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dr burt

Change of formation

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We played our best football this season playing Tettey in front of the back four, and one up front. Now he''s fit again, shouldn''t we return to this set up? At the moment we don''t seem to have anyone capable of getting their foot on the ball in midfield.

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Swap Tettey in for Johnson and potentially put Becchio in for RVW. Surely he''s worth a go rather than Elmander and RVW who have failed on numerous opportunities now.

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I think we need to ditch 4-4-2 altogether, I understand he''s just trying to fit in his 2 big money signings but it''s not working for us.

 

We need 3 in the middle, especially against better quality opposition. I realise we''re a little short of options with Howson''s injury and Wes seemingly being out of favour/unsettled/sold but we could try Snodders in the middle with Tettey and Fer and play Redmond and Pilkington wide.

 

Disappointing that we haven''t addressed our shortage of options in the middle of the park during this month. Hopefully we''ll get someone in before the end of the week or I fear it could cost us.

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Well with Wes out of commission, Johnno banned and Howson Crocked, who do we have left to accompany Tettey and Fer? Snoddy in a central role?

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its not working because we have the wrong players/mix of players in midfield. 4-5-1 wasn''t working for exactly the same reason. And if you consider that we have ever if Hughton is to be believed played 4-3-3 that didn''t work either for the same reason.

We cannot be effective with so little creativity in the team but we also need to be solid and get players forward and into the box.

Fer is the nearest thing we have to an attacking midfielder although I doubt we could allow him to push forward as he is also our best defending midfielder.

We could try Wes or Fer out wide (drifting inside) with one winger but Wes behind in 4-5-1 is a disaster would give us no more presence in midfield and nobody to score the goals.

The truth is I don''t believe we have the player we need to turn this talented squad into a team.

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I think it''s horses for courses with regards to formation. I don''t think there is anything wrong with playing 4-4-2 style system at home against a side like Newcastle, but it is a better formation for really going for the win, not if your looking for lots of control of the game. Cardiff away, could be played 4-4-2 if you really wanted to go for the win, but I think that could be too much of a risk in this situation, at least to start with. They have ben keeping the ball well since Solsjkaer has come in. For this one I think we should go

Ruddy

Martin, Bennett, Bassong, Olsson

Tettey

Redmond, Fer, Hoolahan/Howson, Pilkington

Hooper/RVW

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[quote user="peateabee"]I think it''s horses for courses with regards to formation. I don''t think there is anything wrong with playing 4-4-2 style system at home against a side like Newcastle, but it is a better formation for really going for the win, not if your looking for lots of control of the game. Cardiff away, could be played 4-4-2 if you really wanted to go for the win, but I think that could be too much of a risk in this situation, at least to start with. They have ben keeping the ball well since Solsjkaer has come in. For this one I think we should go

Ruddy

Martin, Bennett, Bassong, Olsson

Tettey

Redmond, Fer, Hoolahan/Howson, Pilkington

Hooper/RVW[/quote]

exactly what i would do for sure!

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My thoughts are as folows;

I am obviously disappointed by last night, it was scarily bad at times… However, a lot of what we did wrong was down to such basic errors, misplaced passes, inability to control the ball etc which I don’t think you can justifiably blame the manager for…

I am more frustrated by the selection at times. Johnson should have been hauled off after the first 20 minutes, he was a complete waste of space who is continuously bringing our better players down with him, such as Fer. The best thing last night (forgetting to remember that we actually achieved a draw) is that we hopefully won’t have to suffer Bradley Johnson for the next 3 games. Check below for an indication of how useless he was;

 

Bethnal Y and G (@BethnalYG)

29/01/2014 10:25

Bradley Johnson''s passing reached new lows last night - 58% according to Opta (this number may change when they review the match again).

 

I believe Fer’s was somewhere around the 87% mark by comparison who was still pretty rubbish.

 

 

 

My plan for Cardiff; set the team up like this

 

                                                                                                      Ruddy

 

                                                                        Whittaker          Bennett     Bassong           Olsson

 

                                                                                                            Tettey

 

                                                                        Snodgrass                                             Redmond

                                                                                                Gutierrez           Fer

 

                                                                                                            Hooper

 

 

The key change being Tettey in front of the back 4 and Gutierez to play centrally in the style of Howson.

 

Snodgrass has been poor but is still one of our most combative players and potentially a great attacking threat. I don’t mind Pilkington starting with Redmond coming on later, however I would like us to attack and press high early on in the same way we did against Stoke and WBA away. Martin and Whittaker are much the same, however I feel Martin was woeful last night and its only fare to drop him. If Hoolahan is available then he is an option to replace Gutierrez, or use Elmander or RvW to switch to a 442.

 

What do you reckon??

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Agree with you there Brighton Yellow and not just because you quote excellent sources.

 

Personally I''d leave Martin in, as I think he will deal better with Zaha who will probably be given a start on the left wing - Whittaker is poor against quick wingers. Martin wasn''t good yesterday - but he wasn''t the worst out there.

