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What have we got and how best to use it?


Harry

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Lots of threads about who the new man may be, so I thought I'd bring it back to the football, for some slightly different thoughts.

Now that Holden and his 27 different formations per game has gone, what do you all think is the best way for the new man to set the team up.  I think whoever comes in needs to look at the players at his disposal and find the best system to fit, in order to get the most out of each player.

We need to move away from ridiculous experiments such as Paterson in a centre midfield role, Wells as a left winger, Lansbury as a holding midfielder, Vyner as a holding midfielder etc.  Let's look at what we have (based on currently available players) :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary
LB : None
RB : Hunt, Sessegnon (plus Vyner)
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore, Mariappa, Towler
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Z Smith
AM : Paterson, Lansbury, Palmer, Massengo (maybe Semenyo)
ST : Wells, Diedhiou, Semenyo, Bell, Pearson

That's 20 fit players.  We obviously have a left back problem.  But we are best-stocked with Attacking Midfielders.

Personally, I think our best chance of success, and the best way we can get some creativity into the team without losing solidity, is to go for a 4-2-3-1 formation.

                   Bentley
Sess - Vyner - Kalas - Hunt
           Bakinson - Nagy
 Semenyo - Lansbury - Paterson
                    Wells

Hunt sadly has to fill the LB void at the moment, however, I'd have no qualms in asking Towler to play there, as long as he has Kalas inside him.
Nagy and Baks as the holding midfielders - with a strict remit for positional discipline (protect the back line, don't wander).
A 3-pronged attacking midfield, deploying Semenyo in what I think is his best position.  Massengo & Palmer can come in for any of those 3.
Wells up top on his own.  He needs to play up front and not have a role which asks him to drop deep or drift wide.  He banged loads for QPR without a strike partner (occasionally they put Hugill up with him, but generally he has AM's feeding him).

There are replacements for each position, without having to change the formation with every single substitute (like we've seen from Dean).

Set up like that and stay like that for 90 minutes.  With the 3 AM's, all of them have the capability of receiving a pass to feet and to hold it, turn and create.  Prevents the ridiculous 'lump it' tactics we've recently deployed.  Gives Wells the freedom to just focus on making runs rather than linking play - which he can't do very well.  Both Baks and Nagy are perfectly capable of retaining possession deep and looking for forward passes to the AM's.

If Williams gets himself fit again he slots in for either DM.  If O'Dowda gets fit again, he slots into the left AM.  If Baker gets fit again, he slots in at LCB and Kalas moves to RCB.  Everyone else I am assuming is out for the season, so that's our lot.

Interested to see what others would do.  I've said before that between all otib posters we could probably come up with 30 different line ups, but for me, that's the best system and style that will at least see some attacking forward play for the rest of the season and at least give us a chance of getting a few results.

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1 minute ago, Harry said:

Lots of threads about who the new man may be, so I thought I'd bring it back to the football, for some slightly different thoughts.

Now that Holden and his 27 different formations per game has gone, what do you all think is the best way for the new man to set the team up.  I think whoever comes in needs to look at the players at his disposal and find the best system to fit, in order to get the most out of each player.

We need to move away from ridiculous experiments such as Paterson in a centre midfield role, Wells as a left winger, Lansbury as a holding midfielder, Vyner as a holding midfielder etc.  Let's look at what we have (based on currently available players) :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary
LB : None
RB : Hunt, Sessegnon (plus Vyner)
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore, Towler
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Z Smith
AM : Paterson, Lansbury, Palmer, Massengo (maybe Semenyo)
ST : Wells, Diedhiou, Semenyo, Bell, Pearson

That's 20 fit players.  We obviously have a left back problem.  But we are best-stocked with Attacking Midfielders.

Personally, I think our best chance of success, and the best way we can get some creativity into the team without losing solidity, is to go for a 4-2-3-1 formation.

                   Bentley
Sess - Vyner - Kalas - Hunt
           Bakinson - Nagy
 Semenyo - Lansbury - Paterson
                    Wells

Hunt sadly has to fill the LB void at the moment, however, I'd have no qualms in asking Towler to play there, as long as he has Kalas inside him.
Nagy and Baks as the holding midfielders - with a strict remit for positional discipline (protect the back line, don't wander).
A 3-pronged attacking midfield, deploying Semenyo in what I think is his best position.  Massengo & Palmer can come in for any of those 3.
Wells up top on his own.  He needs to play up front and not have a role which asks him to drop deep or drift wide.  He banged loads for QPR without a strike partner (occasionally they put Hugill up with him, but generally he has AM's feeding him).

