Tottenham stepped up their preparations for the resumption of the Premier League season with an 11 vs. 11 practice match on home turf yesterday.
Highlights of which can be viewed in the below video:
Looking at this and other pictures from the game, the lineups were:
Team White: Lloris; Aurier, Foyth, Vertonghen, Davies; Winks, Skipp, Gedson; Bergwijn, Dele, Kane
Team Blue: Vorm; Marsh, Alderweireld, Dier, Sessegnon; Sissoko, White, Ndombele; Lucas, Lamela, Son
Jose Mourinho has done a pretty good job at mixing the personnel up to keep fans and other teams guessing of what team he is planning to go with for the first game back against Manchester United on June 19th.
But this is what I have deduced from them:
- We’ll be playing 4-3-3, having switched between this and 4-2-3-1 since Jose’s arrival. This is good news for Ndombele’s chances of starting as he was operating as the most advanced of the three, but it might mean Dele being shoehorned into the team away from his best position.
- Alderweireld and Dier could be the first-choice centre-back pairing for the remainder of the campaign. Fabrizio Romano reported that Dier is in talks over a new contract. That might rest on the next nine games.
- Bergwijn has got a pretty good chance of starting out wide ahead of Lucas. Was Jose scouting the January signing’s chemistry with Kane? Kane and Lucas only seem to get in each other’s way.
- Love them or hate them, we’re seeing more of Aurier and Davies at full-back. Jose’s preferred defensive setup is built around these two players and he’ll persist with them in the absence of what he considers to be plausible alternatives. (I want Sessegnon on the left and Tanganga on the right). Aurier and Davies have only played together a handful of times because of injury and this was a chance for them to understand their own and each other’s roles in that setup.
What do you make of Jose’s practice lineups?
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