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People often obsess over formations and forget that it is the personnel and the actions behind the structure that determine whether a formation becomes functional or not.

The numbers on paper are just a base or a reference point.

What matters is how the system breathes, how players interpret their zones, and how the manager manipulates space.

Inside them are principles of width, depth, and relational spacing.

A three-at-the-back shape can be expansive, hard to break down or transitional depending on those human decisions.

Oliver Glasner and Ruben Amorim both favour a three-at-the-back system, but their executions are completely different.

Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace expands, accelerates, and adapts; Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United compresses, slows, and suffocates.

The same design, the same backbone, but drastically different outcomes.

This analysis will aim to dissect both models, their mechanics, their logic, and their failures.

Tottenham Hotspur will face Aston Villa on Sunday at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for game week eight of the Premier League.

It will be a good opportunity for Spurs to continue their journey to the top spots.

They have been climbing up the standings to reach third place with 14 points, just two points away from the leaders, Arsenal.

The start of the season under the management of the new head coach, Thomas Frank, has been positive so far, especially in terms of the home games that the team has played.

Tottenham Hotspur kicked off the season with a convincing 3-0 win over Burnley.

They then went to the Etihad Stadium to beat Manchester City 0-2 before losing at home against Bournemouth.

What followed was a 0-3 away win against West Ham United, a draw against Brighton, another draw against Wolves, and finally a crucial away win against Leeds United.

Overall, the results and performances have been positive under Frank’s management so far, as he has relatively succeeded in making the team much more compact and organised defensively and capable of resisting even when facing powerful attacking teams such as Manchester City.

That said, a lot of work is still needed to make the playmaking and the attacking aspects more powerful and reliable, as Tottenham have not really been that convincing in this regard until now.

This tactical preview of the match between Aston Villa and Tottenham will mainly focus on identifying what Frank has changed in Tottenham’s tactics and what he needs to focus on when facing Aston Villa in order to get a positive result at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The analysis will, therefore, consider Aston Villa’s strengths and weaknesses in order to identify how Frank can exploit them and adapt his match plan according to the opponent’s tactics.

Chelsea in 7th place take on 17th place Nottingham Forest.

Take a look at Enzo Maresca's attacking tactics at Chelsea from the 2024/2025 season.

Hansi Flick high-line tactics have costed Barcelona a few times this season.

Take a look at his high-risk high-reward tactics for the 2025/2026 season.

Borussia Dortmund take on Bayern Munich in a classic rivalry in world football.

Take a look at Niko Kovač 3-4-2-1 formation tactics.