Three up top - how?

[LookMumImOnMCF.net]

I think we need to see more of some players before forming an opinion.

[Ted Hughes]

I think 4-4-2 is an absolute fucking dire waste of time unless you 'do' crosses & headers. Seeing as we currently don't, (although it was a bit better v Blackpool tbf) all 4-4-2 does is make us look less solid defensively & imo changing to it cost Hughes his job. When we use it with Mancini the defence looks just as bad as it did under Hughes as people get pulled out of position.

If we want to get more attacking players into the team, I think variations of 4-3-3 (4-2-3-1/ 4-1-3-2/ 4-3-2-1/ 4-2-2-2) are the way to go. Front 3 could be a rotation between Tevez, Balotelli, Silva, AJ & Ade & could have one further forward with the other two tucked behind or two forward with one behind etc etc. Loads of options which can be tweaked during a game.

Midfield could be rotated between Milner, Barry, De Jong, Yaya, even SWP (who could also play in the front 3). You can still play 4-3-3 & be tight defensively if you pull 9 behind the ball when defending. You could have 3 holding midfielders & send the fullbacks forward or alternately get everyone forward when attacking & everyone back when defending. It's all about attitude & hard work to make it happen imo.

Agree with the sentiments and formations Ted, and not unexpected tbh given your recent comments about crosses etc. The formations as numbers dont present a problem, it is when i try to fill the numbers with players names that the headaches start.

We have good wide players, so as you suggest we need to have a central figure who can win headers, knock downs or cause confusion. That means Ade right now and possibly Balotelli when he is back. Im trying to imagine Silva, Tevez and Ade as the front 3 and it seems unbalanced.

Maybe resting Tevez and have AJ and Silva or Milner and Silva to support Ade.

Got any suggestions for a line up with all 3 of Silva, Tevez and Ade ?

I'm not really arsed about someone winning the ball in the air if we get crosses in from wide along the ground or at shortarse head height.

Anyway suggestions for those 3, pretty much what's been covered I think.

If AJ doesn't play it can be:

.................Ade..................

.......Tevez..........Silva..........


or


.......Tevez..............Ade......

...............,,Silva...............

with any 3 midfield behind.

When Balotelli's fit he can play in any of those positions (& so can Rooney!)

For an even more attacking line up:


................Tevez................

Balotelli........Silva.......Johnson

Adebayor is the odd one out when you look at the striking options. All the others (& Rooney!) could swap positions quite easily. He really only has one position & we don't always use a player in that position. I think he's on his bike unless he throws in some world beating performances.

With the attacking fullbacks in future we could actually attack like;


........................Balotelli...................Tevez..........................

Kolarov...............................Silva...........................Boateng...

.................Milner...................................Yaya...................

........................................Nige...................................


Obviously both fullbacks are unlikely to be up that far at the same time as one will cover the back most often than not but I recon we'll see that exact diamond formation quite a bit with Silva at the front rather than Yaya who's mostly done it so far & different players rotated.

We've got a shitload of wonderful options but imo we changed too much at once on Sunday & we need to do it bit by bit or someone will fuck us up.

[dazby]

I think that if we play 15 players at a time we can accommodate them all. Should make things tough for the opposition too. We can have an extra man in every position. Joe could come out for more balls leaving Shay on the line to mop things up.

I honestly think that if we took this approach we would be unbeatable- except against West Brom.