There was a lad on 606 years ago called Mitch and he always used to post his favoured formation with a mix of dashes and names. So here’s mine for today. —————-—-Deeney—————————--Gray*——— —^———————————————————————-^—— Pereya—————Doucoure———-Capoue————-Fermenia ———————————————————————————— Holebas————Prodl—————-—-Mariappa———Janmaat ———————————————————————————— ——————————-Karnezis————————————— *Okaka on for Gray after 60mins
If Cleverley was back, would this work? Talking of which, when is he back? ———————-————--Deeney———————————- ——————————————————————————— ———————Carillo—————-Cleverley————-———— Pereya————————————————————-Fermenia ———————————————————————————— ———————————Doucoure————————————— ——^———————————————————————^—— Holebas————Prodl—————-—-Mariappa———Janmaat ———————————————————————————— ———————————-Karnezis—————————————
And this one really interested me. Clements’ method of keeping the play central and compact is superb. I love listening to professionals’ views because they cast light on the bits we just can’t see.
Do you think opposing managers see the role that Clements’ wide men have here? This explains so much how the set-up’s finer detail (invisible to most of us) can be so critical. Like how Hughes set Stoke at Vicarage Road, they were substantially less skilled than us, but he managed to frustrate and effectively kill our creativity. Rubbish game of football to watch, I thought, but perhaps worth a revisit to see how he did it.
