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I think with the new additions to the squad and the track record with Sergio, I can see us playing 4 1 4 1 with Yaya playing as a deep second striker, Fernando as holding defensive midfielder. This should allow us to wrap up Sergio if his fitness/injury levels are similar to last season

Talking of injuries both Jack Rodwell & Stevan Jovetic have played two half games and are not injured.......

It will be the same as last season apart from matches where we need a 5 man midfield, like the ones against Arsenal and Barca.

Bluedj wrote:I think with the new additions to the squad and the track record with Sergio, I can see us playing 4 1 4 1 with Yaya playing as a deep second striker, Fernando as holding defensive midfielder. This should allow us to wrap up Sergio if his fitness/injury levels are similar to last season

Talking of injuries both Jack Rodwell & Stevan Jovetic have played two half games and are not injured.......

Its a decent formation. However I feel it has a better effect when Yaya is pushed up later in the game.

Unless we change the manager the formation will be the same as last season. The odd tweak here or there for European games aside

Ideally, I'd like to see us play a genuine 4-3-3, with three out and out strikers.

However, I don't think we've got either the players, or the squad balance to be able to do that so, I think it will default to a 4-2-3-1 set up.

Mind you, provided we continue, this season, to continue to score goals like water, I won't worry about the system in use.

Sure we do.

Hart
Zabs-Kompany-Mangala-Kolarov
Yaya-Fernando-Fred
Aguero-Dzeko-Jovetic

But you tell Nasri and Silva you're sitting them down for a new formation.

I think the 4-4-1-1 will be default again with Nasri and Silva playing inside and overlapping fullbacks marauding the wings.

Slim wrote:Sure we do.

Hart
Zabs-Kompany-Mangala-Kolarov
Yaya-Fernando-Fred
Aguero-Dzeko-Jovetic

But you tell Nasri and Silva you're sitting them down for a new formation.

I think the 4-4-1-1 will be default again with Nasri and Silva playing inside and overlapping fullbacks marauding the wings.

Mmmm.......

Whilst there are still ongoing concerns about the sustained fitness of Aguero and the potential injury brittleness of Jovetic (coupled, latterly, with the worrying and lengthy loss of form of Negredo) we only have one consistently available striker we can rely upon.

Moreover, with regard to the midfield three, I don't think Yaya fits easily into that location and role, given the suspect nature of the defensive side to his game and it might be that, of the players we can currently call upon, Garcia ought to be a 'better', albeit unthinkeable, option for that more disciplined requirement and set of tasks in that area of the field.

Ultimately and after all is said and done, how can we ever contemplate omitting Silva and Nasri who, both collectively and individually, provide a subtle and creative aspect to the team :- leaving those two out would be like cutting off both of your arms to spite your fingers.

Given these considerations, IMHO I don't think we have the squad balance and the type of players required to play, as I said previously, a 'genuine' 4-3-3 formation; hence my thoughts that it would be 4-2-3-1 instead. However, my concern with this is that, although we should be tighter defensively, who else would there be to step up to the plate to score a fair number of goals to supplement those provided by Yaya and Dzeko ??

I still think we need another striker.

Mikhail Chigorin wrote:

Slim wrote:Sure we do.

Hart
Zabs-Kompany-Mangala-Kolarov
Yaya-Fernando-Fred
Aguero-Dzeko-Jovetic

But you tell Nasri and Silva you're sitting them down for a new formation.

I think the 4-4-1-1 will be default again with Nasri and Silva playing inside and overlapping fullbacks marauding the wings.

Mmmm.......

Whilst there are still ongoing concerns about the sustained fitness of Aguero and the potential injury brittleness of Jovetic (coupled, latterly, with the worrying and lengthy loss of form of Negredo) we only have one consistently available striker we can rely upon.

Moreover, with regard to the midfield three, I don't think Yaya fits easily into that location and role, given the suspect nature of the defensive side to his game and it might be that, of the players we can currently call upon, Garcia ought to be a 'better', albeit unthinkeable, option for that more disciplined requirement and set of tasks in that area of the field.

Ultimately and after all is said and done, how can we ever contemplate omitting Silva and Nasri who, both collectively and individually, provide a subtle and creative aspect to the team :- leaving those two out would be like cutting off both of your arms to spite your fingers.

Given these considerations, IMHO I don't think we have the squad balance and the type of players required to play, as I said previously, a 'genuine' 4-3-3 formation; hence my thoughts that it would be 4-2-3-1 instead. However, my concern with this is that, although we should be tighter defensively, who else would there be to step up to the plate to score a fair number of goals to supplement those provided by Yaya and Dzeko ??

