, Winks, Eriksen, Kane, Janssen. #COYS pic.twitter.com/2JHJpB0DFm
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 19, 2016
Subs: Vorm, Carter-Vickers, Trippier, Wimmer, Alli, Onomah, Son. #COYS
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 19, 2016
Interesting…looks like a 4-4-2 diamond? Delighted for @HarryWinks! https://t.co/X56uIOZTTJ
— Nikhil Saglani (@Nikhil_Saglani) November 19, 2016
Hope Winks does well in his first PL start. He's performed well in every other time he's featured. Decent subs w/Dele & Son off the bench.
— Spurs In The Blood (@SpursInTheBlood) November 19, 2016
Not surprised by the starting XI. International break less than kind to Spurs. Big game for Harry Winks. Come on you Spurs! #COYS
— Talking THFC (@TalkingTHFC) November 19, 2016
442 diamond today? Kind of seems like that line up is lacking width.
— West Coast Spurs (@WestCoast_Spurs) November 19, 2016
Surprised Wimmer is dropped in place of Dier @ CB, looks like Poch is operating traditional 4-4-2 with Kane & Janssen upfront. #COYS#THFC
— Ricky Sacks (@RickSpur) November 19, 2016
Good luck bro, absolutely buzzing for you ? @HarryWinks
— Kyle Walker-Peters (@KyleLPeters) November 19, 2016
#thfc Dele Alli fit enough for the bench after a knee injury. Son also benched, after playing 90 minutes in South Korea on Tuesday. https://t.co/Xk9pAw2Pim
— Dan Kilpatrick (@Dan_KP) November 19, 2016
Digging Poch's revolutionary 2-2-2-2-2. The tower block.
— Charlie Parrish (@charlieparrish) November 19, 2016
Lol. So far about 20 different formations suggested. We're all clueless ?
— Paul O Keefe (@pokeefe1) November 19, 2016
Very surprised Poch has gone with a very narrow formation. Plays into West Ham's hands with their attacking FBs likely to hard to mark.
— Alan (@LaptopManager_) November 19, 2016
#thfc It could simply be 4-2-3-1, with Wanyama and Winks behind Dembele, Kane (as a No10) and Eriksen. Thoughts?
— Ben Pearce (@BenPearceSpurs) November 19, 2016
Games won by players not formations. However we set up, players are fluid. Will see multiple formations throughout course of a game. #THFC
— Vass Koni (@vkon1) November 19, 2016
Spurs problem is the spent 41 million on two players who are not even on the bench. I know we have lots of injuries but we are not anywhere as good as the last two seasons. We seem to be going backward