I rather sense I'm going to be out on a limb with this thread but here goes anyway! Many on here have accused Rodgers on not having a plan 'B'. So today he has the courage to try something completely different, 3-4-3. Rangel and Taylor are omitted from the line-up and we play Caulker, Williams and Monk at the back. Hey, this new system is incredible! 3-0 up after a quarter of an hour! Orlandi seems to be doing a decent job of covering into the left back position but sadly no-one seems to be doing the same on the opposite side of the pitch. Wolves get a goal, Graham scores for us, Wolves get a second. Crazy game. At half-time most fans are feeling uneasy despite being two goals ahead. Brendan presumably feels the same way and goes to 4-5-1/4-3-3 for the second half (I think). Taylor reverts to customary left-back position, but the absence of Rangel on the bench (anyone know why?) means Caulker plays at right-back and things never get back to normal. Wolves were excellent in the second half, I thought. We were poor to say the least and we end up clinging on for a 4-4. The ref was diabolical. OK, was Brendan's decision to try 3-4-3 a good one or not? Is there ever a good time to try something new? I suspect that if we played the usual way we might well have won, but what would we have learned? Nothing. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs. Many would argue that points dropped means money wasted in terms of league position at the end of the season. It's hard to argue against that when an extra couple of million pounds would make a big difference to a club of Swansea's size. For me, it was a gamble worth taking - ok, it backfired quite spectacularly in the end, but nothing ventured nothing gained. I'm convinced that it will be back to normality at Old Trafford and Sir Alex will have left the Liberty none the wiser.
Aswan, what a great thread mate. Actually posted the exact same thing before I read this. You wanted a plan b, buck is trying out ideas, make your minds up.
Probably if you're going to change the plan from a to b? today was the day , it nearly cost us though not only in points dropped but in confidence.Strolling the game with 20 mins to go in the first half and the warning signs started ,Wolves were cutting through us on the wings ( their strongest position all season) and creating more and more chances as the half went on. Changes were made for the 2nd half but Caulker is no right back .limitations on the bench meant he had to stay there and looked more and more uncomfortable..Monk probably his worst game that I can remember for a long time but take nothing away from Wolves I thought they were very good and played to their strengths and played on our weaknesses .I think Brendan will have learnt a lot today ( as well as us) ,Stadium was so dead which made for a very strange atmosphere even when we were 3-1 up.
I don't mind him trying a plan B, but three at the back including Monk, is a death wish!.............
It certainly made for an interesting game. I know points have been dropped hence now a top 10 finish might not be possible. But if there is a saving grace, this was the only game we could experiment with. It might have worked had we not switched off. Brendan will have taken note from this game that we do need another centre half, as I'm afraid and I'm a big fan of his that Monk is not up to PL standard. One positive for me was the performance of Orlandi, thought he had a very good half, looked composed on the ball and had some nice touches etc. It will be a different team performance against Man Utd, thats for sure. Let's not get on Brendan and the teams back for this, it's been a superb season. So I'm going to cut them all a bit of slack about this performance.
The only thing Rodgers proved today, is we don't have the quality quite yet to go three at the back, unless Rangel is part of the three, Monk is history, and I hope to hear he has hung up his boots some time soon! Old Fergie, must be in ecstasy over next weeks game!.......
Have to agree Phil. I don't mind playing three at the back, but at present we don't have the right personnel to play this formation.
I'm sure Fergie knows only too well that we won't try the same thing next week, so whatever he observed today will have been irrelevant.
I think fergie may have other things on his mind right now. Tell me, would anyone be grumbling had we won 4-0 with the same tactics/formation? It isn't bucks fault we fell asleep at the back
We didnt fall asleep at the back, we didnt have a back!!! I felt sorry for Caulker, no way is he suited to our type of fullback, He's been outstanding at centre half, alongside Ash, one of the best partnerships this year. Monk, is not upto this standard, put some effort in making challenges and headers, but with 3 at the back, he is a weak link, Caulker, if anything had to do 2 jobs covering for him. Brendons choice of line up was experimental, but, as effective as it was at the beginning, O'conner figured the lack of defensive width and adjusted to great effect, Brendon should of done the same. Im sure Rodgers had his reasons, in Brendon we trust. Looking forward to MOTD, to see how pathetic the REF became over the course of the game. Its a game that made me chuckle, for the sake of not crying.
