See I'd go the other way. Would be a bit concerned if he didn't have the courage to stick with what has worked for him and try and instill it here. I expect we'll see it a bit longer yet personally. Though we absolutely need Stu on the pitch when playing with 3 CB's imo.
Yeah. It was nice to see him change it mid-game, at a time when we weren't actually losing. And if three at the back is his preferred option, he probably won't be consigning it to the dustbin forever after just 60 minutes. For me, as I alluded to yesterday, playing three at the back has to be paired with playing just one striker. That way, there is still room to accommodate two wide(ish) midfielders - potentially including Stu, as you say. Those two can then help to keep the opposition occupied (most likely their FBs), thereby freeing up our WBs to be massive attacking threats - which is such an important feature of a back three. If you leave your WBs as your only width, they will always each have at least one opponent defending against them - and often two. Given that most WBs are FBs being pushed forward, as opposed to wingers being pushed back, that will invariably result in their attacking output being reduced to next-to-nothing (eg due to a lack of skill in beating a man). And at the same time their defensive output is already being reduced, by the nature of them playing further forward. Conte has arguably had the most success with three at the back in the PL. And off the top of my head, he's generally only used one striker in that system (whether at Chelsea or Spurs). And has also been open to using wingers, rather than FBs, as his WBs. He's apparently even twice tried to sign Adama Traore from Wolves to play there.
I missed it too. I’ve got used to taking no interest in football during the winter football competition.
Guess I'm calling the tattoo artist and cancelling the second sitting of my "Southampton 2023 Carabou Cup winners" tramp stamp. Glad I got them to leave off the "winners" part as a hedge.
Need 3 big hits to win it now. Not very likely but at least at home. MC will bring a few so I don’t think it’ll be cheap.
