ToxtethBlue
Player Valuation: £50m
Play what role naturally, second striker?
I see 4-5-1 as five midfielders who are usually facing the opposition teams goal and when the defence has the ball they are taking up a midfield position.
The current Chelsea team is a perfect example of this, when Terry hits it long Lampard isn't right up against a centre back and he usually isn't in the final third at all and he's there most advanced midfielder. He's usually in the midfield area looking to get on the ball as are Essien and Mikel or whoever else is playing centrally.
Cahill's role has changed over the past few years, probably down to him picking up injuries and not being as mobile as he once was. He was very much a midfield player in the 04/05 team, he played slightly ahead of Carsley alongside Gravesen. He was box to box, he saw a lot more of the ball and he was playing deeper.
Now he plays in the final third, his main role in the team is challenging for headers and holding the ball up with his back to goal. When Jagielka or Lescott have the ball he is usually right up alongside the main striker and right up alongside the two centre backs looking to win flick ons just like a normal out and out striker.
The difference for me is an attacking midfielder comes from deep and joins in when you have the ball, when you don’t he’s very much a midfielder. A second striker on the other hand only comes deep when it’s needed off the ball (when your on the back foot) and when you have the ball he interchanges between the final third a slightly deeper.
As Goat said Fellaini strolls back and a lot of the time he doesn’t do it at all, no more than a player like Saha who always comes to the ball. Arteta and Neville are always playing as a two, the majority of the time anyway. For me we interchange between 4-4-1-1 and 4-4-2, we haven’t played 4-5-1 for quite a while.
I think we struggled in a 4-4-2 against Stoke because Fellaini moved in there and him and Neville aren’t capable of getting on the ball, dictating the tempo and keeping us in the game in terms of possession. Arteta does that and if he where on the pitch I’d have backed us to see that game out no problem. If we’ve got all our players available playing with Yakubu, Saha, Jo or Vaughan would be no problem in my opinion.
What would go against Neville and Arteta playing in a 4-4-2 may I ask, why couldn’t they play it? It’d be interesting to here your views. There certainly not weak, they don’t shy away from the ball and there’s a perfectly good balance in there in terms of creativity and solidity.
I see 4-5-1 as five midfielders who are usually facing the opposition teams goal and when the defence has the ball they are taking up a midfield position.
The current Chelsea team is a perfect example of this, when Terry hits it long Lampard isn't right up against a centre back and he usually isn't in the final third at all and he's there most advanced midfielder. He's usually in the midfield area looking to get on the ball as are Essien and Mikel or whoever else is playing centrally.
Cahill's role has changed over the past few years, probably down to him picking up injuries and not being as mobile as he once was. He was very much a midfield player in the 04/05 team, he played slightly ahead of Carsley alongside Gravesen. He was box to box, he saw a lot more of the ball and he was playing deeper.
Now he plays in the final third, his main role in the team is challenging for headers and holding the ball up with his back to goal. When Jagielka or Lescott have the ball he is usually right up alongside the main striker and right up alongside the two centre backs looking to win flick ons just like a normal out and out striker.
The difference for me is an attacking midfielder comes from deep and joins in when you have the ball, when you don’t he’s very much a midfielder. A second striker on the other hand only comes deep when it’s needed off the ball (when your on the back foot) and when you have the ball he interchanges between the final third a slightly deeper.
As Goat said Fellaini strolls back and a lot of the time he doesn’t do it at all, no more than a player like Saha who always comes to the ball. Arteta and Neville are always playing as a two, the majority of the time anyway. For me we interchange between 4-4-1-1 and 4-4-2, we haven’t played 4-5-1 for quite a while.
I think we struggled in a 4-4-2 against Stoke because Fellaini moved in there and him and Neville aren’t capable of getting on the ball, dictating the tempo and keeping us in the game in terms of possession. Arteta does that and if he where on the pitch I’d have backed us to see that game out no problem. If we’ve got all our players available playing with Yakubu, Saha, Jo or Vaughan would be no problem in my opinion.
What would go against Neville and Arteta playing in a 4-4-2 may I ask, why couldn’t they play it? It’d be interesting to here your views. There certainly not weak, they don’t shy away from the ball and there’s a perfectly good balance in there in terms of creativity and solidity.
