Two up front

[technojoe]

I just hope Pienaar isn't injured haha!

Uhhh still gutted about last night. Yeah 2-3 upfront whatever win all the rest of the games please

 

[Ashtonian]

@Groucho

Piennar is injured mate.

 

[Ollie d]

3-5-2 ...surely fits our attacking wing backs and allows 2 up top? As long as the centre backs don't mince about with the ball that is....

 

[Big Duncs Pigeons]

3-5-2 ...surely fits our attacking wing backs and allows 2 up top? As long as the centre backs don't mince about with the ball that is....

Current squad - who are the 3 though?

All 3 of Jagielka/Stones/Distin?

 

[Ollie d]

January my friend.. Mats Hummel's been spotted at John Lennon airport! Failing that Gareth Barry ?

 

[degsy]

Remember the good old days of two up front? The old 4-4-2? Does anyone think we'd have success with it?

The reason I bring this up is because we play with Baines and Coleman, who are essentially old fashioned "wing backs", who overlap with whichever relevant winger is in front of them. We should benefit from crosses in to the box a là Kanchelskis/Limpar/Ferguson for a recent example.

This style in my eyes lends itself well to having two strikers as there's an extra body to knock crosses in. Kone can hold the ball up, Lukaku is more than decent and together, coupled with mucho crosses, we'd be a real headache for sides.

Eg;

Robles

Baines
Jags
Stones
Coleman

Pienaar
Besic
McCarthy
Mirallas

Kone
Lukaku

Don't get hung up on my player selection, it's just an example of how I think this one up front lark may be holding us back now. I'm probably wrong.

We could do worse...and we could do better

But if it isn't in 'The Philosophy' watcha gonna do

But the whole point is not to get hung up on this numbered system or that...they're only numbers
Find your best 11 ( the hardest point of the whole coach thing ) and use a 'system' that gets the best out of them
Then with your 2nd best 11, do the same
and the 3rd
and the 4th etc etc

DON'T GET STUCK ON THE NUMBERS

 

[degreeinblue]

Steven Pienaar is injured how could he play?

 

[raib]

Maybe try 3-4-1-2

Robles
Stones Jags ????
Coleman McCarthy Besic Baines
Barkley
Mirallas Lukaku

 

[Chozz]

I'm so sick of the one up top.

its anti-football all round these days. Sideways and backwards passing. Possession for possessions sake. I'm referring to football in general here. Sick of the diving, the theatrics, the primadonnas, coloured boots, that cretin Blatter, in play betting, Ray Winstones floating head, transfer deadline day, the stupid inane questions by Jeff Shreeves, corporate sponsors, players pointing to their name after scoring, wags, the egos, the wages, the ticket prices and just about every "expert"pundit on tv (usually ex rs).

Lets go back to black boots, pink echo, teletext, moustaches (proper ones), magic sponges, white footballs, number 1 to 11 and 4-4-2!

 

[degsy]

Steven Pienaar is injured how could he play?

and baring a miracle is past it now

 

[Groucho]

I'm so sick of the one up top.

its anti-football all round these days. Sideways and backwards passing. Possession for possessions sake. I'm referring to football in general here. Sick of the diving, the theatrics, the primadonnas, coloured boots, that cretin Blatter, in play betting, Ray Winstones floating head, transfer deadline day, the stupid inane questions by Jeff Shreeves, corporate sponsors, players pointing to their name after scoring, wags, the egos, the wages, the ticket prices and just about every "expert"pundit on tv (usually ex rs).

Lets go back to black boots, pink echo, teletext, moustaches (proper ones), magic sponges, white footballs, number 1 to 11 and 4-4-2!

Thank you I agree.

and baring a miracle is past it now

FFS! Play the groundsman for all I care, it's not about individual players.

 

[Shagster]

I don't rate Kone, thinks its always gonna be a struggle keeping him fit too....so right now I wouldn't be playing with 2 strikers...also don't think Barry, Barkley or besic can play in centre midfield if its 4-4-2...

My only problem with the current formation is we don't have enough wide midfielders....mirallas is our only one....mcgeady is crap, astu has done nothing, pienaar looks like he's finished....

As a result of this Martinez is playing Naismith Barkley & eto'o in these positions and we lose our way because they're not wide players ( and all want to drift in behind lukaku), and aren't linking up with our full backs like pienaar & Baines were...

And they are poor when we are not in possession, our 'without the ball set up/shape' is terrible and it invites pressure.

 

[SpurtingLesbian]

Current squad - who are the 3 though?

All 3 of Jagielka/Stones/Distin?

would be a way of shoehorning Besic in when Barry/McCarthy are the two DM's...?

 

[L4Everton]

It's the worst of both worlds, have a semi striker that'll slot into midfield to close down so play a semi defender to step across midfield, more numbers to win the ball back, but less player to hit and do the scoring. Great when you can 'power play' against a 4-4-2, but so few sides setup that way now, and the midfield* five have to be able to run marathons. Saints currently are exponents of the pyar legs in the middle game.

 

[tommye]