There are replacements for each position, without having to change the formation with every single substitute (like we've seen from Dean).

Set up like that and stay like that for 90 minutes.  With the 3 AM's, all of them have the capability of receiving a pass to feet and to hold it, turn and create.  Prevents the ridiculous 'lump it' tactics we've recently deployed.  Gives Wells the freedom to just focus on making runs rather than linking play - which he can't do very well.  Both Baks and Nagy are perfectly capable of retaining possession deep and looking for forward passes to the AM's.

If Williams gets himself fit again he slots in for either DM.  If O'Dowda gets fit again, he slots into the left AM.  If Baker gets fit again, he slots in at LCB and Kalas moves to RCB.  Everyone else I am assuming is out for the season, so that's our lot.

Interested to see what others would do.  I've said before that between all otib posters we could probably come up with 30 different line ups, but for me, that's the best system and style that will at least see some attacking forward play for the rest of the season and at least give us a chance of getting a few results.

Do you realise you’ve Mentioned tactics above without mentioning working hard, looking in the mirror or taking a look at ourselves? Thus making you twice as credible as Holden ever was. 

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Just now, Fordy62 said:

Do you realise you’ve Mentioned tactics above without mentioning working hard, looking in the mirror or taking a look at ourselves? Thus making you twice as credible as Holden ever was. 

Not enough puffing chest out and NOT blaming injuries for me

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8 minutes ago, Harry said:

Lots of threads about who the new man may be, so I thought I'd bring it back to the football, for some slightly different thoughts.

Now that Holden and his 27 different formations per game has gone, what do you all think is the best way for the new man to set the team up.  I think whoever comes in needs to look at the players at his disposal and find the best system to fit, in order to get the most out of each player.

We need to move away from ridiculous experiments such as Paterson in a centre midfield role, Wells as a left winger, Lansbury as a holding midfielder, Vyner as a holding midfielder etc.  Let's look at what we have (based on currently available players) :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary
LB : None
RB : Hunt, Sessegnon (plus Vyner)
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore, Towler
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Z Smith
AM : Paterson, Lansbury, Palmer, Massengo (maybe Semenyo)
ST : Wells, Diedhiou, Semenyo, Bell, Pearson

That's 20 fit players.  We obviously have a left back problem.  But we are best-stocked with Attacking Midfielders.

Personally, I think our best chance of success, and the best way we can get some creativity into the team without losing solidity, is to go for a 4-2-3-1 formation.

                   Bentley
Sess - Vyner - Kalas - Hunt
           Bakinson - Nagy
 Semenyo - Lansbury - Paterson
                    Wells

Hunt sadly has to fill the LB void at the moment, however, I'd have no qualms in asking Towler to play there, as long as he has Kalas inside him.
Nagy and Baks as the holding midfielders - with a strict remit for positional discipline (protect the back line, don't wander).
A 3-pronged attacking midfield, deploying Semenyo in what I think is his best position.  Massengo & Palmer can come in for any of those 3.
Wells up top on his own.  He needs to play up front and not have a role which asks him to drop deep or drift wide.  He banged loads for QPR without a strike partner (occasionally they put Hugill up with him, but generally he has AM's feeding him).

There are replacements for each position, without having to change the formation with every single substitute (like we've seen from Dean).

Set up like that and stay like that for 90 minutes.  With the 3 AM's, all of them have the capability of receiving a pass to feet and to hold it, turn and create.  Prevents the ridiculous 'lump it' tactics we've recently deployed.  Gives Wells the freedom to just focus on making runs rather than linking play - which he can't do very well.  Both Baks and Nagy are perfectly capable of retaining possession deep and looking for forward passes to the AM's.

If Williams gets himself fit again he slots in for either DM.  If O'Dowda gets fit again, he slots into the left AM.  If Baker gets fit again, he slots in at LCB and Kalas moves to RCB.  Everyone else I am assuming is out for the season, so that's our lot.

Interested to see what others would do.  I've said before that between all otib posters we could probably come up with 30 different line ups, but for me, that's the best system and style that will at least see some attacking forward play for the rest of the season and at least give us a chance of getting a few results.

Christ, when you look at the list of available players, it doesn’t make for good reading!

