"ohhh 3 at the back, 3 at the back"

[cambridgeshire canary 6,698]

Is what many people are talking about right now, and while I do wish we could change the record and remind people we did try a three at the back a few years back and we ended up finishing 14th and it was a pretty awful season.. We have admittedly improved somewhat since then I would like to think.

So, how's this? obviously I could not fit everyone in given our massive squad depth right now so please don't get annoyed I didnt play this guy over this guy, but would you like to see us play something like this?

[The Real Buh 3,432]

I’d like to see us give it a go but it doesn’t always work out

with a back 3 I always think it’s best to have a more athletic guy in there with 2 big lads rather than all 3 natural centre “big boy” centre backs

it just means you have one guy who’s a bit more mobile buzzing about and then the insurance of the centre backs behind him 

at the World Cup a couple of years back Kyle Walker acted as that “3rd wheel” and I think it worked well

[WD40 720]

If we kept Godfrey wouldn’t he slot in the middle so he can step into midfield when we have the ball which might suit him?

Edited September 5, 2020 by WD40

[TheGunnShow 5,937]

Wing-backs and wingers are a bit contradictory as the whole point of wing-backs is that they satisfy both roles, hence their need to be particularly good athletes and particularly fit. I'd play Placheta as the wing-back assuming he's got enough savvy in his defensive game - he just needs to be able to stand a man up and push them away from dangerous areas. Doesn't necessarily have to win the tackle.

Many of our problems in the Premiership stemmed from being too easy to attack down the middle due to a lack of mobility. This formation makes us even more open down there, then I've no doubt some will start complaining "but we got a new defender in"...

I agree with @WD40 re. putting Godfrey in the middle so he can push into midfield when in possession. Make that formation more of a 3-4-2-1, take Placheta off (assuming you want to keep Lewis in) and put Rupp / McLean / Sorensen into midfield next to Skipp, then have both Dowell and Buendia as attacking midfielders.

Edited September 5, 2020 by TheGunnShow

[Indy_Bones 441]

Against teams playing a lone striker/front 3, then 3 at the back is overkill, as the wingbacks should deal with the outside forwards, and then you have 3 vs 1 in the middle.

It does however work far better against teams playing a classic 2 upfront which we're far more likely to see at this level than in the PL.

My main concern is that we have such good attacking talent, that they are then left on the sidelines to accomodate another defender which seems like a total waste.

I don't want to grind out 1-0 wins, I'd rather with 3-2 and play good football in the process even if this may hurt us defensively at times.