4-2-3-1

[riddick]

It's been boring because we've done just about this one formation for over a decade. I see Silva trying to change it but its "effective" so he keeps reverting back to it.

 

[mkrudden]

Anyone else sick of this stupid formation, especially at home against supposedly weaker teams, I do believe that this formation has cost us a lot of points over the past few seasons. I'd much rather see 4-1-3-2 or the good old fashioned 4-4-2

4132 is a fantastic system provided you have everything in place.
What we've too often is two negative CMs. Gueye is ace but you can see he actively wants to yield to a creative player next to him. Morgan was decent at it for 5 months but toilet thereafter.
Poor Tom doesn't yet have the experience to be a creative fulcrum from deep. It's why the Gomes signing was so important.

4231 provides depth all over the pitch and is a great system to press with.

4-4-2 for any team wanting to break into the CL is a generally absolute no-go (excluding the unreal Leicester team).

I think we get too hung up on formations sometimes.

It players that win you games.

With absolute politeness and respect, I don't think that's right. The modern coach is someone who creates systems to bring out the strengths of his / her own team and mitigate the effectiveness of the opposition's.

That's why Poch, Jose, Pep, Sarri and Emery are in the top 6 clubs because arguably they are the 6 best coaches.

Notions like 'get good players and the results take care of themselves' is very Allardyce / Pulis / Redknapp. They are advocates of good defensive shape and discipline with the message to players going forward to express themselves.

I think this is we went for Silva in the first place. Brands mentioned a few times that we wanted a 'modern coach'.