A crisp but sunny morning to you all, beautiful day in SW6. Could we be the first to play 3 -5 -2 ? It has always been a surprise to me that no-one in the premiership uses this system. There are obvious down falls: lack of cover at the back and being exposed in the full back areas ( not sure if that sounds legal ). The requirement to have super fit full backs to provide width in attack but defend as well. The benefits though are you obviously gain an extra midfielder whilst having 2 strikers. If, and it is a big if, you could get this system working efficiently and apply it to competitive game, surely it would be very hard to break down. The reason I was wondering this is because of the glut of attacking options we have, imagine this as our line up: Scwartz Hangeland Hughes Grygera Briggs Dempsey Sidwell Murphy Duff Zamora AJ/Ruiz With the option of Kasami and Dembele to slot in as well, could be a very free flowing formation. Only weakness is that the 3 at the back are not the quickest, but Briggs and Duff could provide cover. Hope for 3 points tomorrow and that Ruiz comes on to bag a couple !! COYW
I once saw some videos where Roy Hodgson talks through the strengths and weaknesses of some different formations. What he had to say about 3-5-2 was very interesting. He didn't like to play it with wingbacks, he said that if he was ever to play it (which didn't sound a likely prospect), he would rather use the version that Terry Venables used for England in 96. The outer two central defenders have to be players who are familiar with playing at full back, and they can move out when the need arises. When that happens, you also need a central midfielder who is comfortable stepping back to play as a second centre back. That way you aren't asking the widemen to be everywhere at once, you're asking them to be wide midfielders. They track back, but they aren't expected to simultaneously be the front and back line of the flanks. That being the case, we would probably do better with Chris Baird in the holding midfield role, although he would also fit the bill for one of the outside centre-back roles. I also suspect that Duff is a little too old to be regularly playing as a wing-back, but he could flourish in the Hodgson-style 5 man midfield.
Just to add to my previous comment, I don't think it will happen. I think we'll be 4-4-2 and/or 4-2-3-1 all the way.
With you on this Captain. Everton will play 5 in the middle and we need to avoid constantly playing the ball across their line - Baird and Murphy could/would do this. Trouble is, it's doubtful whether Jol has your vision and we'll probably see friend Etuhu. But hey, with your mascot at the game and his hero getting a bag full we'll definitley sneak at least a draw.
