System and best team to win

[Blade for Life]

Difficult to say what our best team is currently, i am not sure CW knows. We are conceding too many but not scoring enough. However our reinforcements have or are about to bring some much needed quality into midfield. I think we should pick the most positive team we have and go for wins (hoping that the back 3 start to gel)

Hendo

Egan Stearman JOC

Freemen Fleck Coutts Norwood Johnson

Woodburn or Duffy in the hole

Lone Striker has to be Billy at the moment but hopefully a New improved version soon.

Bench: Clarke, Baldock, Bryan (is he injured ?), Leonard, Bash, Moore, Woodburn or Duffy

That midfield looks quality but the defense needs to tighten up.

Alternatively drop Woodburn/Duffy move Fleck up to just behind Billy and put Leonard or Bash in as defensive midfield sweeper.

What are your thoughts moving forward ?.

[Longshortandtall]

My thoughts are and have been whilst we have been playing three at the back is you need to play with a number 10 and two forwards at Home. We lack pacy forwards for playing three deep lying midfielders and it hasn't worked whether it be Evans and Lundstram with Fleck or Basham/Leonard Fleck and Coutts in the past. Tactically in certain games away from home we can go more defensive pigs away being a good example. Basham was excellent in a deep midfield role but we still had to bring Duffy on at 2-2 and go with two number 10's off Clarke to kill them off.

Duffy and young Woodburn are the only players we currently have that can play Number 10 although its rumoured Goldie has played there in the past.

I don't want us to have a lot of possession, play lovely football but still create little in the way of chances. Norwood will help us to move the ball forward quicker but if you don't have the link with the forwards and runners we will go sideways as we've done for most of this year.

The one criticism of 3-1-4-2 was that it left us without a quality defensive midfielder and exposed to breakaways and shots from outside the area, we conceded too many last year. Coutts took his fair share of bookings for the team before he got injured and it will be interesting to see Norwoods defensive steel in that role until Coutts returns. Norwood enables Coutts to be gently eased back. In the interim at Home start with Norwood, Fleck and Duffy away consider Bash as defensive midfield.

The key is moving the ball forward quicker, getting up to fitness levels that get us back to the high press and producing far better dead balls.

[herbert]

4-3-1-2 is certainly worth trying.

We changed to something like that last night and it looked good. With Coutts and Duffy in, it'd be even better.

[Longshortandtall]

4-3-1-2 is certainly worth trying.

We changed to something like that last night and it looked good. With Coutts and Duffy in, it'd be even better.

Henderson
Freeman Egan JOC Johnson
Coutts Norwood Fleck
Duffy
Sharp Gallagher

Now that would be a top team.

[mwblade]

4-3-1-2 is certainly worth trying.

We changed to something like that last night and it looked good. With Coutts and Duffy in, it'd be even better.

Would you play this with a diamond in the middle and width coming from the fullbacks or width coming form the 3 with support from fullbacks and middle two staggered off each other.

[shorehamoldboy]

agree herbie said it on another thread i think its time to ditch the 3 at the back were too open to the fast counter attack i would definetly go 4 3 1 2 ideally if coutts comes back norwood coutts and fleck as the 3 with duffy or woodburn behind 2 strikers

[woodysrightfoot]

Agree Herbert thought we looked better balanced with 4 3 1 2 especially with Billy playing all across the front opened it up for midfield to push further forward.In any game we can change our formation but we can always change back to our norm formation once we get control of the midfield .if we had used our second half formation against Swansea dont think we would have lost that game

[herbert]

Would you play this with a diamond in the middle and width coming from the fullbacks or width coming form the 3 with support from fullbacks and middle two staggered off each other.

The right back would have to provide a lot of the width. Bit less responsibility on the left back because Fleck often probes down that side.

It would suit Baldock and Stevens better to attack as full backs than wing backs. They could pick their moments better and get in better positions more often due to the extra midfield numbers creating the space. There should be enough defensive cover with 3 deeper midfielders.

Much of the width should also come from the player in the 10 position drifting into wide positions.

But you know what, I'd still have no faith in us scoring enough goals. There's a heavy reliance on crosses and we're just not good enough at it or ruthless enough in front of goal.

It would help if we could score more from set pieces. The corners were very good last night with Norwood but I won't get carried away because Hull weren't the strongest aerially.

[shorehamoldboy]

if johnson comes in were covered in all positions apart from the one that wins you games more often than not and thats strikers leon cant hit a bargepole at the minute goldie is injury prone lavery isnt up to this level so theres a big reliance on billy im afraid i think we need 2 in

[Blade for Life]

if johnson comes in were covered in all positions apart from the one that wins you games more often than not and thats strikers leon cant hit a bargepole at the minute goldie is injury prone lavery isnt up to this level so theres a big reliance on billy im afraid i think we need 2 in

I would not mind one quality striker and then an up and coming striker. The list of our supposed targets is getting smaller, I hope CW has a surprise up is sleeve.