But that back 3 against a team with movement and with the pace of Mane - will not be able to push up, meaning either the midfield has to sit really deep or the team becomes disjointed badly and we will en dup under pressure and just having to punt it long and hope to a isolated Lukaku mate
a back 3 of Jagielka williams and Mori playing pushed up with the fullbacks pushed high up will be absolutely bummed as they will be forced to defend in space mate and Jagielka isn't capable of that anymore against a decent level player
I've said on here I think it'd work if we played a partner alongside him. It's not about the number of players we can get up around him, it's what those player/s are instructed to do.
We've played 3 behind him (e.g. Bolasie right, Mirallas left and Barkley at 10) and he looked massively isolated because none of those players were played as an actual partner. Against, for example, City at home, Mirallas played as more of a partner and we sat back and countered really effectively even though only one player was really committed to supporting Lukaku constantly. He benefits far more from having just one almost equal partner who actually occupies a defender or two than 3 supporting acts who don't occupy any, in these types of games.
The reds I know have been saying we'd be wise to sit deep and counter them and having watched them recently I can't help but agree. The bolded bit describes what for example Wolves, Hull and Leicester did to them, all winning relatively comfortably in the end.
The more we sit back, the less space they have to i) run in behind and ii) pick the passes in behind meaning they could be tempted to commit more forward, creating more space left for Lukaku and his partner to exploit as he and Mirallas did so well for the opening goal vs City, for example.
