Webby

Indeed. And slightly odd that a club that seems reluctant to recruit new players recruited a manager that plays a system that requires new players.....to make. it. work.

I don't know if it's gone to his head but yes, there is an element of luck and it would be dangerous to think he (and the board) are not capable of making a mistake; look at Osvaldo for instance. A lot remains to be seen if this appointment, and the new direction that it brings (which it most certainly does with the new formation) will be a success or not.

Indeed. There's a lot of talk about DMs and AMs and no.10s, but what about good old central midfielders that can do a bit of both?

Romeu, or any DM, in this 41212 formation, has another 2 midfielders in front of him. Not wide, but fairly central. So they offer some protection too. Compare this to the 4231 where the outer of the 3 were quite wide and the central one was in the no 10 role. I need to see more of it to see if it works. I think it leaves the flanks a little exposed which requires the front 2 to play very wide on the full backs.

I think it can work but I really feel that the 2 strikers need to be closer together. Austin is no good out on the wing.

Did cedric sign?

I think we looked better as we started to lose our shape!

As I've said before, I'm not convinced by this formation, with the players we have. This looks the same as the last 2 pre season games I've seen.

I see a green screen

Another on twitter has said 2 today, 1 journeyman and 1 world class.

get the forwards to play closer together and let the full backs provide the width and it might work, but then, you may as well just play a flat 442 with wingers; tadic and redmond, long and austin/jrod up front.

But 20m for lovren was a 2nd stage move. We bought him for 8m didn't we? Saying that, vvd far better than lovren and pretty much every CB we've ever had!

What bothers me is that the strikers are playing so far apart, wider than the 18 yd box. Who's getting in between the CBs? Austin is wasted out there.

Our front line consisted of long and Redmond out wide and Davis in the middle, much like the 3 in the 4231 of last season. The difference of course is that they don't have a target man ahead of them.

I don't think it's just about the no 10. The strikers need to fit the system too. I'm not sure they do.

Watching today, and on weds night, this formation is 442 diamond but slightly different to how it's usually played cos the two 'front men' as it were, are playing so far apart. They are virtually playing in the wide positions of last seasons 3, except they don't have a front man ahead of them. The furthest man forward today was often the head of the diamond man; JWP, Davis, whomever. At times it's like 433 with a midfield triangle, but the middle front man is JWP, with the other forwards playing wider than the width of the 18 yard box! At times a full back had the ball wide, and Jrod and Austin were so far apart with NO-ONE in the middle, between the CBs. An awful lot is going to depend on who else we get in, cos at the moment, I don't think we have the personnel for this formation. We're gonna need a very good no.10 I think. I'm only basing this on what I've seen this week and a lot can change but this looks like how we're going to set up. If it doesn't work, I can see players losing faith in it. Whether Puel has the nous to change it to the tried and trusted 4231 remains to be seen.

Impossible to answer this until the transfer window has closed, which ought to be before the season starts but hey ho.

Yes I do! and I keep asking the claim to do this. Squad numbers mean nothing and make it tricky to work out the formation.

Zero chance of signing matic IMO.

Hojbjerg will start.

I agree..very hard to listen to.

His teams are knackered by game 30. Needs to work on that.

Drop em and play the U21's or pick Championship players. Prima-donnas the lot of em.

That's the question I raised; I thought we were set on keeping Sammy, even to the detriment of other potential manager's wishes?? All twitter chat etc is pointing to Puel, but things are so quiet with the supposed ITKs that I'm beginning to wonder if it's someone else.

StannersSFC: Gutted to hear Sammy Lee has left #saintsfc. Thank you for your time with our beloved club. Good luck for the future....