Formations, players and tactics.....

Having been forcibly off line for a few days, I’m trying to catch up. There are many threads about players and formations, rather than post on each one, I’m going to roll my opinions into this one post.

Formation: Every time I talk to a supporter whose side are playing 4-4-2 they want to change to either 4-3-3, 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1. In my opinion 4-4-2 is too rigid and has been superseded. We have the right formation, but we are not playing it properly. Square pegs and round holes.

Players: Joey Barton is not suited to the right midfield role. We played our best football last season when we had Mackie and Ephraim playing in the wide positions, running all match long, swapping sides at will and hounding defenders when we lost possession. Barton is not mobile enough for this role. As I can’t see Warnock dropping him, unfortunately it will be Derry to miss out. This will be a crying shame as he was magnificent last season and has been one of our better players this season. He deserves better, but it is a cruel world. I would definitely have him on the bench to bring on to shore things up when needed. As for those who are questioning Faurlin’s place in the team, what match were you watching? I’ve not seen the stats but tell me who made more tackles or successful passes for us?

We need to get Mackie and SWP playing in the wide positions, and playing them properly. They have to be pulling the defences wide, chasing down every ball and interchanging positions. We cannot allow the opposition defenders any time to relax. This done, it will give more space for the enigmatic Taarabt to play in the free role, provisionally in the centre of the pitch. We need to continue to show confidence in him, he has the ability, but has not often had any space, we need to stretch our opposition to make that space. He has, from a centralish position, managed to release SWP on a number of occasions, notably against Newcastle and, more memorably, against Chelsea. Clearly Helguson has risen to the challenge and deserves an extended run up top.

Apart for Derry on the bench, I’d have Smith to replace whichever of the wide men was looking tired first. Bothroyd as an option up front, either coming on for, or to join, the Iceman and Buszaky to come in for Adel when he has been kicked so much he can’t run.

You could argue that Barton could play in the “free” role, with Derry back in the side, but I think the role would become less “free”. Maybe that would make sense for tougher matches, but it would reduce our off the ball movement, which is currently causing us problems. The reason that Faurlin is playing so many short square passes is that no one is running into space. It is this lack of movement that slows our attacks down.

Finally we really do need to keep some perspective and make our expectations realistic. The Spurs side that beat us can beat any team in Europe and we rattled them for 20 minutes. This time last year we were playing at home against Burnley.

 

Hello Roller, a lot of words there, I'll read it tomorrow

 

Agree with almost everything there Roller,i'd take the same result against City that we had against Burnley 1-1 unless i'm mistaken.

 

Great analysis Roller! I say that mostly because I agree with about all of it, though I feel Adel needs benching for at least a game or two, and needs to get fit.

 

Good post roller. I have been saying for some time that our current midfield is lacking creativity. I dont think its the players, i think the system that they are playing in needs a small bit of tweaking. Once we started pressing Spuds high up the pitch in the second half we caused them loads of problems. Our front men have to press the opposition defence to create pressure and thus mistakes. Think your right about Barton as well. A central role might suit him better. Would like to see mackie and Smith getting extended minutes on the pitch. Adel is not finished. Somebody here mentioned it would be nice to see Adel upfront or free behind in the hole. IMO NW will not change the system too much in the coming weeks and months and who can blame him. Its worked pretty well so far. U Rrrssssssss

 

Only just spotted this Roller.
I agree with just about all of it mate. I would rather see Barton as one of the two holding midfielders too. The only problem I can see is that Adel will never get back to his marauding best with the likes of Barton continually undermining his confidence, so I'm afraid I can't see him figuring much, sadly!!

 

I think he's stumbled on his starting line up 2nd half Roller.

 

I would like to think this, but I honestly can't see him changing things. Hope he does though

P.S the way to beat Man City is to put itching powder in Joe Harts hair dye the night before the game

 

So, if I have to choose between a completely dysfunctional 4-2-3-1 and an effective 4-4-2 (as operated in the 2nd half of the Spurs game) I know which one I'm going for regardless of if it's outdated.

 

i would agree that a midfield with Mackie & SWP with Joey and Ali playing at home but would have a midfield 5 with Derry playing for the away fixtures,we need extre cover when thr onus is on the home team to attack,let them worry about us when were at home

 

I like it and think the idea of putting Adel in the centre, albeit high up, is crucial and would let him see more of the ball (aiding his confidence) and putting him in better positions to play in others (Mackie and SWP) and perhaps more room to beat players on either side and then shoot.

Nice analysis Roller.

 

Seems good to me. Bothroyd just behind Helguson.

 

I would start Mackie from now on. His work rate is second to none and the sight of him closing down, hassling opposition players and his sheer determination rubs off on team-mates around him. Spread the team work ethic is what I say

 

I agree with most but, SWP and Mackie out wide means we need people in the box to get on the end of the crosses, single striker with Joey and Faurlin try to get in there, not going to happen. We'll end up with crosses and 2 CB's and one striker in the box all the time.

Mackie will come into the Center if SWP has the ball but SWP tend to leave his runs into the box late or hangs around the edge, same with Adel. (crosses would have to be better than the loopy sh*t we were doing on Sunday).

Adel is a luxury and one you can afford if he is creating and scoring but if he isn't..... I'd start with Betty and HH up front for the next couple of games and see what happens.

We seem to suffer because side get brave against us push up more and more which leaves us with 2 options, setup for counter attack football which we don't have the pace in depth for or Push up ourselves making them pull back. At present our formation has a lack of mobility and ambition which leaves us stuck without an options. Playing two forwards makes the defense take a step backwards which at least starts us on the same footing as the opposition.

 

From the games I've been to and seen live on TV (don't trust highlights) the second half v Spurs was as good as I've seen us - better than Wolves because of the quality of the opposition. But I didn't see any of the Newcastle game, and given their start to the season and what I have heard of our performance that night we must have been good. Did we do anything tactically different or was everybody just on song that night?

 

It was Taarabt's best performance of the season!!

 

The mood was very optimistic going into that game and all the new signings were really fired up, SWP had a great game, plus the Barton playing against old team upped his game compared to other times I've seen him. Newcastle it has to be said were poor that night and we gave it a good go and missed some easy chances. The positivity and movement going forward in that match continued against Wolves and Villa and then something went drastically wrong against Fulham and I think we are still finding our feet a bit after that drubbing albeit through a tough part of our fixture list. Tactically, the only time I've seen us really majorly change our shape to try and alter a game was second half against spurs and I felt it gave us more options as they were pushed further back up the pitch.

Ramble over

 

Stumbled being the key word here but it's correct maybe If we take the game to City then we stand a chance if we go all respectful and dozy then we face a ripping Adel to come on for HH or Bettie and win it ... The stage is set

 

Was it the formation that improved or just putting the players in the correct positions?

Mackie's boundless energy and non-stop running pushed them back allowing us to play further up field, and under less pressure increasing our ball retention. He also rattled their defenders who started to give away possession.

As for the formation, was it really 4-4-2, or just 4-2-3-1 played further up field? I wasn’t there and you don’t get the full picture watching on tv. Was Bothroyd alongside Helguson or slightly deeper? I’m pretty sure that Barton and Faurlin were deeper than Mackie and Wright-Phillips.

 

I thought it was still 4-2-3-1 with Betty in the middle of the 3 with SWP and Mackie either side. I'd go for that against City too.