Hoolahan, RVW & Hooper

[Rogue Baboon 0]

At the minute we seem stuck between 442 and being overrun in the middle or playing ''negative'' 451 hoolahan and not scoring (man utd)

so, could we fit hoolahan, rvw and Hooper into the starting line up at palace without sacrificing 1 of the 2 holding midfielders?

the only way i could see it being done is to play a diamond and leave the wings exposed, or 352 and leave ourselves short at the back.

can anybody see any other way of fitting all 3 in for palace?

[hazza9 0]

My mate and I were discussing same thing on way home, these 3 need to be in team..... Maybe go with 4-4-2 d

GK. Ruddy

DL. Olsson

DC. Bassong

DC. Bennett / Turner

DR. Martin

DM. Fer

RCM. Snoddy

LCM. Howson (if fit)

AM. Hoolahan

ST. Hooper

ST RVW

[Monty13 2,229]

I personally think going that narrow against teams that mainly play 5 in midfield is a recipe for disaster. That doesn''t mean it could never work but it would very much depend on opposition tactics to be viable in this league.

Don''t get me wrong I''d love to see it as an attacking option, but I just think we would lack width and be overrun in the centre.

[Lavanche 0]

Well diamond with our current staff is quite much impossible to get balanced as we lack modern full back at right side. Both Martin and Whittaker are not that bad both ways, but lack the speed for doing that without winger support or another DM covering.

Also playing diamond would almost surely mean that we would need to either drop Fer or Redmond from the team and play other one in position where he is not at his best.

3-5-2 in the other hand is just suicide if it is meant to play as attacking version of it. Juventus style 5-2-1-2 version of it could work with back 5 of:

Olsson - Bassong - Bennett - Martin - Whittaker

But then again we would have to drop both wingers and we would be very short of players to cover our CB''s if using it any longer. Thought this could give us freedom to use Fer - Howson duo instead of Johnson or Tettey.

In my opinion best way to fit them all is just play Hooper as false winger as I said in some other topic. He likes to play anyway a bit out of place and has a decent shot from long range. He tends to drift on right so Pilkington on left would be probably best way to get it work to keep some flair on the wings and get some decent crosses on the box.

[killiecanary 0]

Interesting question this.

We were talking about this yesterday too, but between four of us couldn''t really come up with a side that would accommodate all four of them without sacrificing too much defensive stability.

They''d have to score a shed load of goals to win games with the amount we''d probably concede! Can''t really see it happening to be honest.

We also had a similar debate about the midfield - what is the best midfield 4 or 5 from Redmond, Snodgrass, Bennett, Pilks, BJ, Fer, Wes, Howson, Tettey?

[Empty Mirror 0]

It''s striking how many of us are discussing the same issue - and how few to us can come up with an answer.

The "Hughton In / Hughton Out" debate tends to be framed in terms of how much the manager is to blame for apparently lack lustre performances, players missing chances etc for which, arguably, the players have to take responsibility. Perhaps the more fundamental criticism is the extent to which the manager has spent his transfer budget on players who can''t play together (Hooper / RVW?) or players who can''t be fitted into a formation with the existing squad?

[Highland Canary 76]

Surely the responsibility for selecting the players to bring to the club, selecting the team, tactics, motivation etc all rest with the management team. The point is that all the failings we see today have been obvious for more than a year now. Change should have happened in the Summer or, having missed that opportunity, at the international break this season when it had become painfully obvious to most that we were travelling backwards. With our fixtures as they are now it is unlikely that we can avoid the drop but the boost of a new management team and a couple of new players might give us half a chance. In the meantime, a victory against the reinvigorated Palace is critical - let''s hope that the management team can produce a motivated team - and tactical approach - to win that game, unlikely as that seems.