You’ll be regretting that when we win a cup treble this year and then push on in the league next season!
We've got so many players that three of them don't fit in the Europa squad and we use the full 25 plus 5 U21s in the PL squad.
I sort of agree with this and also totally disagree, somehow. We've got plenty of players and plenty of good players, but they're not right for how the manager wants to play. I'm not suggesting bringing him back, but someone using a fairly standard Pochettino-style system would be fine with our squad. There are a few gaps here and there and the balance is off, but this is a case of horses for courses, for me. Postecoglou needs a massive squad of athletes, including underlapping fullbacks and old-school, byline-hugging wingers. He needs holding midfielders, progressive, playmaking partners for them and footballing goalkeepers. We've got virtually none of that and what we do have benefits from playing in a completely different style.
A chunk of that is inherited from the abysmal handling of our academy for the last decade Conte literally using academy players as training cones is the most obvious example, as on paper if Tanganga or Harvey White had more chances (or, you know, chances) they could be adding something to the team, coupled with Poch's refusal to let players go out on loan to get first team football in their legs until he was pretty much forced to - which also gives us the utterly baffling reality that the best manager we've had for youth development in the last decade was the ubermensch If we had one or two more players other than Oliver Skipp break through between 2017-19 we'd potentially have another outfield player to use in our Europa squad, rather than drag Alfie Whiteman around to meet the CG limit in spite it being abundantly clear he won't play for us barring some cataclysmic event
Nail on head here. Look at the forwards as an example. For the wingers at the start of the season we had Son, Johnson, Werner, and Odobert as specialists. Then Richy and Kulu as players who can contribute there though it’s not their best positions. And Moore as a bolter. That’s 6 senior players for 2 positions plus a promising youngster. Numbers wise that’s fine, even if the profiles are largely off. It’s a similar story across the pitch. The positions we really lacked depth in after the summer were on the left side of defence. I’d argue we didn’t have a 6 or backup GK of the right profile either but we had players who can play there. But going back to the forwards, obviously Richy and Odobert have barely played all season, Werner has also missed plenty of football, as did Mikey Moore. That means that Sonny, Solanke etc played loads of minutes and Dom and Brennan have broken down now. Kulu has had to play RW a lot and looks out on his feet. The early long term injuries have been a massive problem. I think we’ve had rotten luck in the injury department but there’s also profile issues across the squad and we’re really imbalanced.
I constantly find myself looking at our squad and arranging the team into a 4231, irrespective of the opponents. Liverpool and City made 433 the vogue formation but as you say, I don't think we have the personnel for it even when everyone is available. Gigi Spence Romero VDV Udogie Gray Bentancur Kulusevski Maddison Son Solanke Is on paper a very good team and brings the best out in multiple players who are currently underperforming .
There’s all kind of profile issues across the squad but for 433 it comes back to the balance of midfield. City managed it by having a truly elite 6 and plenty of other quality midfielders who are very good at pressing on the rare occasions City lose the ball and Rodri doesn’t just snuff it out. Liverpool managed it by having more of a workhorse midfield 3 and getting their creativity from the flanks, though Wijnaldum for example had plenty of quality in that midfield and was a bit of a Swiss Army knife for Klopp. Ange wants to play in a very specific way though and is more like Pep in what he wants from his midfield 3. The lack of a senior player who really profiles as a 6, let alone one of Rodri’s quality (or even close to) is a big issue for him if he wants to keep trying to play like this.
I think Porro would start over Spence, but yeah. Having Gray drop into the defence to allow our fullbacks to get up wide and either cross for Solanke or create space for the wingers. Getting the 3 into dangerous areas in the middle with that short passing stuff that we were doing before. It works going forward with the ball, pressing without it or even dropping back and hitting on the counter, in my opinion. The main issue that I can see is that we have about a million players for the Bentancur position and one for Gray's. We're probably still not able to pick a deep enough squad in the Europa either, due to the club-trained problem. Spence and Reguilon would be fine as backup/competition, as would Richarlison, if everyone could stay fit. It even suits Johnson, Odobert, Moore and takes the pressure off our back-up centre-halves.
Here's the thing about formations that keeps going around my head, not least because Terzic also plays 433: how much of the formation is mandated by the coach, and how much by the DoF? The reason this popped into my head is because Paratici reportedly stated we had to play 3ATB when he arrived, which played into him bringing in Nuno as he played that system when at Valencia, so I'm wondering if Munn and/or Lange has placed 433 at the heart of our plans
Can’t remember exactly how but I’m sure there’s an option that says something like “make votes public” or along those lines. Well I think there is anyway! Lol.