For me, it’s a toss up between Massengo and Bakinson. And I’d have Palmer in there instead of Lansbury. Other than that, I’d agree with that team.

Pretty depressing really that it’s come to this. 

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@Harryyou’ve probably seen my “352 is a great formation but a bastard to recruit to” posts, in which case you’ll probably see that I said that 4231 is probably the easiest formation to build in versatility, whilst having the most basic of structures.

Left back aside, where I think Sessegnon will come in, possibly Towler, possibly Cod, then we have more than enough to drill something relatively quickly, should a new man come in.

I liken it to Preston where they build tactical flexibility by who they play up front, e.g.

  • Maguire if they want a bit of pace, channel runs, stuff into feet
  • Stockley if they want a lump up there
  • Riis as there new-Hugill

They build upon that in the wide midfield roles with:

  • Sinclair for a more wide forward, out to in runs on the keft
  • Potts on either side if they want physical and hard running
  • Maguire can flex from the CF role 
  • Barkhuizen normal winger
  • etc

Centre Mid (DMs and CM / CAM)

  • Browne can play all roles
  • Ledson can play DM or CM
  • Whiteman more CM
  • Johnson more CAM but can play LM too
  • etc

Back 4 is back 4, simple.

They recruit to that system, but look for players who can play different roles.

Everything else you say is exactly how we should be thinking.

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12 minutes ago, Harry said:

Lots of threads about who the new man may be, so I thought I'd bring it back to the football, for some slightly different thoughts.

Now that Holden and his 27 different formations per game has gone, what do you all think is the best way for the new man to set the team up.  I think whoever comes in needs to look at the players at his disposal and find the best system to fit, in order to get the most out of each player.

We need to move away from ridiculous experiments such as Paterson in a centre midfield role, Wells as a left winger, Lansbury as a holding midfielder, Vyner as a holding midfielder etc.  Let's look at what we have (based on currently available players) :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary
LB : None
RB : Hunt, Sessegnon (plus Vyner)
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore, Towler
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Z Smith
AM : Paterson, Lansbury, Palmer, Massengo (maybe Semenyo)
ST : Wells, Diedhiou, Semenyo, Bell, Pearson

That's 20 fit players.  We obviously have a left back problem.  But we are best-stocked with Attacking Midfielders.

Personally, I think our best chance of success, and the best way we can get some creativity into the team without losing solidity, is to go for a 4-2-3-1 formation.

                   Bentley
Sess - Vyner - Kalas - Hunt
           Bakinson - Nagy
 Semenyo - Lansbury - Paterson
                    Wells

Hunt sadly has to fill the LB void at the moment, however, I'd have no qualms in asking Towler to play there, as long as he has Kalas inside him.
Nagy and Baks as the holding midfielders - with a strict remit for positional discipline (protect the back line, don't wander).
A 3-pronged attacking midfield, deploying Semenyo in what I think is his best position.  Massengo & Palmer can come in for any of those 3.
Wells up top on his own.  He needs to play up front and not have a role which asks him to drop deep or drift wide.  He banged loads for QPR without a strike partner (occasionally they put Hugill up with him, but generally he has AM's feeding him).

There are replacements for each position, without having to change the formation with every single substitute (like we've seen from Dean).

Set up like that and stay like that for 90 minutes.  With the 3 AM's, all of them have the capability of receiving a pass to feet and to hold it, turn and create.  Prevents the ridiculous 'lump it' tactics we've recently deployed.  Gives Wells the freedom to just focus on making runs rather than linking play - which he can't do very well.  Both Baks and Nagy are perfectly capable of retaining possession deep and looking for forward passes to the AM's.

If Williams gets himself fit again he slots in for either DM.  If O'Dowda gets fit again, he slots into the left AM.  If Baker gets fit again, he slots in at LCB and Kalas moves to RCB.  Everyone else I am assuming is out for the season, so that's our lot.

Interested to see what others would do.  I've said before that between all otib posters we could probably come up with 30 different line ups, but for me, that's the best system and style that will at least see some attacking forward play for the rest of the season and at least give us a chance of getting a few results.

I’d probably agree with that. I like 352 but we just don’t have that LWB and it means lumping it up to Fam.

I’m happy with 4231 if we do it properly. The 3 behind the 1 need to fluid and interchange. Whenever we seem to play it or 433, we seem static and play it too wide. The imagine of Afobe coming back after all those months just to get chalk on his boots has scarred me.