I still think we need another striker.

We have four. That's enough.

Cheers

I think we can realistically only sustain one sick note striker, although Nasri and Yaya have both acted as second striker to good effect. If Jovetic can stay fit I think we have enough, anyone want to take that bet though?

I think the Count likes his 4 2 2 2 & will try to go with that. I recon we have the players to play any system (assuming Managala signs) apart from a two wingers system. But by Christmas, Brandon Barker may have given enough fullbacks nightmares at EDS level, to be considered for the left wing job. I can see him doing a Peter Barnes & getting promoted early.

Zucculini is the one who interests me. I don't know if we have squad space for him, but in these games so far, (as on video) he is doing a Colin Bell kind of trick, where he's stood next to our cb on the ball one minute, then nearly scoring a header a few seconds later. If he does that v better teams pre season, it opens up a whole new world. We haven't had a player who can do that, probably since Bell.

Slim wrote:I think we can realistically only sustain one sick note striker, although Nasri and Yaya have both acted as second striker to good effect. If Jovetic can stay fit I think we have enough, anyone want to take that bet though?

Joevtic made of glass
Sergio Made of glass
Now Negredo's glass has shattered or 2-3 months
Dzeko is a fit lad, thank god

I definitely think we could play the traditional 433 formation. And I actually think it would suit yaya more. Would give him more freedom to get forward and then when he's slowly ambling back we have the cover of 2 other CMs. Fernando/Garcia would be the ones that very rarely get forward. I could see them dropping in alongside the CBs whilst were in possession to allow the fullbacks to really bomb on. The front 3 could be any of aguero, dzeko, beast, jovetic, silva, nasri or navas. All of who I would expect to move around and swap positions, making it really hard for defenders to pick them up. As already said though I expect pellegrini to keep playing 4222.

I really liked Argentina's flexibility to switch from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2, dropping Mascherano into the CB position allowing Zaba and Rojo to bomb on. They didnt use the wing backs as effectively as they could have but it was very fluid and certainly caused teams problems.

We could also adopt that Strategy utilising either Garcia or Fernando allowing Zaba/Sagna and Clichy/Kolarov to bomb on Whilst Vinny and MDM/Mangala sit in the back 3. out problem might be that we would operate a 4-2-3-1 which could mean we change shape to a 3-3-3-1..... I am off for a lie down, my head hurts!

Wonderwall wrote:I really liked Argentina's flexibility to switch from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2, dropping Mascherano into the CB position allowing Zaba and Rojo to bomb on. They didnt use the wing backs as effectively as they could have but it was very fluid and certainly caused teams problems.

We could also adopt that Strategy utilising either Garcia or Fernando allowing Zaba/Sagna and Clichy/Kolarov to bomb on Whilst Vinny and MDM/Mangala sit in the back 3. out problem might be that we would operate a 4-2-3-1 which could mean we change shape to a 3-3-3-1..... I am off for a lie down, my head hurts!

Am I the only one who thinks that our shape is actually so much more dynamic than a set of numbers can imply?

Cheers

DoomMerchant wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:I really liked Argentina's flexibility to switch from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2, dropping Mascherano into the CB position allowing Zaba and Rojo to bomb on. They didnt use the wing backs as effectively as they could have but it was very fluid and certainly caused teams problems.

We could also adopt that Strategy utilising either Garcia or Fernando allowing Zaba/Sagna and Clichy/Kolarov to bomb on Whilst Vinny and MDM/Mangala sit in the back 3. out problem might be that we would operate a 4-2-3-1 which could mean we change shape to a 3-3-3-1..... I am off for a lie down, my head hurts!

Am I the only one who thinks that our shape is actually so much more dynamic than a set of numbers can imply?

Cheers

No, that's kind of what I was referring to re Zucculini moving around but he doesn't seem to he on the list.

The shape when we lose the ball is more important imo & that still needs plenty of work.

clippo22 wrote:I definitely think we could play the traditional 433 formation. And I actually think it would suit yaya more. Would give him more freedom to get forward and then when he's slowly ambling back we have the cover of 2 other CMs. Fernando/Garcia would be the ones that very rarely get forward. I could see them dropping in alongside the CBs whilst were in possession to allow the fullbacks to really bomb on. The front 3 could be any of aguero, dzeko, beast, jovetic, silva, nasri or navas. All of who I would expect to move around and swap positions, making it really hard for defenders to pick them up. As already said though I expect pellegrini to keep playing 4222.

