Ruddy R.Martin - Bassong - R.Bennett Whittaker - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Olsson Fer - - Tettey Redmond Hooper - RvW Wotcha reckon? Madness?
Yeah, a bit adventurous. I wouldn't say Chelsea play with a great deal of width though, so maybe wing-backs would theoretically work. Was just blue-sky thinking really.
I'm going to play devils advocate now, if Lambert was still manager would he have dared to play that formation?, same players as now etc.
Against Chelsea? Yes, as mad as a box of labradors if you ask me I remember Lambert trying three at the back against them a couple of years back but changed it after haf an hour as it was going to spectacularly wrong. I know Chelsea are a different team now, as are we, but I think we'd be horrifically exposed in the midfield with that line-up/formation so not for me I'm, afraid.
didn't it go pete tong a couple of times under lambert when we played 3 cbs? i think we need howson now, if he's playing in a forward midfield position. i think we'll be unchanged for the chelsea game unless Seb is fully-fit.
here's the formation CH used last time: http://epl.squawka.com/norwich-city-vs-chelsea/26-12-2012/english-barclays-premier-league/matches Click on "full stats" to view the formation, that only resulted in a 0-1 defeat. Here is the formation he used when we were given a pasting away at Chelsea: http://epl.squawka.com/chelsea-vs-norwich-city/06-10-2012/english-barclays-premier-league/matches We do have a lot better players now though, so he might be a bit more daring.
I would insert Pilkington for Redmond and play Hooper as lone striker. Howson for RVW effectively (not position wise of course)
Playing 3 at the back huh? I reckon Hughton has nightmares about that, he wakes up in panic and cold sweat and has to hug his Bassong teddy bear to get back to sleep.
Ruddy R.Martin - Bassong - R.Bennett Whittaker - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Olsson Tettey - Fer - Howson Redmond RvW Better?
Not really! We would get an absolute hiding if we lined up like that. Can you imagine Mata, Hazard and Oscar playing in between Whitaker and Olsson?
Kind of, But what happens is that you have very little width and the team becomes very narrow, if you do not maintain control and hold a high line then the space on the wings gets exploited by the opposition as your wingers push up and there is no cover for them as you are playing only 3 at the back. You also need to have very creative players in the middle as you have very little width playing only 2 on the flanks so they have to be full of tricks and to maintain possession, something we have not been great at. Villas Boas tried this at Chelsea and it didn't work too well. Everton played it last night and were great going forward but still managed to leak 2 goals in a game they dominated. It's an exciting system to play but not sure if it would work against Chelsea.
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That'd be my guess. Also, it shows the line up at the final whistle as opposed to the start of the game which just seems backwards to me.