We should play 442



RichD said:
We are getting overran in midfield playing with a three atm, so it would be football suicide until the glaring mistakes in recruitment are sorted..
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But we are not playing three in midfield as such… we play two further forward when we have the ball and two further back when we don’t have it.
Our problem is the three we play do not play as a unit with each understanding their role and supporting each other. As a result we are quite clumsy going forward and vulnerable in transition when we lose possession. Will always be the case until we have a natural sitting DM who is vocal and a natural leader around which the team can pivot. Only then will the significant number of attacking midfielders develop.
So … until we have that DM we would be more effective with 4 midfielders in a 442.
Father Jack Hackett said:
So Clarke and Roberts, for example would be tucking in and expected to win the ball back? Or Ba and whoever is fit at the minute?
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We would not play 442 if Clarke and Roberts are fit…. This discussion is how we set up without them!
 
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big winnie said:
But we are not playing three in midfield as such… we play two further forward when we have the ball and two further back when we don’t have it.
Our problem is the three we play do not play as a unit with each understanding their role and supporting each other. As a result we are quite clumsy going forward and vulnerable in transition when we lose possession. Will always be the case until we have a natural sitting DM who is vocal and a natural leader around which the team can pivot. Only then will the significant number of attacking midfielders develop.
So … until we have that DM we would be more effective with 4 midfielders in a 442.

We would not play 442 if Clarke and Roberts are fit…. This discussion is how we set up without them!
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So, who are going to be expected to win the ball? Ba and Mundle?
 
big winnie said:
But we are not playing three in midfield as such… we play two further forward when we have the ball and two further back when we don’t have it.
Our problem is the three we play do not play as a unit with each understanding their role and supporting each other. As a result we are quite clumsy going forward and vulnerable in transition when we lose possession. Will always be the case until we have a natural sitting DM who is vocal and a natural leader around which the team can pivot. Only then will the significant number of attacking midfielders develop.
So … until we have that DM we would be more effective with 4 midfielders in a 442.l
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I totally agree regarding a DM , however if he did do his Job and sat in front of the back 4 we would still need 2 CM in front of him. Regarding the team now, I think we would get massively over run playing a 442 as we just don't have the right players to do it...
 
Don't think 442 is the answer but I think tactics are more the issue than formation.

The Swansea performance will understandably make people very nervous about playing a back 3 again but the issue was (imo) that we tried to play out from the back against a team that presses high with players who were incapable of doing it, so the wingbacks dropped very deep to give the centre backs options to pass to, which effectively made a back 5, then Neil and Ekwah dropped deep too which meant we had 8 players playing within 25 yards of our own goal.

442 with Rusyn dropping deeper to press would leave us no less exposed than the 4231 we've played for much of the season.

Don't think more strikers = more goals though when all our strikers are dogshit. We're wasting our time with Burstow and Hemir would need to seriously step up.
 

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