Diamond midfield

[chicken 0]

Couple of things, of which I am likely to be slaughtered for.Firstly I have said recently that the real test of our squad and our manager will come next season and I felt today showed why.We played Southampton once already this season - the diamond midfield didn''t work then and it didn''t work today. To me it suggests that Lambert is either too trusting, stubborn or even naive. I say this because they play a 4-4-2 and have scored as many as us - their biggest weakness is their defence. To me this would suggest that we needed to have played a little more defensively to contain their attacking threat.Playing a 4-3-1-2 or a diamond midfield we often rely on the full backs to make runs to give us width - a team like Southampton who like to play on the break will exploit this and run us ragged.Ok the red card was harsh, ok some players were not on form but I still don''t think that we played the best formation against Southampton. I really admire Hoolahan but I sometimes think he is a bit of a luxury in that what he gives us going forward he takes out of the team in terms of shape and defensively. Sometimes it may be better to play him as the second striker or drop him to the bench in favour of a stronger midfield.

[Captain Fantastic 0]

Completely agree with you.. teams over the past couple of weeks have obviously seen that to break down our team you man mark Hoolahan which stuffs up our diamond. I think for Tuesday we need to revert to 4-4-2 and drop Hoolhan to the bench. Not because he is playing bad. Just willl surprise Southend.

[matt crowhurst 0]

have to agree with most of that apart from the fact that Southampton changed formation after being outplayed for the first 10 mins to match ours so if they had stayed 4-4-2 we would have had more of a chance

[Robert N. LiM 4,464]

It would be ridiculous to drop Wes. If we are going to go 4-4-2, then C Martin has to be the one to give way - Wes to go up front with Holt.

[NorwichRat 4]

[quote user="chicken"]Couple of things, of which I am likely to be slaughtered for.Firstly I have said recently that the real test of our squad and our manager will come next season and I felt today showed why.We played Southampton once already this season - the diamond midfield didn''t work then and it didn''t work today. To me it suggests that Lambert is either too trusting, stubborn or even naive. I say this because they play a 4-4-2 and have scored as many as us - their biggest weakness is their defence. To me this would suggest that we needed to have played a little more defensively to contain their attacking threat.Playing a 4-3-1-2 or a diamond midfield we often rely on the full backs to make runs to give us width - a team like Southampton who like to play on the break will exploit this and run us ragged.Ok the red card was harsh, ok some players were not on form but I still don''t think that we played the best formation against Southampton. I really admire Hoolahan but I sometimes think he is a bit of a luxury in that what he gives us going forward he takes out of the team in terms of shape and defensively. Sometimes it may be better to play him as the second striker or drop him to the bench in favour of a stronger midfield.[/quote]

Sorry but we should stick with it. The players have not performed - the system is fine.

[matt crowhurst 0]

think Wes could do with a rest to be honest and we should be able to beat southend without him and would refresh him for the rest of the season, cant drop Martin

[Jack Barak 46]

[quote user="King Korey"]Completely agree with you.. teams over the past couple of weeks have obviously seen that to break down our team you man mark Hoolahan which stuffs up our diamond. I think for Tuesday we need to revert to 4-4-2 and drop Hoolhan to the bench. Not because he is playing bad. Just willl surprise Southend.[/quote]It certainly will surprise them, I wouldn''t expect us to drop our best player and the creative influence in the team.If we really want to surprise them we could drop Holt as well and play Delia upfront![:)]