If we play a team happy to sit back, we need to make sure one the DM gets forward a bit more.

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4 minutes ago, Henry said:

I’d probably agree with that. I like 352 but we just don’t have that LWB and it means lumping it up to Fam.

I’m happy with 4231 if we do it properly. The 3 behind the 1 need to fluid and interchange. Whenever we seem to play it or 433, we seem static and play it too wide. The imagine of Afobe coming back after all those months just to get chalk on his boots has scarred me.

If we play a team happy to sit back, we need to make sure one the DM gets forward a bit more.

Yep. AM 3 need to be fluid. Perhaps if you had Lansbury in there, he’s the one who can drop a bit deeper between the AM’s and DM’s, to link up play and the other 2 AM’s interchange. So almost have the 2xDM central base, a central AM as a fulcrum and 2xAM’s as roamers. 

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In the matches this season and particularly recently, we have a major problem with movement off the ball, as the pass is being made. This means that when eg semenyo receives it back to goal,the opposition swarms him and it’s very difficult to find a link pass, or the pass comes after a few touches...opposition has reorganised dead easy for them. That’s the first thing that needs to be addressed in my opinion....small movements into space, often towards the ball by the ‘third’ player. Basically....fostering a pattern of play that doesn’t involve lump ball and provides quicker passing options 

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14 minutes ago, Harry said:

Yep. AM 3 need to be fluid. Perhaps if you had Lansbury in there, he’s the one who can drop a bit deeper between the AM’s and DM’s, to link up play and the other 2 AM’s interchange. So almost have the 2xDM central base, a central AM as a fulcrum and 2xAM’s as roamers. 

I’d like Palmer in there, I still think there’s a player in there. If you have two DMs who can play him the ball and tell him to **** off if he comes too deep.

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I would have Palmer ahead of Lansbury and maybe swap Sess and Hunt. Aside from that I think that is the best of what we have as a squad.

My only other point would be for only one full back to push forward at a time. Try and keep 3 back most of the time. Defensive and negative yes but until there is confidence, fluency and players understanding their positions I would rather that.

 

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Just now, Shtanley said:

Bentley 

Hunt Vyner Kalas Towler 

Nagy Bakinson 

Semenyo Paterson Edwards

Wells

That's what I'd want to see on Saturday. Towler would surely find LB less alien than LWB. 

Why?  He’s played 135 mins at LWB and 0 mins at LB....ever, I believe!!!

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40 minutes ago, Harry said:

Lots of threads about who the new man may be, so I thought I'd bring it back to the football, for some slightly different thoughts.

Now that Holden and his 27 different formations per game has gone, what do you all think is the best way for the new man to set the team up.  I think whoever comes in needs to look at the players at his disposal and find the best system to fit, in order to get the most out of each player.

We need to move away from ridiculous experiments such as Paterson in a centre midfield role, Wells as a left winger, Lansbury as a holding midfielder, Vyner as a holding midfielder etc.  Let's look at what we have (based on currently available players) :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary
LB : None
RB : Hunt, Sessegnon (plus Vyner)
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore, Towler
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Z Smith
AM : Paterson, Lansbury, Palmer, Massengo (maybe Semenyo)
ST : Wells, Diedhiou, Semenyo, Bell, Pearson

That's 20 fit players.  We obviously have a left back problem.  But we are best-stocked with Attacking Midfielders.

Personally, I think our best chance of success, and the best way we can get some creativity into the team without losing solidity, is to go for a 4-2-3-1 formation.

                   Bentley
Sess - Vyner - Kalas - Hunt
           Bakinson - Nagy
 Semenyo - Lansbury - Paterson
                    Wells

Hunt sadly has to fill the LB void at the moment, however, I'd have no qualms in asking Towler to play there, as long as he has Kalas inside him.
Nagy and Baks as the holding midfielders - with a strict remit for positional discipline (protect the back line, don't wander).
A 3-pronged attacking midfield, deploying Semenyo in what I think is his best position.  Massengo & Palmer can come in for any of those 3.
Wells up top on his own.  He needs to play up front and not have a role which asks him to drop deep or drift wide.  He banged loads for QPR without a strike partner (occasionally they put Hugill up with him, but generally he has AM's feeding him).

There are replacements for each position, without having to change the formation with every single substitute (like we've seen from Dean).

