Gus Poyet says he must pick the system the best suits Sunderland's available players, rather than stick rigidly to one formation Gus Poyet is not a slave to any one system, insisting he must pick his formation to suit Sunderland’s available personnel. The Black Cats have spent much of the season playing a variation on 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 - Poyet’s preferred shape - but the addition of frontman Jermain Defoe in January has forced the head coach to experiment, with his new arrival needing a strikepartner. And, after an abortive attempt at 3-5-2 and then a flirtation with 4-1-3-2, Sunderland have reverted to an orthodox 4-4-2 for their last two outings, at Bradford City in the FA Cup and then in the goalless draw against West Bromwich Albion at the Stadium of Light at the weekend. The switch has been prompted not only by the need to accommodate Defoe but also because Jack Rodwell’s ongoing injury problems, and Jordi Gomez’s out-of-sorts display against QPR a fortnight ago, have left Poyet with limited attacking options in central midfield. “If I go first with the system and then I pick the players, everyone would be mad at me,” said Poyet. “You have to adapt to the players, not the system. “The four and two three’s [4-3-3] is my idea, it’s the one that makes us most solid. “You can have that special player wide who can become a second striker. “We tried it with Connor [Wickham] and it worked for a few weeks, but not enough. “Now we’ve got Jermain so we’re adapting.” Sunderland is not the only team to have struggled with 3-5-2 this season, with this weekend’s opponents Manchester United also looking distinctly uncomfortable with the system that new boss Louis van Gaal has tried to introduce. Poyet must decide whether to stick with 4-4-2 on Saturday but, if he does decide on a change, he has no intention of going three at the back at Old Trafford. He said: “The three at the back was a good try. “There are certain things I really like about that system. “It’s not me. I’ve been four at the back all my life and I will stay like that. “But it’s the personnel. “I’m watching plenty of teams that play three at the back nowadays. “You can go to Juventus who have been very successful playing like that. “Nobody has won the Premier League with three at the back ever, but I think Liverpool have done very well changing to three. Maybe because of the personnel. “For us, I wasn’t really convinced what the wing-backs really give you in that system. “They need to be more offensive than defensive, more wingers than full-backs. “We didn’t find that situation right.”
What have most of us been saying for months Gus? Glad you can catch up. Now we can actually see how you are tactically. This will make or break your Sunderland career.
Crazy innit. If I were a manager I'd set my teams up around two things. 1. Our players strengths and 2. our opponents weaknesses. Gus has done neither. Just set his own system and expected the world to revolve around it. Now we can actually see how good a coach we've hired, a season and a quarter after hiring him.
Don't give a toss about what formation we use, in my eyes it's not the problem. It's mentality, a lack of battle, urgency and attacking intent that we need.
We have indeed. It`s what Tony Pulis does every time. Walks into a squad, assesses their strengths and plays to them. Assesses their limitations and avoids them. Simple but effective until such time as he can change the personnel. I hope Gus has finally learnt before it`s too late.
So you're happy playing CBs as Wingbacks? The ball being moved slowly? An over caution on defence all so long as they have the right attitude? I agree with you by the way on mentality, It's important they have the right mentality. My problem is what is the right attitude when the instruction is take your time, build slowly and be patient? We're all itching for more a more penetrative attitude, more direct(without sacrificing the quality of football) with more pace, then questioning their attitude when they don't. But surely that reflects on the coach and not the players, they're just playing to instruction from the gaffer after all. When they don't look interested playing a style which demands more attacking commitment then I'll question the mentality of the players. We've been playing defensively all season and I've had no cause to question the players mentality defensively apart from the Soton game. It's hard for me to judge the mentality of our players at the moment but the second half against QPR when Gus had no choice but to throw caution to the wind I saw a good attitude from the players. I'm not saying they have the right attitude btw. Just saying that me personally, I can't tell because of the lethargic, boring ****e football Gus has had us playing.
No that's exactly what I'm saying I'm not happy with. I mention urgency and attacking intent.. a la moving the ball forward and sharpish. I think if we played 2-2-6 we'd still not get a shot in on goal as we'd be passing it slowly and backwards or sideways with Gus' current mentality. You could play 4-6-0 and still look more dangerous in attack than we do with the right mentality. I maintain I don't think the formation is the problem, I think it's mentality and the fact that the players look like they don't want to attack, get the ball forward, put a killer ball through or test the keeper. I think we're arguing the same thing here mate, unless you think the formation is the big problem and that the lack of interest in attacking isn't.
Ah, Got you. Then I agree entirely mate. The bold hitting the nail on the head. I do think formation matters though, it covers the Zones where each player has a to play, it's no good setting up to be out numbered in areas of the pitch, Imo our left hand side against QPR cost us the game entirely, having Wickham coming central leaving PVA on his own to face two often three players on his own(thanks to Gomez and his shocking performance), That was down to formation imo. But formations are a small cog in a big engine, there's so much more to think about besides that.
I agree of course some formations suit the squad better than others but what I was trying to say is that Gus doesn't need to address the formation until he has got the team mentality right because any formation he picks will fail as it currently is. Just that it's a secondary concern for me at the moment.
Oh he's got to drop the defensive caution what ever formation we put out. I'll be honest, I like the 433 we played if it was played properly, I liked the system but Gus stifled it with a defensive obsession which rendered it a 451.
He doesn't trust them to get forward and have a go, thinks it will put us under unnecessary pressure, problem is we don't score goals and if the ball isn't up at their end it's at ours, putting us under pressure. Not to mention it's ****e to watch. I think the man's a bottler to be honest.
Agreed, and deluded. He doesn't trust us to have a go yet he believes we can play a style we're clearly incapable of playing, that most teams are incapable of playing for that matter.
Aye, anyone who can't accept responsibility is by definition a bottler. And that must rub off on the players. All his articles, now re:changing formation, why is this even news? Sort it out in the dressing room on matchday Gus, not in the press lounge a couple of days before. ****ing doughnut.
He knows he's ****ed himself up the arse pissing everyone off, the press and the fans included. So now he's on the charm offensive, he'll give press their stories and he'll "pander" to our need for outdated, "kick and rush" football... KERNT.
He'll have done nothing for me until he shows some attacking intent and wins a couple of games. Talk is cheap. Some silly letter and an interview don't make up for the crap football he's serving up.
I get you, lets wait and see eh? Sounds like he's learning, the man has a heart of gold, could have easily done a PDC down bradford but kept his cool and said all the right things for me, we should have beaten WBA but for the ref, i ****ing hope he gets another window me in the top flight
