4-2-3-1

[Wiggles31]

Anybody feel this formation is making us a bit predicatble at times especially against teams set up to defend. I'm not saying scrap this set up but we need a plan B, especially if we want Lambert and Osvaldo playing together. 4-2-3-1 provides very little width and the full backs can't always get forward. Whats also very frustating is our clear lack of having a natural winger in the team which showed when we were counter attacking against West Ham, we rarely got in behind the full backs. Think 4-2-3-1 might work better if one of the 3 was a natural winger which Lallana and JRod aren't IMO.

[Saint Garrett]

We played 424 yesterday.

[Turkish]

you can play whatever formation you want, if you dont move the ball around the pitch quick enough you are going to struggle to break anyone down.

[egg]

I saw it as 4231. Osvaldo was usually ahead of the other 3 so not a strict 4. Anyways, whether its a line of 4 or a 3+1 its hard to disagree with the op.

[pangy]

That formation provides loads of width,we just don't have the players to carry it out

[egg]

you can play whatever formation you want, if you dont move the ball around the pitch quick enough you are going to struggle to break anyone down.

 

That's the key thing. Yesterday we were pedestrian with the ball. Too many times we just dallied on the ball or were sloppy with it. The 2 in the middle don't look a happy pairing.

[CeeBee]

Wanyama seems to be somewhat of a problem player for us at the moment. Seems slow in his thinking process and has been guilty of giving the ball away far too often. Last year the team pinged the ball around the pitch, but so far it is more sideways or backwards at a pedestrian pace and this is giving the opposition the time to nip in and win the ball.

Lallana is a bit of a luxury in my view. Poor delivery and too many touches on the ball. JWP much better option.

[Turkish]

That's the key thing. Yesterday we were pedestrian with the ball. Too many times we just dallied on the ball or were sloppy with it. The 2 in the middle don't look a happy pairing.

 

Wanyama will be good for games where we dont have a lot of the ball and need to win it back, but yesterday where we had lots of possesion he was awful. Poor first touch, slow and pondourous and gave the ball away cheaply so many times.

[Tom28]

I agree (for a change) with a lot of these posts.

 

I think the issue isn't necessarily the formation though but more the fact that there was oftentimes yesterday a big gap between Morgan and Wanyama, and the front four. There was no one linking that devide I would rather see three holding players and three up top on the proviso that two of the holding three have license to break forward.

 

I also agree that Wanyama does seem slow on the ball and was caught a few times yesterday. Cork very rarely gets caught and he can often worm his way out of tight spots.

[egg]

Wanyama will be good for games where we dont have a lot of the ball and need to win it back, but yesterday where we had lots of possesion he was awful. Poor first touch, slow and pondourous and gave the ball away cheaply so many times.

 

Agree with that, he was the main problem yesterday and his giving the ball away led to their first chance. I said in the signing thread that his distribution was poor and sadly it hasn't improved. Also I don't see any sign of a partnership between him and Morgan.

[Verbal Kint]

Wanyama will be good for games where we dont have a lot of the ball and need to win it back, but yesterday where we had lots of possesion he was awful. Poor first touch, slow and pondourous and gave the ball away cheaply so many times.

 

I've seen nothing yet to suggest he's a better player than Cork. In fact, his touch and passing are so bad that i think the only reason he is playing is because we spent 12 million on him

[Alanh]

I don't think the formation is an issue at all. the front 4 don't play in set places anyway and our system is built around their mobility and willingness to interchange positions. I don't believe that introducing a winger would make an difference, in fact having someone stationed on the touchline would restrict the ability of the rest of the front 4 to interchange positions so freely. Shaw and J-Rod showed that they can get behind a defence when the opportunity presents itself, which it rarely does in any prem game, not just for us.

[The9]

Anybody feel this formation is making us a bit predicatble at times especially against teams set up to defend. I'm not saying scrap this set up but we need a plan B, especially if we want Lambert and Osvaldo playing together. 4-2-3-1 provides very little width and the full backs can't always get forward. Whats also very frustating is our clear lack of having a natural winger in the team which showed when we were counter attacking against West Ham, we rarely got in behind the full backs. Think 4-2-3-1 might work better if one of the 3 was a natural winger which Lallana and JRod aren't IMO.

 

I don't think we're even playing 4-2-3-1 most of the time at home now, there were very few occasions when we actually had the ball yesterday when Schneiderlin was anywhere near Wanyama (and it showed with our lack of forward passing and the amount of time it was taking to pass forward even when we did). When we have the ball against an organised defence it's nearer 4-1-4-1 with Schneiderlin the deepest of the forward midfielders.

[The9]

you can play whatever formation you want, if you dont move the ball around the pitch quick enough you are going to struggle to break anyone down.

 

Which is the problem, and will be the problem for as long as Wanyama is the only player in a position to play the ball out of the defensive positions. Against Sociedad he was pinging 30 yards passes to their defenders, yesterday he'd obviously been told not to, and instead he either gave it back to the keeper or CBs or waited an age for Schneiderlin to drop into the space in the middle and made a safe pass to him, long after West Ham had organised themselves behind the ball. Cork would shift the ball rapidly and we'd create space and pull defences around by making them adjust to the ball moving - with Wanyama in the side we're having to completely change our game because he doesn't seem able to play quick, short, accurate passes (but at least we've stopped just hitting Hollywood balls to the opposition).

 

All Wanyama offers that Cork doesn't is the ability to shoot from distance from what I've seen so far.

[Wiggles31]

I don't think the formation is an issue at all. the front 4 don't play in set places anyway and our system is built around their mobility and willingness to interchange positions. I don't believe that introducing a winger would make an difference, in fact having someone stationed on the touchline would restrict the ability of the rest of the front 4 to interchange positions so freely. Shaw and J-Rod showed that they can get behind a defence when the opportunity presents itself, which it rarely does in any prem game, not just for us.

 

See I disagree, I thought that the 3 behind the forward usually was made up of a striker, attacking midfielder and a winger on one side for good balance. You don't need a winger to hug the touchline either.

 

We don't get in behind the full backs enough but when we do we look dangerous, for instance Osvaldo's miss. The only player in the 3 that looks capable of getting into this position is JRod.

 

Lennon who we were linked with would have been perfect. Think we have shot ourselves in the foot in not buying a wide man.

 

Fair comments about the formation.