Experimentation?

[Evo2901]

For much of this season Martinez has stuck with a particularly standard 4-2-3-1 formation to be able to accommodate both of our holding defensive midfielders in James McCarthy and Gareth Barry, personally I feel that now we're out of the FA Cup that we have less to play for altogether, thus we should start being more experimental with the line ups in the league matches as we need to be trying to be more attacking and getting as many points as possible on the board in the run in to be in with a shot at European qualification. To achieve this I suggest dropping a holding midfielder and replacing him with another forward, this could perhaps be Steven Naismith playing up top with Romelu Lukaku or possibly Kevin Mirallas playing up there with Lukaku and Gerard Deulofeu getting a run in the side on the right of midfield. Anyway these are just my suggestions as I feel we need to start being more ruthless at this point of the season, feel free to discuss.

 

[deipnosophist]

RM has a disturbing rigidity in his formations. It has been said before but I cannot for the life of me see why bothBarry and McCarthy stay on the pitch when we are chasing a game, especially a cup game wher GD is irrelevant.

 

[N.S.N.O.]

after leaving deulofeu sitting on the bench yesterday until the game was lost, and don't see the point in keeping him now.....martinez may aswell send him home to barca in the morning....

alot of very questionable decisions by Martinez yesterday (and in the January window)....about time the press start asking him some proper questions in his press conferences instead of admiring him like a god when the truth is he's so far done no better than moyes (and we were playing good passing football last season, that's not a Martinez invention)...

as for team selection going forward, we should do what we didn't do today, PICK OUR STRONGEST TEAM....

 

[Christiffa25]

But there is nothing wrong with the formation, nothing wrong with the set-up, the possession we have, the chances we nearly create etc etc....it comes down to the quality of the players trying to execute it.

If pienaar could assist and shoot we'd have more points. If Barkley had an extra year under his belt we'd have more points. If Miralass was more consistant we'd have more points. If McCarthy added a little more going forward, again we'd have more points....

We'v dominated play or stood toe to toe with nearly every team home and away this season but ultimately come up short several times through that lack of quality that others around us have spent multi-millions to achieve.

 

[deipnosophist]

But there is nothing wrong with the formation, nothing wrong with the set-up, the possession we have, the chances we create etc etc....it comes down to the quality of the players trying to execute it.

If pienaar could assist and shoot we'd have more points. If Barkley had an extra year under his belt we'd have more points. If Miralass was more consistant we'd have more points. If McCarthy added a little more going forward, again we'd have more points....

We'v dominated play or stood toe to toe with nearly every team home and away this season but ultimately come up short several times through that lack of quality that others around us have spent multi-millions to achieve.

...and in that (correct) conclusion, you have hit the nail on the head. Not much will change going forward I fear

 

[Blades]

i seem to remember him playing a 1 2 midfield like barca/bayern at wigan and he liked the 5 at the back formation as well. i would like to see us try these out to keep opponents on their toes and hopefully spring a surprise or two. it's always good if you can play a few different formations and keep the opposition guessing.

 

[SimonB]

He might give the 5-3-1-1 with wing backs a whirl now.

 

[N.S.N.O.]

i seem to remember against Norwich, when we went 2-0 up and were totally dominating, he changed the formation and we nearly threw the game away....only for Norwich hit the bar and wasted a couple of chances...

 

[Cookachoo]

But there is nothing wrong with the formation, nothing wrong with the set-up, the possession we have, the chances we nearly create etc etc....it comes down to the quality of the players trying to execute it.

To an extent, I would agree with this. I don't think over the course of the season we have the team to match our aspirations for a European place, when injuries inevitably hit as they do every team, we get found out. Squad depth is quite clearly an issue, with many loanees returning to their parent club and an uncomfortably high percentage of our first team the wrong side of 30

My issue isn't so much with his tactical approach to the game (although his substitutions are odd to say the least), but does anyone suspect that RMs man management leaves something to be desired? He obviously did well with Wigan who with all due respect were underdogs in most of their games, which carries a little less pressure in games. However It's an entirely different prospect for a manager to prepare a team for games they are expected to win.

When we were in a position earlier in the season where we were competing for a top four place, many blues fans had the mindset that we were precisely where we belonged and approached all games without fear. Recently I feel that attitude has been sorely lacking amongst the team.

While I'm not one for apportioning blame, Martinez must take the lions share for our falling by the wayside. Following an unexpected brilliant start in the first half of the season when the pressure was off, once expectations amongst the fans raised I believe he may well have inadvertently introduced an inferiority complex into the team.

Perhaps taking on the thinking that we were "punching above our weight" and reverting to what he knows, what he is good at, which is coaching the underdog. I believe it is possibly this shift in mentality which has seen our form slip.

