Harry Redknapp has learnt from the Champions League qualifying tie with Young Boys and is set to adopt a more cautious approach to the Champions League group stages.
Spurs open up their maiden campaign with a trip to Werder Bremen on Tuesday in what will prove a difficult encounter.
Redknapp’s first game in the Champions League was in Switzerland, where Spurs found themselves 3-0 down within half an hour.
Spurs eventually pulled it back to progress 6-3 on aggregate, but Redknapp has learnt from the experience.
“I am not going to go away from home and play 4-4-2 as you will get opened up.
“We got to Germany and they play with a diamond, and so they will have four players in the the middle of the park.
“We have two in there and will run around chasing shadows as they pop it around. So we will have to look at that.
MORE SPURS STORIES
“At home, I am 90% certain I will play with two strikers. But away from home, it will be different.”
Redknapp will be able to call upon the services of Rafael Van Der Vaart, giving him more options to experiment with.
“He can play in behind one striker, two strikers, if you want to play that way, or if you want to play a diamond.”
And whilst Redknapp has lost the services of Jermain Defoe for much of the campaign, he has full faith in his other strikers to produce the goods.
He will rotate Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Robbie Keane, as he has realised the importance of having strength in depth.
“We need a squad this year.
“It is amazing how quickly you can pick up injuries. We lost two players this week.
“I have been in this situation before. At Portsmouth, we had four centre-backs and within ten days, lost all four for a month. It can happen.”
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