Set up like that and stay like that for 90 minutes.  With the 3 AM's, all of them have the capability of receiving a pass to feet and to hold it, turn and create.  Prevents the ridiculous 'lump it' tactics we've recently deployed.  Gives Wells the freedom to just focus on making runs rather than linking play - which he can't do very well.  Both Baks and Nagy are perfectly capable of retaining possession deep and looking for forward passes to the AM's.

If Williams gets himself fit again he slots in for either DM.  If O'Dowda gets fit again, he slots into the left AM.  If Baker gets fit again, he slots in at LCB and Kalas moves to RCB.  Everyone else I am assuming is out for the season, so that's our lot.

Interested to see what others would do.  I've said before that between all otib posters we could probably come up with 30 different line ups, but for me, that's the best system and style that will at least see some attacking forward play for the rest of the season and at least give us a chance of getting a few results.

Agree with this, ever pre match thread for a while I have been calling to go 1 up front as we have never been able to control and win midfield snd that creates the problems at both ends of the pitch.

On the LB situation, I assume we can bring in out of contract players if maybe COD is not available soon, is there anyone available worth bring in?

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18 minutes ago, Rob k said:

Patterson would get nowhere near my starting line up currently - he’s offered next to nothing since he’s been back. Bar that, I’d possibly shove Vyner to RB and play Mariappa, not that I’m particularly taken by him but needs must 

Yeh. I agree that he’s not looked up to it since his injury return. But I’d be hoping he can gradually regain his touch. Otherwise, HNM easily slots into the role. 
I actually forgot Mariappa!! Oops. Yeah, I’d possibly have him as the right CB instead of Vyner. But again, the system stays the same whichever of those changes you make. 

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37 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

@Harryyou’ve probably seen my “352 is a great formation but a bastard to recruit to” posts, in which case you’ll probably see that I said that 4231 is probably the easiest formation to build in versatility, whilst having the most basic of structures.

Left back aside, where I think Sessegnon will come in, possibly Towler, possibly Cod, then we have more than enough to drill something relatively quickly, should a new man come in.

I liken it to Preston where they build tactical flexibility by who they play up front, e.g.

  • Maguire if they want a bit of pace, channel runs, stuff into feet
  • Stockley if they want a lump up there
  • Riis as there new-Hugill

They build upon that in the wide midfield roles with:

  • Sinclair for a more wide forward, out to in runs on the keft
  • Potts on either side if they want physical and hard running
  • Maguire can flex from the CF role 
  • Barkhuizen normal winger
  • etc

Centre Mid (DMs and CM / CAM)

  • Browne can play all roles
  • Ledson can play DM or CM
  • Whiteman more CM
  • Johnson more CAM but can play LM too
  • etc

Back 4 is back 4, simple.

They recruit to that system, but look for players who can play different roles.

Everything else you say is exactly how we should be thinking.

Unfortunately we appear to have recruited to play a 10 man midfield.

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35 minutes ago, Henry said:

I’d probably agree with that. I like 352 but we just don’t have that LWB and it means lumping it up to Fam.

I’m happy with 4231 if we do it properly. The 3 behind the 1 need to fluid and interchange. Whenever we seem to play it or 433, we seem static and play it too wide. The imagine of Afobe coming back after all those months just to get chalk on his boots has scarred me.

If we play a team happy to sit back, we need to make sure one the DM gets forward a bit more.

Before his injury and when we were playing fluid football early last season we had Afobe up front and behind him Palmer, Massengo and Nagy.  

Were we playing 4231 back then?

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I'd like us to play a 3-5-2 but I don't think we have the players available yet for it to be successful, nor do we seem able to get the best out of the system currently, whether that's down to coaching or not is up for debate. I'm actually leaning towards a diamond midfield:

Hunt/Sess    Kalas     Vyner     Hunt/Towler

                           Nagy

 Semenyo                                Paterson

                        Lansbury

              Wells               Diedhiou

I've put Vyner in a CB role simply because I think he'd offer more solidarity to the defence over Moore.  He's also more than capable of bringing the ball out of defence.  Semenyo and Paterson can easily be swapped for Massengo and/or Bakinson if you want to shore up midfield.

It would be quite easy to adapt it to a 4-1-3-2 if you swapped Lansbury for Bakinson.

Semenyo isn't a main striker... yet! I don't think it's his best position right now, maybe once he has improved some more he'll really make it there.  With his pace and power he could cause problems on the right hand side and certainly has the pace to get back and help out defensively too.  Semenyo is best when he has space to drive at a defence, I'd be looking to have him pick up those pockets of space and split the defensive lines as he can be difficult to stop when he gets going.