It wouldn't surprise me that as expectations have now lowered somewhat amongst the fans that it may well coincide with our form picking up, I would just like Martinez to stop managing expectations as that is not what he is paid to do, I would much rather he think big and inspire the players a little more.

 

[Klinker]

What would people think about a 4-3-3?

Same back four
McCarthy Barkley Barry
Mirallas Lukaku Della

 

[Zatara]

He should start putting one or two reserves in for experience now and go more attacking as now its win or bust.

 

[degsy]

The old chestnut = the old answer.

We play 5 in MF as we haven't got 4 good enough to do the job.

Disturbingly similarly inflexible ( but in a keep possession way ) as OFM,TGT was with his methods

plan A not working.
No plan B.
Roll over at the rs.
out at the 6th round
Strange-ish subs left late

(And in a similar vein, while Robles wasn't really to blame for the goals, he didn't inspire confidence.)

Left behind by the others at the front of the pack and in front of the chasing others by default

We again are supreme for the coveted 7th place trophy ( although Unted may contrive to push us up to 6th so we don't even have the satisfaction of being the best of the rest.

Not exactly a footballing Sarajevo moment 100yrs on.

But enough to put this MOB reservist on standby

Memo to self; send uniform to drycleaners just in case Roberto can't get out of his my way and only my way inflexibility.

 

[Christiffa25]

To an extent, I would agree with this. I don't think over the course of the season we have the team to match our aspirations for a European place, when injuries inevitably hit as they do every team, we get found out. Squad depth is quite clearly an issue, with many loanees returning to their parent club and an uncomfortably high percentage of our first team the wrong side of 30

My issue isn't so much with his tactical approach to the game (although his substitutions are odd to say the least), but does anyone suspect that RMs man management leaves something to be desired? He obviously did well with Wigan who with all due respect were underdogs in most of their games, which carries a little less pressure in games. However It's an entirely different prospect for a manager to prepare a team for games they are expected to win.

When we were in a position earlier in the season where we were competing for a top four place, many blues fans had the mindset that we were precisely where we belonged and approached all games without fear. Recently I feel that attitude has been sorely lacking amongst the team.

While I'm not one for apportioning blame, Martinez must take the lions share for our falling by the wayside. Following an unexpected brilliant start in the first half of the season when the pressure was off, once expectations amongst the fans raised I believe he may well have inadvertently introduced an inferiority complex into the team.

Perhaps taking on the thinking that we were "punching above our weight" and reverting to what he knows, what he is good at, which is coaching the underdog. I believe it is possibly this shift in mentality which has seen our form slip.

It wouldn't surprise me that as expectations have now lowered somewhat amongst the fans that it may well coincide with our form picking up, I would just like Martinez to stop managing expectations as that is not what he is paid to do, I would much rather he think big and inspire the players a little more.

Don't think I agree with any of that. If I randomly read it, RM would be one of the last names I would think your on about.

 

[bluestevon]

To an extent, I would agree with this. I don't think over the course of the season we have the team to match our aspirations for a European place, when injuries inevitably hit as they do every team, we get found out. Squad depth is quite clearly an issue, with many loanees returning to their parent club and an uncomfortably high percentage of our first team the wrong side of 30

My issue isn't so much with his tactical approach to the game (although his substitutions are odd to say the least), but does anyone suspect that RMs man management leaves something to be desired? He obviously did well with Wigan who with all due respect were underdogs in most of their games, which carries a little less pressure in games. However It's an entirely different prospect for a manager to prepare a team for games they are expected to win.

When we were in a position earlier in the season where we were competing for a top four place, many blues fans had the mindset that we were precisely where we belonged and approached all games without fear. Recently I feel that attitude has been sorely lacking amongst the team.

While I'm not one for apportioning blame, Martinez must take the lions share for our falling by the wayside. Following an unexpected brilliant start in the first half of the season when the pressure was off, once expectations amongst the fans raised I believe he may well have inadvertently introduced an inferiority complex into the team.

Perhaps taking on the thinking that we were "punching above our weight" and reverting to what he knows, what he is good at, which is coaching the underdog. I believe it is possibly this shift in mentality which has seen our form slip.

It wouldn't surprise me that as expectations have now lowered somewhat amongst the fans that it may well coincide with our form picking up, I would just like Martinez to stop managing expectations as that is not what he is paid to do, I would much rather he think big and inspire the players a little more.

Your still allowed on the forums if you finally admit your a rs yanno lad, your charades gettin more pathethic with every post you make...

 

[bluestevon]

i seem to remember him playing a 1 2 midfield like barca/bayern at wigan and he liked the 5 at the back formation as well. i would like to see us try these out to keep opponents on their toes and hopefully spring a surprise or two. it's always good if you can play a few different formations and keep the opposition guessing.

Boring weekend for ya lad with your lot not playing?