With injuries and some players out of form I'd go for a line up like this. Lloris Naughton, caulker, verts, BAE Parker, dembele Walker Siggy Holtby Adebayor With brad, daws, Jake, Tom carrol, thud, Dempsey, kaboul Walker has pace, can beat players, can shoot and cross. His defending has let him down this season, going forward he's done ok. BAE has been poor of late and some of that is down to not getting games. Stick him in and he'll perform. Daws has looked ropey in the last few games, give caulker a go. Siggy deserves a run in the team. Dembele and holby play in the middle and yo get the best out of them then play them in the middle! They can swap over during the game. Kaboul is near to full fitness and it'd give everyone a boost to see him included.
This idea of playing Walker on the right wing or "right of the 3" is growing on me. There's no doubt about it, his defending has been shoddy this season. So **** it, why not... let's see what he can do offensively down the right, with much less defensive duty. - We need the pace, that's for certain.
YEAH! Thats the spirit. What have we got to lose? 90mins of fruitlessly trying to break teams down with 5 CMs thats what
This may not be the time for wholesale changes, but we are looking too thin to play the system we have been. It's time to match our system to what we have. This 3-4-3 (3-4-2-1) gives us width and a depth of defensive cover we will need against teams higher up the league. Lloris Naughton Dawson Verthonghen Walker Parker Dembele BAE Dempsey, Siggy Adebayor Dawson is a must, as is JV. Jan is quite simply the best we have and Daws' leadership skills are vital. A back 3 allows the spare CB to track threats on the flank (Verts on the left and Naughton on the right) This also gives us desperately needed width with Benny and KW and allows them to drop back and tuck in if needed or at least start the defensive process further upfield. Siggy and Dempsey would play quite narrow and this could allow Dempsey to play in his favoured no 10 position, (from which he scored a hatful of goals for Fulham) Adebayor is the key. The problem is between his ears. He likes to be top man. If he's not, he throws his toys out of the pram, something we have seen too often this season. Give him the rest of the season as the "tip of the spear;" Maybe something will click. The line we play would not be quite as high; This is all about building from a safe base. As far as I can see, this puts square pegs in square holes and makes us hard to beat. What do you think?
fair points, Chirpy. To be honest, I don't think there's a lot that any of us could do to that line up. It's about as good as we can do right now, even if one is to tweak it slightly. - The only other possibilities are Livermore and Huddlestone. However, unfortunately, I don't think AVB will go for what you've suggested, or even a slightly different version of it. - Livermore will be alongside parker, and Dembele will be on the right, before we ever see Walker playing right wing. (despite how Parker/Livermore never works.) I'd actually be tempted to call up Cristian Ceballos right now. Tom Carroll has begun to make his mark and Ceballos is 20 and used to play for Barca FFS. 20 isn't that young. when are these lads gonna get a chance if they can't get one now when we're desperate?! We need some fresh blood in the team. A young lad who's given a chance could produce something wonderful and save our season. It might give others a kick up the backside too. Harsh as it sounds, I'd rather have an energetic youth player working his socks off to make the most of his chance in the team, than a slow, stoned looking Clint Dempsey falling over or misplacing passes.
I'd have to find a place for Holtby. I think it's time he was given his head. You don't get to play for teams like Schalke & The German National side unless you have something about you.
Falque played 79 minutes for Almeria against SD Huesca on the weekend and his side won 2-1, with Liverpool's Dani Pacheco scoring for the opposition. He's made 9 appearances, scoring once and their record is W:4, D:1, L:4 with him in the side. They're currently 3rd in the table. He's started all but one of those games and has been subbed off a few times in the last ten minutes, but has completed the full 90 more often than not.
Both Gylfi's goals against Slovenia were Bale-esque: a perfect free kick dipping under the bar and a screamer from outside the box. Is it laughable to suggest a like-for-like switch, and try him in the Bale role? He's tall, he's got one very good foot, he's got a good motor, he's around 23 or 24, his first name begins with G...
I completely missed that Holtby wasn't in that line-up! Well, out with you know who, and in with Lewis!
It's actually his favoured role, RWAEB. That's where he was scoring regularly for Swansea from last season. Played 18, scored 7, assisted 4. That'd do nicely, I think.
it comes back to the points i've made about players being out of their favoured positions. 2 or 3 of them have suffered so Bale can play this free role. Time now to let those players fill bale's boots and step up. Gylfi seems to be playing with confidence at the moment too. Stepping into Bale's position could be just what he needs.
"I'd actually be tempted to call up Cristian Ceballos right now." +1. He has been playing the roaming flank role well for the U21s in their 4-3-3 formation.
I agree. As much as I'd like to see Dembele at CM, he's never scored that much, and he's been excellent overall farther back. I'm afraid Holtby is still finding his feet. Let Gylfi take a long range shot early on to worry the defenders and get the crowd going. Fara Gylfi! Skjóta! Of course, it would be better if it doesn't land in Row Z.
Agreed. When he arrived he was like a breath of fresh air. He was however, making runs that nobody cottoned on to and seemed to be thinking 2 yards or 2 passes in front of everybody else. Lately he seems to have given up trying and become more predictable. Its just that him and Siggy in the front three seems short of goals. Dempsey is short of his best, but he is not alone. I do rate Holtby highly though. He is the sort of player that Man Utd or Arsenal used to buy, if that makes sense.