 

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There’s an old song “It ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it” that can be adapted to suit City. It ain’t the players you’ve got it’s the way that you use them. Any half decent coach could get more from the players than Holden managed. Choose just about any combination of players and get a decent coach and sufficient results will be achieved to avoid relegation this season. The difficult bit is getting a decent coach who wants to work for City 

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40 minutes ago, Rob k said:

Patterson would get nowhere near my starting line up currently - he’s offered next to nothing since he’s been back. Bar that, I’d possibly shove Vyner to RB and play Mariappa, not that I’m particularly taken by him but needs must 

I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. We all know he's inconsistent and that is a common trait at this level. His strengths lie in part in using available space and making space for others. If there's **** all movement from his teammates then the best part of his game is stifled. 

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1 hour ago, Harry said:

Lots of threads about who the new man may be, so I thought I'd bring it back to the football, for some slightly different thoughts.

Now that Holden and his 27 different formations per game has gone, what do you all think is the best way for the new man to set the team up.  I think whoever comes in needs to look at the players at his disposal and find the best system to fit, in order to get the most out of each player.

We need to move away from ridiculous experiments such as Paterson in a centre midfield role, Wells as a left winger, Lansbury as a holding midfielder, Vyner as a holding midfielder etc.  Let's look at what we have (based on currently available players) :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary
LB : None
RB : Hunt, Sessegnon (plus Vyner)
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore, Mariappa, Towler
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Z Smith
AM : Paterson, Lansbury, Palmer, Massengo (maybe Semenyo)
ST : Wells, Diedhiou, Semenyo, Bell, Pearson

That's 20 fit players.  We obviously have a left back problem.  But we are best-stocked with Attacking Midfielders.

Personally, I think our best chance of success, and the best way we can get some creativity into the team without losing solidity, is to go for a 4-2-3-1 formation.

                   Bentley
Sess - Vyner - Kalas - Hunt
           Bakinson - Nagy
 Semenyo - Lansbury - Paterson
                    Wells

Hunt sadly has to fill the LB void at the moment, however, I'd have no qualms in asking Towler to play there, as long as he has Kalas inside him.
Nagy and Baks as the holding midfielders - with a strict remit for positional discipline (protect the back line, don't wander).
A 3-pronged attacking midfield, deploying Semenyo in what I think is his best position.  Massengo & Palmer can come in for any of those 3.
Wells up top on his own.  He needs to play up front and not have a role which asks him to drop deep or drift wide.  He banged loads for QPR without a strike partner (occasionally they put Hugill up with him, but generally he has AM's feeding him).

There are replacements for each position, without having to change the formation with every single substitute (like we've seen from Dean).

Set up like that and stay like that for 90 minutes.  With the 3 AM's, all of them have the capability of receiving a pass to feet and to hold it, turn and create.  Prevents the ridiculous 'lump it' tactics we've recently deployed.  Gives Wells the freedom to just focus on making runs rather than linking play - which he can't do very well.  Both Baks and Nagy are perfectly capable of retaining possession deep and looking for forward passes to the AM's.

If Williams gets himself fit again he slots in for either DM.  If O'Dowda gets fit again, he slots into the left AM.  If Baker gets fit again, he slots in at LCB and Kalas moves to RCB.  Everyone else I am assuming is out for the season, so that's our lot.

Interested to see what others would do.  I've said before that between all otib posters we could probably come up with 30 different line ups, but for me, that's the best system and style that will at least see some attacking forward play for the rest of the season and at least give us a chance of getting a few results.

Is this an application for the job? ?

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God knows who id play where and what formation, but what I would like to see is a high pressing pacey team.

Similar to what we had around the time of the Man Utd win. Some of the football we played was some of the best I've seen us play.

If we can be half as entertaining as Leeds are at the moment, I'd take the risk of burn out later in the season playing that high intensity way.

