Back to basics: team selection and formation

[Pubey]

Winning well? Really? I'm not to sure that I've seen us win well this season. Maybe against York, but the rest were poor performances where you could see the kind of game we were trying to play and knew it was only a matter of time until we got sussed out. And sussed out they were. The Portsmouth and Shrewsbury games especially, they were wins but both performances made me come away feeling a little downbeat.

I don't think 451 is the way forward at all. I hate it, it never looks like a 433 to me at any point. It is one man up front and whoever it is is almost always isolated. We put more pressure on the opposition's back line, have more bodies in the box to get on the end of crosses, and the ball spends more time in the final third (rather than coming straight back) when we have 2 clear strikers on the pitch and 2 wide midfielders getting crosses in. Not 1 striker and 2 wingers who for the most part stick out wide.

Winning matches and keeping clean sheets when not performing at a high level is winning well IMO. I agree we've not been stuffing teams by 3/4/5 goals but we've not got the squad for that IMO.

 

[leeblue]

I still say your typing is not good enough. :winking:

Hee hee....typed in chinese take away waiting for grub....I was starving I tell ya

 

[Medway Blue]

I still say tge current sqad is not good enough. Need 3 signings down spine of the team and a winger who can beat his man and finish with quality balls into the box.

We have two players in Hurst and Worrall who can do that and have proven so in the past. All they need is to be used correctly, given a run of games to build confidence, and for them to play in a system where they have TWO STRIKERS in the box to aim for!

Winning matches and keeping clean sheets when not performing at a high level is winning well IMO. I agree we've not been stuffing teams by 3/4/5 goals but we've not got the squad for that IMO.

That's where we differ I guess. I think we do have the squad but it's not being used to its strengths.

FWIW I'd go 4-4-2 again but with a wide diamond:

GK Bentley
DR White
DC Thompson
DC Prosser
DL Binnom-Williams

DM Deegan
MR Worrall
ML Hurst
AM Payne

ST Corr
ST Barnard

Subs: T. Smith, Bolger, Leonard, Timlin, Weston, Coulthirst, Layne/Williams

• Go back to the back 5 that performed so well (the only part of the side that did IMO) during the decent run in September.
• Put Deegan back into the role that he played so well in the midfield 3 when he first started playing. Tackling hard, sweeping things up, chasing things down from one side of the pitch to the other, protecting the back four and distributing the ball well from deep.
• Hurst and Worrall out wide. Still 2 of the best wide men in this division IMO. They both have pedigree and proven high assist rates, good crossing skills, turns of pace and the ability to beat men. Give them a run of games in natural wide positions and with 2 strikers in the box to cross to, and they will come good.
• Payne behind the front 2. With his pace, flair, quick feet and dribbling skills, he will do more damage and cause more panic on the edge of the final third so needs to be further forward. He will also be a goalscoring threat because he will spend more time in and around the box and will inject some pace further forward to make up for Corr's (and to a much lesser extent Barnard's) lack of it. He is wasted further back in central midfield. Weston could play in this role too.
• Barnard and Corr together up front. I can see the foundations of a decent understanding there. They can both score goals and have proven this, and neither one (especially not Barnard, who is still fit and very mobile) are "over the hill". Barnard at 30 is in his prime, is a natural goalscorer and hasn't become a bad player overnight. Give him a run in the side with a partner up top so that they can gel and both find some form and confidence. They will come good. They put themselves about, hold up the ball, win flick-ons, show intelligent movement and put more pressure on the oppo's back 4 than one of them would alone. With 2 natural wingers who have crossing ability too, if they both stay far forward (no need for Barney to drop as deep as he has been lately with Payne just in behind), both should get on the end of said crosses.
• Pace on the bench with Weston, Coulthirst and Layne/Williams. Can put them on in final 20 mins or so to run at tired opposition legs, or earlier if Brown notices that things aren't working and that we need something different, but they need to be brought onto the pitch to play in the same formation as the one above. No changing to a 4-5-1. Would love to see Layne, Williams and/or Ellis Brown on the bench and given chances late on to impress.

This is the system that IMO would play to our strengths the best.

 

[Jam_Man]

We have two players in Hurst and Worrall who can do that and have proven so in the past. All they need is to be used correctly, given a run of games to build confidence, and for them to play in a system where they have TWO STRIKERS in the box to aim for!
.

Hurst has proven he can do it, in a 451/433 formation. He has rarely played in a 442 for us.

Winning well? Really? I'm not to sure that I've seen us win well this season. Maybe against York, but the rest were poor performances where you could see the kind of game we were trying to play and knew it was only a matter of time until we got sussed out. And sussed out they were. The Portsmouth and Shrewsbury games especially, they were wins but both performances made me come away feeling a little downbeat.

I don't think 451 is the way forward at all. I hate it, it never looks like a 433 to me at any point. It is one man up front and whoever it is is almost always isolated. We put more pressure on the opposition's back line, have more bodies in the box to get on the end of crosses, and the ball spends more time in the final third (rather than coming straight back) when we have 2 clear strikers on the pitch and 2 wide midfielders getting crosses in. Not 1 striker and 2 wingers who for the most part stick out wide.

When we were playing 451/433 we always had Coulthirst up missing chances. He couldnt have been missing them if he wasnt in the advanced positions. He certainly was never playing a defensive midfield role.

A central midfield of Deegan and Payne horrifies me, that would get overrun and restrict Payne from getting forward, he would not be able to sit in the "hole" if Deegan then had to cope with 2 or even 3 central midfielders.

if you want 442 then I dont see Payne fitting in it anywhere other than wide.

 

[buffalowolf]

and not even a place on the bench for Clifford,you got to be joking superblue, i would have Clifford in the starting eleven,he runs hard ,tackles hard and has a decent shot on him also,and can pass a ball .

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

I've read all of the above and I'm none the wiser - strangely, perhaps we have too many good players to pick from. :tease:

Hash tag: NowonderBrownisconfusedaswell