I thought it was crying out for Rangel to be on our right side today, Monk was shown up again. But let's not criticise Brendan, we are safe and he tried something different against a weak Premier League team, it's not as if he waited to try it against Man Utd. When we were in possession in worked a treat, when we weren't Orlandi to be fair tracked back and covered our left side making it a more orthodox back 4. The problem was Caulker then being at right back which is clearly not his position and Monk being central with Ash and again Monk being shown up. If Rangel had been on the right Caulker could have gone central with Ash and Orlandi covering the left. You live and learn and I'm sure Brendan will have learnt a lot today. A lot of posters have said we need a plan B and we tried it today so what's the problem? Dyer and Sinclair hugged the touchlines and we really did use the full width of the pitch, at times we pulled them apart at will. Playing a 3-4-3 formation today shows our manager is attack minded, forward thinking and not afraid to try something different. Ok we are all disappointed we only drew but I'd rather see a 4-4 than a 0-0. We saw 8 goals and a new attacking line up today for the very first time. We looked like we could score from anywhere today, imagine what that formation will be able to do once Buck sorts out the defensive problems. Four different scorers which did not include Siggy either. Keep the faith and trust our manager I say.
It was one hell of a game, sometimes exciting & sometimes frustrating. Agree with others on here, it was the only game we could try different formations & see what is needed for next season. I have no complaints with what Buck tried, my only gripe is that Wolves spoilt the experiment somewhat. Yes, we let them play to their strengths and they certainly did. We could easily have lost the game, they were by far the better team in the second half. We`ll see what`s in the pipeline over the next weeks & months, quite a few positions need to be strengthened. As an aside, surely we can`t play that badly next Sunday? If we do it could be a cricket score!!!!!!!
Did anybody else notice that because of Wolves pressing us high Vorm had to kick long a lot. I don't think Graham got the better of those backs once
It was good to see a change - and I feel I learned this : Ash is not nearly as good as I hoped or thought, Orlandi is worth keeping hold of for at least another season. Caulker is definately not a right back. If we go 3 at the back I would have liked to see Taylor Caulker Rangel. I realise we could well be without Caulker next season but still interested to see if it would work. I fear that we may lose Dyer - he really can make things happen.
Originally Posted by JackAsh I think fergie may have other things on his mind right now. Tell me, would anyone be grumbling had we won 4-0 with the same tactics/formation? It isn't bucks fault we fell asleep at the back I cant believe this statement. Ifs and buts dont win games. glad we tried it but this system failed miserably. Wolves had more chances in one half of football under this system than all the top 4 sides had in 90 mins. Our game this season has been based on being tight at the back and then picking teams off. I could not believe how open we were ysterday and to be honest wolves tore us a new one and we were lucky to get a point in the end. people will be saying but we were 3 nil up. I agree but as soon as Wolves worked out the change in the way we were set up that was it. one way traffic. So well done for trying something new but, i think we need to find another plan b.
I'm no expert but I believe if you play 3 at the back its usually with 3 center backs. I think it was the ideal time to experiment and can see us using that sort of formation next season when teams come to the liberty and park the bus. I don't know if anyone noticed but Wigan played the same formation today and they won 4-0 against Newcastle
I think it was a pathetic line up that showed no respect to wolves whatsoever and we were punished for the lack of respect brendan showed to his opposite manager. If he thought that all we have to do is turn up and win then he had a rude awakening. That was no plan B at all that was brendan lack of respect to a fellow club in trouble.....and it back fired on him, I hope he has learned from this and will show whoever we play some respect in the future.....
What has respect got to do with it? Wolves had gone down already; Rodgers can do what he wants and if he wants try something new yesterday was the time to do it. IMO, of course.
99 i have to agree with 90% of the comments on here and not yours as we have tried something different yes it didn't work as well as we wanted but hey if we had not had such a woeful defensive display we seen that we can with a few additional signings use this to good effect in the coming seasons if need be as the 'plan b'day that most people have been screaming out for, and when we beat man u next week after leading ferries into a false sense of security all will be forgotten
