4-2-3-1 it is then...

[Gareth Keown]

at 1st glance, the formation we seemed to use was a standard and expected 4-4-2.... we had 2 CMs Thudd and Modric and, we assumed, 2 wideboys in Bale and Lennon, with the ole pairing upfront of Defoe-Crouch.... but on closer inspection was it a 4-4-2 ??

the giveaway for me was the way Lennon especially was deployed.... he didnt 'hug the touchline' as per usual but played slightly more infield (also allowing the RB space to verlap him).... even BAE was bombing forward alot more than normal..

all this seems to indicate a more attacking intent with the fullbacks and to allow for this, both widemen have to 'come inside' more.... plus, alot of the time either Crouch or Defoe was playing behind the other in 'the hole'..

this new system will allow both Bale and the excellent BAE to play together more and in their natural positions for both.... allow us to play 2 creatives in the middle (cos of greater support around).. and now for the negatives of the system...

Crouch is less suited for this system and I think he will move on. Defoe will stay but wont be a lone striker but someone who plays in 1 of the 3 attacking slots just behind... if we get either |Bellamy or A.Young we will have Lennon, Bale, Gio, Krancjar Defoe and Bell/Young..... perm any 3 from 6..

the primary lone-striker (not a great description for the actual position) will I think be Loic Remy and Pav will support...... if we move surplus players then expect the long-awaited capture of the 6'3'' Connor Wickham to be 3rd-choice lone-striker...

if/when we get Gallas soon, that should set us up for a great season ahead..... we will be even better than we were last Saturday.....

 the title-challenge is on.

[Dom07Tottenham]

Even in a 4-4-2 last season BAE and Corluka overlapped Bale and Lennon running as wing backs at times, several other sides do this in a 4-4-2 this is a basic move in the formation, as RB moves up LB stays back vice versa, or just the two CB's, so I am not sure you have hit the nail on the head there, that being said we trialed 4-2-3-1 in pre-season, and are expected to adopt in CL away games if we make it past Young Boys, and tough away EPL games, not sure if we will use it against Young Boys although, mixing with the formation from something that works great in such a huge game for us could be a big gamble. We need more games playing it testing it out working out the kinks, and I don't think this game is the best time to start. But this formation is definitely one we need to work on and employ in games that we are struggling against noted ably tougher opposition, and Remy is a player that would work best as the lone striker, as he is big but pacey enough to dribble through and out pace his defenders Crouch has the ability to hold the ball in this role and lay off, but he hasn't got the pace on the ball or the dribbling ability.

[ugs]

Whatever your smoking must be really expensive sh*t !!!!
 
 

[Gareth Keown]

the 2 systems can overlap quite alot during open-play cos the players are never static... but I noticed a big difference in pattern-play between the Citeh game at Eastlands and the 1 on Saturday.... even with almost the same Spurs personnel (just Corluka came in for Kaboul on Saturday)..

in the Eastlands game we tried our usual 4-4-2 using both Lennon and Bale out very wide, which left the CMs abit isolated.... but the recent game had the wide-middies more fluid and wit more licence to roam, which I think made us more able to retain possession especially in midfield with the increased support to in central-midfield..

I think the players we're after also point to a 4-2-3-1, as otherwise we would already have ample cover for the wide-men eg. Kranjcar, Bentley especially for a 4-4-2 setup... either/both |Bellamy and A.Young could play anywhere of the 3 behind the main striker (I doubt Bentley or Kranjcar would have the pace to track back as well in a 4-2-3-1 as they'd have to patrol more acreage)....

PS - I dont seem to recall Corluka overlapping Lennon too many times (if at all) in the 4-4-2 we used last year... Lennon used to play on touchline whenever we had possession

[YidJoe24]

Whatever your smoking must be really expensive sh*t !!!!
 
 

Indeed, I dont think anyone plays an exact 4-4-2, in fact i dont think any teams play an exact formation anymore. The players are roaming from their positins more, an so its harder to put anythin down into an actual formation. So I think you readingto much into it Gareth, and why oh you do you believe that Gallas the the holy grail that will bring us PL glory, if he was that good then why did the Gooners let him go, hmmmm???

[Gareth Keown]

they let Gallas go cos Wenger hates to offer any  player over 30yrs contract-extensions beyond 1yr at a time, 32yr old  Gallas wanted 2y-contract.... thats the only reason..

Gallas has the ability, still the pace, Prem-winning experience, CL experience, club and country captaining experience and is available on a free-transfer..... ticks the vast majority of boxes required for the CB we need to bring in...it doesnt really get any better..

Corluka and Dawson are a flawed rightside defensive-pairing..... it causes us to defend too deeply when out of possession, making it easy for the opposition to keep the ball after we concede 2-thirds of the pitch to them, for fear of defending higher up and letting Dawson or Corluka being skinned and allowing the opponent to penetrate the backline thus at will....

having Gallas in will naturally dissolve that rightside-pairing immediately.... 2 birds 1 stone...

[ugs]

they let Gallas go cos Wenger hates to offer any  player over 30yrs contract-extensions beyond 1yr at a time, 32yr old  Gallas wanted 2y-contract.... thats the only reason..

Gallas has the ability, still the pace, Prem-winning experience, CL experience, club and country captaining experience and is available on a free-transfer..... ticks the vast majority of boxes required for the CB we need to bring in...it doesnt really get any better..

Corluka and Dawson are a flawed rightside defensive-pairing..... it causes us to defend too deeply when out of possession, making it easy for the opposition to keep the ball after we concede 2-thirds of the pitch to them, for fear of defending higher up and letting Dawson or Corluka being skinned and allowing the opponent to penetrate the backline thus at will....

having Gallas in will naturally dissolve that rightside-pairing immediately.... 2 birds 1 stone...

Gareth you are truly wasted on here perhaps your superior knowlegde, reading and tactical accumin would be better served by sitting alomgside 'Arry or even Sir Alex as an advisor with a view to taking over on a permanent basis.
 
And as for our flawed right side of defence that your are soooo convinced is our biggest problem, it hasn't done too bad so far, got us to 4th last season and kept a clean sheet against one of the favourite's to win the title this year and after tonight will probably have got us half way too full CL qualification !!!
 
 

[Gareth Keown]

but how many games did they actually play together in ??..... certainly not at the business-end of last season which got us Top4 against most opinion ....

I dont mind either in the team nearly as much as having both in together.... as they have to cover/patrol a large area together...

we'll see soon enough when the new CB arrives shortly..... dont think D&C are gonna feature together too many times....

thankfully.

[YidJoe24]

Cus Charlie was bloody injured thats why!!!!!! And do you really think, that Harry who likes consistency in his teams is just going to drop Daws, and change a partnership like that, er I don't think so mate.

[Gareth Keown]

unsurprisingly, I disagree.

I really feel that Corluka being injured last 6 games of season was a huge blessing in disguise and enabled us to protect the slow Dawson with PACE ON BOTH SIDES of Dawson with Kaboul and King/Bassong... in that situation Dawson can be very good..

Kaboul is currently needed to give experienced backup to both rigtside-CB and RB slots.... when the new CB arrives shortly, we'll see exactly how many games both Corluka and Dawson play together in...