Exactly, a better team with better players won't miss the target; aka we're riding our luck. also, better team/players tend to defend better too which will effect our ability to score. If we can only manage one against the lower ranked sides, how many will we score against the better defenses in the league...?
I'm a believer of if a player is playing well you leave them be. Don't move them about and risk losing what was already good.
Who are these better players who will punish this formation? Here is my take 1st time is was deployed it was vs United and surprise surprise Gerrard was at the base we were exposed and United punished us. Furthermore, the back 3 was Toure Skrtel and Lovern (who practically gave RVP his goal). How many clear cut chances did we create ? Plenty. Once Sakho came back and Can slotted in , we have become more solid. This coupled with a protective cover of Henderson and Lucas has lead to more clean sheets. How did Bony and Sanchez perform against it?? I can throw the same argument in the opposite direction i.e. once we get a quality striker on the end of the very good chances we are creating the opposition will be in trouble too. Is it a long term formation? No. It is at least a formation that our players can use together with the diamond and this will assist in tactical flexibility depending on the opposition.
Can't argue with Sturridge returning so agree that the attack should improve. As for the defence, my point was we are allowing the opposition to have at least half a dozen chances a game at present. Do you seriously think the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal won't punish us for that...? I'd say Man Utd too but since you're convinced it won't happen because it didn't before I'll ignore it. Of course, we are usually setup more defensively against these teams too so that could see things tighten up as well. I just think we're always around the corner from a battering at present. PS...didn't Man Utd beat us 3-0...?
This is down to a lack of control from our midfield. Lucas and Henderson are not that type of midfielder. We struggle to dominate midfields since Alonso and Mascherano both left. But the encouraging thing is that we're not making many defensive errors now. We made so many when Lovren, Skrtel and Johnson were in the back 4. .
The chances I'm talking about are scrambles in the box that seem to happen all too often, usual come from set pieces.
Ah yes, well that's down to the lack of defensive coaching. But at least we're now defending a bit better in open play.
So first test against a big team and it worked a treat. That said ,Chelsea decided to park the bus and the next test is at Stamford bridge where I believe they will/may be a bit open. I would like to see Chelsea play Fabregas and Matic in the holding roles and bring in Oscar for the second leg.
well Chelsea sat back for the draw, and that's what they got. So I wouldn't say it worked a treat. For all our dominance we still managed the 1 goal. For me the jury is still out on this formation and I still think Sturridge's return will see us revert to 4 at the back again, with Sakho and Skrtel as the CB pairing
If it is not broken don't fix it. We are currently enjoying a formation and form book that only seems to have coincided with change to 3-4-3. It is easy to say Chelsea sat back yet all I saw was Cahill, Terry and Ivanovic being pressed so high up that the only option was to hoof it. I am reluctant to see 4 at the back until we have two firing strikers. I don't buy this Chelsea sat back notion. Jose knows a good team when he sees one and in comparison to the league match where they attacked, he knew this is a different team to the one he beat 2-1. This formation allows better utilization of resources and until it is sussed out i'd rather stick with it.
I agree that we shouldn't go changing it right this minute, but I don't believe it is our future (as per the OP). If our defense wasn't such a shambles in the first place we wouldn't need to have 3 CBs to solidify us. + What 343(523) gives us in defense, it stakes away in attack. Yesterday was a carbon copy of the game at the end of last season, I don't see what's changed - we failed to break Chelsea down then and we failed yesterday, Yes we looked good, but Mourinho will be happy with that result, as was clear by him starting both Mikel and Matic and going for a draw.
Yeah, but that's my point! The defence is that bad that no matter how well we play, no matter how much we dominate a game, we'll always present chances to the opposition and teams with better attackers will take advantage! I know we've not conceded as many lately but the chances have been there.
TBF the defence did their job perfectly for the 2nd goal which was a mile offside, and the one at the end when chasing a game is irrelevant to the overall gameplan
well.... If i had 30 mil to spend i'd by a keeper and a striker. 10 on keeper 20 on striker..... in the end we've **** up front and its what is putting us in 7th not 3rd/4th this season A good keeper will help the back line enormously IMO. However given can plays DM or RCB what do you want to do with him? make him a box to box player? i reckon he's doing fine at rcb for now and might get to DM later
Not at all. There is a reason why strikers are more expensive than defenders...a quality defence may keep a clean sheet but goals win games. If we had someone that could put half the chances we create away we'd be very similar to last season; scoring for fun whilst laughing at our defence.