Brilliant comparison, and I'm happy to see us playing in this way. The question is, will we still be playing the majority of our games with this blueprint next season? And which players would you see as replaceable?
As a side note, my favourite player from that AC Milan team.... Martin Laursen
Cheers skarroki, agreed on Martin Laursen, what a hero, nearly shed a tear when I saw his retirement press conference!
It's hard to say whether we'll keep this system next season, however at this level opposition teams tend to do their homework and come up with a plan to nullify a team's tactics:
http://performance.fourfourtwo.com/tactics/defending-against-a-4-3-2-1 (video)
I'll never forget that 2nd season under MON, when the 4-4-2 was flying, we were banging in the goals and all was good, and then the 2 years that followed as teams sat back and didn't let us hit on the break. We had to grind out results again and again...it was tough.
From what I read on Spurs forums, over the course of last season the same 'figuring out process' happened with Sherwood's team. Goals and good results to start with before the big teams worked them out and started to hammer them (ominously Arsenal did it twice)
I hope I'm wrong, but my prediction is that the 4-3-2-1 will lose it's surprise value and we'll revert to a more traditional system...I think that the players are spot on though, right through the team, I don't even think we need much transfer market action. I really believe on paper our first team should be 6th-8th (compare it to MON's XI from his last season)
Look at the second half against West Ham. They changed their play style and got back into the game and we struggled to knock the ball about as we did in the 1st half. Only takes a few tactical tweaks to counter.