As its Friday and I'm bored I thought I'd pollute our board with another formation porn article. There seems to be a lot of talk here of it being a shootout between Marv and Jonas for the LW position, with a few people mentioning that they should both play in the same team. I am of the opinion that they should both play in our first team as we have average strikers and an extra man in midfield, where we have more quality, will make the difference. Where do you think they should play if they both play together? Ben Arfa will obviously be a starter and Tiote and Cabaye will be our midfield two, with Jonas and Marveaux adding to Ben Arfa as an attacking 3 behind the one striker but it isn't clear who will play where. Personally I favour Ben Arfa on the right as this is where he has played most of his career, but Partridge has said he will play the number 10 role. Do you reckon Jonas should switch to the right or should we play Marveaux there? Personally I think this may be our best bet but doubt we'll see it: please log in to view this image Jonas played his best footy as a number 10 in Spain, his many assists ensuring his striker Guiza won the Pichichi despite Mallorca being complete toss and he played a similar role a couple of times for us last year and was outstanding there. Ben Arfa cutting in from the right to smash them in the corner sounds good too, what you reckon? I'd maybe put Best in there instead of Ba due to his goalscoring record but Ba's movement is slightly better - not that we've seen too much of that yet but we'll give him time
I think Ben Arfa, Marveaux and Jonas should all be given free roles and rotate as and when they want to. Similar to Young/Downing at Villa except even harder to mark as it would be 3 players.
Oh, and Gutierrez never got more than 5 assists a season in his last 3 years at Mallorca http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/51559/jonás-gutiérrez?cc=5739
Aye that season he only played 20-odd games coz he was injured, an assist every 4-5 games isn't brilliant like but there's not many in our squad who will create more, except hopefully Cabaye. Sometimes when you look at Jonas' stats it makes you wonder why we signed him but somehow it works!
I'd keep Jonas out on the wing, yes I know he can't cross the ball but he can carry it up the pitch and wins free kicks in advanced positions. But more importantly is his defensive work, he helps the LB out a hell of a lot. Something I don't think Marveauv really does, not seen enough of him to judge but get the impression he is more offensive. Give Marveux a free role I've very much for the 5 man midfield cause we can crowd other teams out but have the pace to catch teams on the break, Best also likes coming to look for the ball in midfield which leaves space for the other midfielders to move into which would cause havoc for defenders to cover.
Jonas left, Arfa middle, Marveaux right, but with freedom to rotate like Jonas does already. My current buzz word is FLUID!
Just listened to Total Sport on iPlayer from last night and someone else suggested this, needless to say Ando shot him down
TBH I rather like that formation. It's the formation Brazil used at the last world cup. Two holding midfielders allowing the other three to attack attack attack!
At present I'd leave the wingers as they are and incorporate Marveaux in the number 10 role, dropping Shola/Ba. Long term Ben Arfa will fill the number 10 role and I'd rotate the other three. I'd also like to allow them freedom to roam positions. This should be possible with a midfield of Cabaye and Tiote.
I like the formation but I'd like to see Cabaye attack more and not play the same role as Tiote, but when defending that's how we should play
I like every 4-2-3-1 to have a Mascherano and Alonso type players for the holding pair, I think Tiote and Cabaye have very similar traits to those two, one is to break up play and one distributes the ball from deep.
Basically I agree with what everyone has said: Tiote as the ball winner. Cabaye to sit deep and distribute the ball. Marveaux left Ben Arfa centre and Jonas right but have them all rotating to cause havoc. Then have Ba or Best as a lone striker depending on form. Would be amazing (Pardew might not agree though )
I agree with the 4-5-1 formation but only away from home and against the Top5/6 and I also think that Ben Arfa wouldn't agree to play on the wing, that's why he was always in bad terms with his previous managers. And when we're at home I'd like to see a 4-4-2, diamond formation, with Ben Arfa playing the Taarabt like role behind the strikers. Of course that would mean more defensive effort from Simmo and Raylor ... please log in to view this image