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This might sound stupid to some people, maybe everyone. But here goes anyway. I'd like to see Diedhiou take up the role of attacking midfielder. Wait a minute! Played as a full on target man, the defence or whoever is in possession, lumps the ball up to him, it rarely sticks or rarely finds another team mate with a flick on, so there's no point lumping it up there. He's a strong mobile lad, who's not too bad in possession of the ball in less advanced positions and has shown on many occasions that he can run with the ball and keep it. He would offer a more physical presence to that area of the pitch and allow others to then make runs past him. He could then link up as the man coming in late into the box. Hang on, I hear you say, who'd play as the striker, answer= Semenyo. This would be a similar formation to what was so successful when we had Paterson playing behind Bobby Reid. The work rate strength and pace of those two in those positions would and should put defenders in a spin. It would also allow us to keep a tighter unit behind the ball when not in possession and maybe, draw defender towards Diedhiou, leaving room behind.

I await the usual lambasting.

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1 hour ago, Harry said:

Lots of threads about who the new man may be, so I thought I'd bring it back to the football, for some slightly different thoughts.

Now that Holden and his 27 different formations per game has gone, what do you all think is the best way for the new man to set the team up.  I think whoever comes in needs to look at the players at his disposal and find the best system to fit, in order to get the most out of each player.

We need to move away from ridiculous experiments such as Paterson in a centre midfield role, Wells as a left winger, Lansbury as a holding midfielder, Vyner as a holding midfielder etc.  Let's look at what we have (based on currently available players) :

GK : Bentley, O'Leary
LB : None
RB : Hunt, Sessegnon (plus Vyner)
CB : Kalas, Vyner, Moore, Mariappa, Towler
CM : Nagy, Bakinson, Z Smith
AM : Paterson, Lansbury, Palmer, Massengo (maybe Semenyo)
ST : Wells, Diedhiou, Semenyo, Bell, Pearson

That's 20 fit players.  We obviously have a left back problem.  But we are best-stocked with Attacking Midfielders.

Personally, I think our best chance of success, and the best way we can get some creativity into the team without losing solidity, is to go for a 4-2-3-1 formation.

                   Bentley
Sess - Vyner - Kalas - Hunt
           Bakinson - Nagy
 Semenyo - Lansbury - Paterson
                    Wells

Hunt sadly has to fill the LB void at the moment, however, I'd have no qualms in asking Towler to play there, as long as he has Kalas inside him.
Nagy and Baks as the holding midfielders - with a strict remit for positional discipline (protect the back line, don't wander).
A 3-pronged attacking midfield, deploying Semenyo in what I think is his best position.  Massengo & Palmer can come in for any of those 3.
Wells up top on his own.  He needs to play up front and not have a role which asks him to drop deep or drift wide.  He banged loads for QPR without a strike partner (occasionally they put Hugill up with him, but generally he has AM's feeding him).

There are replacements for each position, without having to change the formation with every single substitute (like we've seen from Dean).

Set up like that and stay like that for 90 minutes.  With the 3 AM's, all of them have the capability of receiving a pass to feet and to hold it, turn and create.  Prevents the ridiculous 'lump it' tactics we've recently deployed.  Gives Wells the freedom to just focus on making runs rather than linking play - which he can't do very well.  Both Baks and Nagy are perfectly capable of retaining possession deep and looking for forward passes to the AM's.

If Williams gets himself fit again he slots in for either DM.  If O'Dowda gets fit again, he slots into the left AM.  If Baker gets fit again, he slots in at LCB and Kalas moves to RCB.  Everyone else I am assuming is out for the season, so that's our lot.

Interested to see what others would do.  I've said before that between all otib posters we could probably come up with 30 different line ups, but for me, that's the best system and style that will at least see some attacking forward play for the rest of the season and at least give us a chance of getting a few results.

Harry I posted this a week ago and it quickly got lost in the legitimate complaints about Holden and our performance:

In essence, 4-2-3-1 would suit the players that we have available and should give us both more cover in midfield and creativity.

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1 hour ago, Shtanley said:

Bentley 

Hunt Vyner Kalas Towler 

Nagy Bakinson 

Semenyo Paterson Edwards

Wells

That's what I'd want to see on Saturday. Towler would surely find LB less alien than LWB. 

Edwards has a future but you could see, although he’s a bundle of energy is nowhere near ready for the championship yet 

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40 minutes ago, beaverface said:

God knows who id play where and what formation, but what I would like to see is a high pressing pacey team.

Similar to what we had around the time of the Man Utd win. Some of the football we played was some of the best I've seen us play.

If we can be half as entertaining as Leeds are at the moment, I'd take the risk of burn out later in the season playing that high intensity way.

With out a shadow of a doubt pressing needs to happen and high up the pitch. Not just one player but the whole team.

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