 

The sooner Norwich return to the 3 man midfield and drop this stupid 4-4-2 experiment the better. Although as 83% of people in the Pink''Un poll said Norwich should play that way I assume it is only the 17% or disagreed who are on here today moaning about the performance last night...

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Taking our current injuries/suspensions out of the equation, these would be my two preferred lineups:

1: To be used in games against teams around us that we should realistically be taking all 3 points against, especially at home.

Ruddy

Martin Turner Bassong Olsson

Redmond Howson Fer Snodgrass

Hooper

RvW

2: To be used against teams in or around the top 6.

Ruddy

Martin Turner Bassong Olsson

Pilkington Tettey Fer Snodgrass/Gutierrez

Howson/Wes

RvW

As we''ve seen on numerous occasions, a flat 4-4-2 isn''t working for us, so in my mind we have to play one of the forwards behind the other to give man up top any real chance of service through the middle.

Regardless of the starting XI, we have to stop persisting with inverted wingers because it simply does not work when playing with a target man, in addition to stopping our use of zonal marking. While it may work for some teams, it''s so evidently proving catastrophic to our defensive performances and is a relatively small change with a potentially massive impact.

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"in addition to stopping our use of zonal marking."but that underpins our whole strategy as somehow the opposition will gravitate towards our players, not the other way roundit is meaningless to get hooked up on various formations (numbers) as players move about the pitch according to the game and the tactics imposedat the moment these are ones of safety first and the players funneling back, which constantly leaves the opposition with time on the ball and us with no options when we have the ballwatch the game and you will see this week after week

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we need to drop 442. it isn''t working, and I can''t see it working any time soon. Ideally I''d like to see wes come back in but I don''t know if that is possible.

Elmander can play (kind of) wess'' role without the silkiness on the ball. but he can hold the ball up extremely well, pick out a pass, and get in the right places to help set up the striker.

I''d go with:

ruddy

Martin Bass Benno Garrido

Tettey Fer

Redmond Elmander Gutierrez

Hooper

I think Olsson needs a rest. he is looking more suspect compared to the beginning of the season and I rate Garrido quite highly.

with tettey back Fer can have his more free role back, in which is where we have seen him play his best

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[quote user="City1st"]"in addition to stopping our use of zonal marking."but that underpins our whole strategy as somehow the opposition will gravitate towards our players, not the other way roundit is meaningless to get hooked up on various formations (numbers) as players move about the pitch according to the game and the tactics imposedat the moment these are ones of safety first and the players funneling back, which constantly leaves the opposition with time on the ball and us with no options when we have the ballwatch the game and you will see this week after week

[/quote]

I''ve been watching our games week after week for the last seven seasons and I''m fully aware that players move about the pitch... As you rightly point out our current defensive system [quote user="City1st"]"constantly leaves the opposition with time on the ball and us with no options when we have the ball"[/quote] which seems to be almost part and parcel of zonal marking at this level :/

Surely opting to man mark addresses both of these issues that have hindered out performances so massively? I know there would be a transitional period afterwards if we did go down this road, but I don''t see that we have much choice in the long run.

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ruddy

martin bennett bassong olsson

tetty

snodgrass guitierez fer pilkington

hooper

Subs redmond whittaker rvw elmander garrido

Lots of interplay and swapping from jonas snods and pilks

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For a man who a few months back was saying that few teams play with 2 strikers, Hughton seems to have had a conversion experience and now plays two strikers and two central midfield, even if the opponents have three, as Newcastle did.

Time to go back to 4-5-1, I think, especially away at Cardiff. This will allow Tettey to play, if fit, and for the other two, for the moment Fer and Gutierrez, to get forward confident in Tettey.

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Ironic isn''t it, after so much screaming to go with Rv and Hoops together, we now find, as is often said, that it''s often very hard to compete against a 5 man midfield playing with two up and a 4 man midfield.

We were over-run by Hull early on before losing a player and switching systems, and Newcastle throughout. Sherwood is doing a very similar thing at Spurs, opting for two up and they were also overrun by one of the better proponents of the 5 man system (Swansea) when they played recently.

However, even if you are the team doing the midfield dictating, if you can''t make the dominance count, you might find that even with fewer chances, your 4-4-2 oppostion manage to score the chances they get whie you don''t. This is the constant balance we are looking for. Neither Hull nor Newcastle, despite periods of dominance, managed to score. Unfortunately for us, nothing seems to make any difference! We can''t score whether we''re two up or one up!

It seems to me the only option left that we haven''t tried properly is one up with Hoolahan off and Fer/Tettey behind. I think we need to bring Hools back in the side and challenge him to perform like a pro and earn himself a move in the summer. If he goes off in a huff now, he is consigning himself to the championship and a contract half the size of the one he could earn in the prem if he could show he still has something to offer.

 

 

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