Quote Originally Posted by slack_pie View Post
Looks good on paper, but I'm not sure LW would so easily discard the system that got us promoted. He's been more willing to retrain players to play wingback than changing the formation so far.
Thanks to LW, I've finally given up on wishing for 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 etc.

How many times did we see the ''Wing-Back'' experiment at Notts over the years? I'd take a guess at 15, going back to Barnwell as far as I can remember - all failed after a while and always in the same way.

The managers went to it for the wrong reasons - as a defensive move to add extra defensive insurance to stretch out their tenures (it wasn't presented to the fans like this of course). Full-backs would always be picked as the 'wing-backs', effectively we'd be playing 5 defenders - with holding midfielders and so few players willing to play in the final 3rd we'd invite teams onto us - we'd concede initiative and spend more time defending - goals would dry up and results would go south - the managers ditch it before they do actually get the sack. Even IB erred towards this with DKE and a very different Chicks to the one we saw in the first half of this season. When he realised we had to dominate games in the NL to bag a top place, he brought in Richardson - things turned around, but too late, Chesterfield and the top teams were already out of sight.

Finally, we have a brave manager going to a back 3 for the right reasons - to attack; with wide defenders who can carry the ball and are comfortable with it, and real wing-backs deployed.

Agree with Laddo that variations will probably have to be used more next season - but LW has successfully installed this very modern, entertaining and effective way of playing. He'd be nuts to abandon it.