The danger of playing 4-3-3 with Yaya in midfield, is that it would probably end up as a 4-2-4 (without the benefit of two genuine wingers in that system) and we might end up getting overrun in the middle of the pitch.

If that were the case, I think I'd much rather play something like 4-5-1 from the start and give Yaya a free role without any defensive responsibilities whatsoever.

Toure can be pushed up top next season, as he cant be arsed chasing back anyway and his effort level may dip too after this summers bollocks.

Formation will change depending on opponent and whether we are home/away.

Id wager Fernandinho and Fernando play CL Away games alongside each other whilst Clichy will Left Back more away from home, Kolarov at home when we dominate possession.

Still think 4-2-3-1 best suits our personnel and if we were playing a pick our best XI and formation for a CL game Id go with ...

Hart

Zab
Komp
Mangala
Kolarov

Ferna
Fernando

Nasri
Ya Ya
Silva

Aguero

Then the following Saturday for a Prem game against Swansea for example we can flip flop the team and go with

Hart/Cabellero

Sagna
Komp
Demich
Clichy

Milner
Ferna/Fernando

Navas
Ya Ya
Jovetic

Dzeko

Goaters 103 wrote:Toure can be pushed up top next season, as he cant be arsed chasing back anyway and his effort level may dip too after this summers bollocks.

Formation will change depending on opponent and whether we are home/away.

Id wager Fernandinho and Fernando play CL Away games alongside each other whilst Clichy will Left Back more away from home, Kolarov at home when we dominate possession.

Still think 4-2-3-1 best suits our personnel and if we were playing a pick our best XI and formation for a CL game Id go with ...

Hart

Zab
Komp
Mangala
Kolarov

Ferna
Fernando

Nasri
Ya Ya
Silva

Aguero

Then the following Saturday for a Prem game against Swansea for example we can flip flop the team and go with

Hart/Cabellero

Sagna
Komp
Demich
Clichy

Milner
Ferna/Fernando

Navas
Ya Ya
Jovetic

Dzeko

That would make a lot of sense all round.

Just hope it would then ease, to some extent, any (injury) pressures on Jovetic and Aguero and allow them plenty of recovery time.

Ted Hughes wrote:

DoomMerchant wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:I really liked Argentina's flexibility to switch from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2, dropping Mascherano into the CB position allowing Zaba and Rojo to bomb on. They didnt use the wing backs as effectively as they could have but it was very fluid and certainly caused teams problems.

We could also adopt that Strategy utilising either Garcia or Fernando allowing Zaba/Sagna and Clichy/Kolarov to bomb on Whilst Vinny and MDM/Mangala sit in the back 3. out problem might be that we would operate a 4-2-3-1 which could mean we change shape to a 3-3-3-1..... I am off for a lie down, my head hurts!

Am I the only one who thinks that our shape is actually so much more dynamic than a set of numbers can imply?

Cheers

No, that's kind of what I was referring to re Zucculini moving around but he doesn't seem to he on the list.

The shape when we lose the ball is more important imo & that still needs plenty of work.

It's the way the game's been going for a while now Mr Doomster. We saw it under Mancini as well as Pellegrini where our shape/formation depends on what phase of play we're in. Under Pellegrini there is way more importance put on central midfield (with Mancini it was put more on the fullbacks) - it's the hinge that opens and closes all the doors for us.

Dameerto wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:

DoomMerchant wrote:

Wonderwall wrote:I really liked Argentina's flexibility to switch from a 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2, dropping Mascherano into the CB position allowing Zaba and Rojo to bomb on. They didnt use the wing backs as effectively as they could have but it was very fluid and certainly caused teams problems.

We could also adopt that Strategy utilising either Garcia or Fernando allowing Zaba/Sagna and Clichy/Kolarov to bomb on Whilst Vinny and MDM/Mangala sit in the back 3. out problem might be that we would operate a 4-2-3-1 which could mean we change shape to a 3-3-3-1..... I am off for a lie down, my head hurts!

Am I the only one who thinks that our shape is actually so much more dynamic than a set of numbers can imply?

Cheers

No, that's kind of what I was referring to re Zucculini moving around but he doesn't seem to he on the list.

The shape when we lose the ball is more important imo & that still needs plenty of work.

It's the way the game's been going for a while now Mr Doomster. We saw it under Mancini as well as Pellegrini where our shape/formation depends on what phase of play we're in. Under Pellegrini there is way more importance put on central midfield (with Mancini it was put more on the fullbacks) - it's the hinge that opens and closes all the doors for us.

Good summary.