4-3-3 vs 4-4-2

[rich 0]

does anyone think that maybe we should hed back to 4-3-3 rather than 4-4-2. Just with the players we have it would make more sense. We could play Bentley in a more natural role up front, with Huckbery and A N Other and play mattias jonsson in the middle along with holt and francis, becase he might be more of a threat as an attacking midfielder coming from deep, like scholes.
my mate who watched a bit of him in scandanavia said that was where he excelled. also bentley would be more at home in the Bergkamp role. I know it''s quite adventorous, but Bolton play a similar formation, and play campo(we ''d use holt) as a sitting player, and then tuck the two wide men in if under pressure. If we even thought about bringing in Petit, we''d have two ball winners in holt and Petit, francis or mattias could compete for the attacking midfield role.

[ZLF 342]

Given the current squad and rather than hunt for the A N Other I would select a 4-2-3-1 with HUx at the top, johnson, benltey and mcveigh behind and holt/francis in front of the back 4.

Leaves Hux to roam up front unhindered but allows a solid dfensive 9 if needed - I suspect we will this season - but with 3 players who have pace to support Hux when required.

OTBC

[Morph 31]

Zip, do you really thing Worthy will abandon the idea of having a target man up front?

I agree with your suggested team selection but as many who have posted in the forum have already said, it requires City to keep the ball on the deck and play it to feet. You''ve probably seen them more than me so the question remains are they capable of doing that - keeping it on the deck.

I think in the Premiership they are going to have to find a way to keep the ball on the deck. If they want to model their style of play on anybody then they should look at Arsenal. How many times do you see them knock the ball to Henry in the air?

[ob1 0]

Personally - I think the 4-3-3 (or 4-3-Hucks-2, however you define it) is our best an most natural formation.

I''d love to see us employ a 4-2-3-1, I reckon it would work well.....!

[ZLF 342]

Morph - I agree that I can not see Worthy abandoning a target man nor his preferred 4-4-2 for premier games.

However I do think that a 4-3-3 is the least likely formation we will lead with. I can see the 4-2-3-1 is also very unlikely to happen - I forward it as an alternative use of our current playing staff and to stimulate debate.

I see us sticking to 4-4-2 in most games with a possibility of moving to 4-5-1 aginst Arse, Chleski Manure etc.

OB1 as far as 4-3-1-2 is concerned Hux would be one of the ''2'' as I suspect Bentley woul be best placed to do the ''1'' given his Bergy comparisons...

OTBC

[rich 0]

I agree some interesting theories here, I think the important thing is to have the flexibility of differing tactics and players because different teams require different games, and sadly we just can''t put out our eleven best players and make the opposition work round us, like Arsenal.

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

It''s a tricky one. I think it''s fair to say that playing the 4-3-3 with Sven, Hucks and Leon up front helped win us the title towards the back end of last year. Games like Burnley and Walsall we ripped defences apart. Could we make it work in the Prem though? My only worry would be getting caught on the break by lightening quick players and being streched.

keep the faith

[Morph 31]

Ok, tell me what formations did Worthy play last season? Was it strictly 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 all the time or did he try something else?

I can''t see Worthy going for a formation that is anything other than "vanilla" which is a shame because Zip''s 4-2-3-1 formation sounds like the right thing to try.

[Tumbleweed 106]

I''d like him to try (maybe against a Bolton or Charlton) a 4-1-3-2:

Drury, Fleming, Charlton/Doherty,Helveg

Holt

Bentley, Francis, Jonson

Huckerby, McKenzie

Reasons:
1. Holt may now lack the legs to get up and down too much at Prem pace
2. Holt can anchor the midfield in fron of the two centre backs and pick up the runner from midfield. This is an area where I think we are particularly weak- even against Walsall last year they casued some problems when Jermaine McSporran dropped back and came from deep.
3. McKenzie needed for the pace alongisde Hucks and to give him supprt when running at defenders. Mckenzie is also better at harrying defenders than Matt.
4. Play the ball to feet, get Jonson and Bentley to supply the crosses to runs from Hux and Leon with Francis coming up to pick the balls coming out of defence into central midfield

But I don''t have to pick the team so its easy for me to experiment!

[Northern Canary 0]

Not bad Tumbleweed

[Bayern Eunuch 1]

i would play Brennan instead of Johnson for this match and wouldn''t leave out Charlton (who played well against CP).

[AJ 1,377]

i would play:

Green
Helveg Doherty Charlton Drury

Holt

johnson Francis BEntly


Svensson Huckerby


helveg played central defence for denmark but id leave him at right back.

I woud play sven as huckerby cant work without a target man.





Although i would mind playing this:

Green
Helveg Doherty Charlton Drury

Holt

johnson Bently

Mcveigh/Mckenzie

Svensson Huckerby

Although it is unfair on francis i feel it would be a good sujestion

[Temp the Revelator 0]

Man Utd at Old Trafford? Ok, I don''t think Worthy will change it personally, but I would go with:

Green
Edworthy Fleming Charlton Drury
Helveg Holt Francis Brennan
Svensson Huckerby

Tough on Bentley & Jonson, but there you go. This would give us a lot of defensive depth, but would need Eddie and Drury to overlap, with Jimbo & Helveg covering back - a nightmare to defend against, as they are so interchangable........

Subs: Jonson, Bentley, Doherty, Ward, McKenzie

[Robbo007 0]

I am a supporter of playing Helveg and Edworthy down the right and drury and Brennan on the left. This would effectively create a "back 6". In the centre of the park francis could be the ball winner, with Bentley and Huckerby creating, with Svennsson on his own. I Think this formation would work well away from home, especially at teams who are liekly to get at us.
At home you could swap edworthy and brennan for two of mcveigh,holt and Jonson