The two captains shook hands with the referee team and then exchanged team flags.

Players from both teams took photos in their respective half of the field and then formed their formations.

Southampton's formation is the 4231 formation that they have been practicing intensively recently.

Lallana is at the front as a striker.

Although Lallana is not very tall and not strong enough, it is difficult for him to compete head-on with the defenders of the Premier League's strong teams, but Lallana is flexible enough, and most importantly, Lallana can play as an attacking midfielder/central midfielder, and can retreat at any time to get the ball or help defend, help intercept and counter-rob the opponent on the spot, etc.

This is something that is difficult for Gurley and Connolly to do.

Coach Adkins' 4231 formation is actually more like a strikerless formation. After all, most of the time, Southampton is unable to compete with a strong team like Tottenham.

The three forwards are Chamberlain, Lambert and Schneiderlin.

The three of them, plus Lallana at the front, form Southampton's first line of defense.

But in fact, Southampton’s first line of defense is more than just these four people, including Gu Ran who stands in the defensive midfielder position.

Southampton's double defensive midfielders are Gu Ran and Mikel.

Mikel is behind Gu Ran, helping Gu Ran to do the dirty work and defending the entire back line. He is considered Southampton's second line of defense.

Gu Ran is the most special. Today, Gu Ran is not only the second line of defense, but also the first line of defense for Southampton, and also the last line of defense for Southampton.

With Mikel around, Gu Ran can roam around the court with confidence and do whatever is needed.

Mikel's joining has also made Southampton's overall defense very three-dimensional. In this way, when being oppressed by strong teams, Southampton's defensive system will not be crushed instantly, and it will have plenty of room to deal with dangerous attacks.

The left back is still not very good.

Hammond was originally a defensive midfielder and is right-footed, so it is difficult for him to play as a left back. However, Coach Adkins has no better choice. Secondly, he does not need the left back to assist and cooperate. He just needs to play joint defense and not make mistakes. This is not a big problem for the experienced veteran Hammond.

The right back is Richardson.

Richardson's condition has been very stable recently. Although Richardson's assist ability is not very strong, he still does a good job in wing defense.

The two central defenders are Jaidi and Fonte.

The level of these two central defenders is roughly equivalent to that of the top teams in the Championship, which is not good enough in the Premier League. Fortunately, there is Gu Ran, so Southampton's defenders have come all the way to now, facing Everton, Manchester City and Chelsea, and have never collapsed.

Finally, Southampton's goalkeeper was still Davis, who performed brilliantly.

Davis's own level of strength is good, but if he wants to reach the level of English Premier League goalkeepers, it is definitely not enough.

However, since Gu Ran joined Southampton, Davis has been facing super star opponents like Gu Ran every day in training. It would be strange if he did not make progress.

In today's game, Tottenham head coach Redknapp still used his unchanging 442 formation.

It is called 442, but in fact it is just the standing formation before the whistle blows. When the game really starts, 442 can be changed in many ways and at will.

When the defender is excited, he can directly go to the forward position to get the ball and shoot. The forward can return to the midfield to steal the ball. The midfielder can play as a defender. The left side can switch to the right side, and the right side can switch to the left side. It can be done in whatever way is suitable.

Of course, the goalkeeper is still the goalkeeper.

If the goalkeeper also plays 100% freely and runs out as a striker, then Tottenham will not have to play.

Moreover, Tottenham's free tactics actually have a very high threshold. Tottenham's threshold lies in the selection of players. Players who can play so freely on the field are basically talented players, and they are basically experienced old players.

Lao Lei knows them inside and out, and knows their mentality and physical condition before the game, so he dares to let them play like this.

This tactic is almost impossible to replicate, because few head coaches have the charm and courage of Old Ray, and few teams have such a level.

A team with a poor overall level will surely fail if it learns Ray's free-style tactics.

The two forwards starting for Tottenham were No. 15 Peter Crouch and No. 18 Jermain Defoe.

These two forwards are both weird.

Pete Crouch is nicknamed Tall Guy and Big Bamboo Pole. He is 201cm tall but weighs only 68KG (2011 data), so he looks tall and thin, like a fat monk.

Height is Crouch's absolute advantage. With this advantage, Crouch can definitely be called one of the strongest header players of this era.

Yes, just one of them, not the strongest.

Crouch's headers are relatively weak, which has a lot to do with his body being not strong enough and his waist and abdomen lack strength. Crouch's real strength lies in his headers, that is, the flick of his head is still very strong. Don't look at his tall stature, he may not be able to compete with Ronaldo in headers.

However, although Crouch lacks waist and abdominal strength, his height is a natural advantage. Even if he is not strong enough, he is tall enough to be intimidating.

In addition, Crouch is very fast and explosive, and his skills are no weaker than any center/forward, so Crouch's scoring efficiency is very high.

Crouch is not essentially an aerial dominance type of center forward, but a technical striker, and heading is just one of his shooting techniques.

Crouch played for a total of 11 clubs in his career.

In the early days, Crouch was in the youth training of Tottenham Hotspur, but because he was as thin as a stick, he was not favored by the head coach at the time to be promoted to the first team. Instead, Crouch was loaned to Sisley Holstein in the low-level Swedish league. After playing overseas for a year, Crouch transferred back to Queens Park Rangers, which was still in the English League One at the time, and later transferred to Portsmouth, then transferred to Aston Villa, then transferred to Norwich, and then transferred to Southampton - Southampton was still a Premier League team at the time, Crouch also made many contributions to Southampton, helping the precarious Southampton team to successfully avoid relegation. Southampton also regarded Crouch as Southampton's star player.

But Crouch was a scumbag. He turned around and threw himself into the arms of Liverpool, and then transferred from Liverpool to Southampton's arch-rival Portsmouth. This was Crouch's second transfer to Portsmouth. This time, Portsmouth had dropped to the Championship. Crouch helped Portsmouth successfully advance to the Premier League, and Portsmouth also enshrined Crouch in the club's Hall of Fame.

Crouch was so moved that he vowed to hang up his boots at Portsmouth.

The head coach when Crouch transferred to Portsmouth this time was Redknapp.

When Redknapp went to Tottenham, Crouch also followed Redknapp to Tottenham - can any oath of love be enough to satisfy your hunger?

Southampton FC gave Crouch a thumbs up manually. (End of this chapter)