Fabinho

[TheKippaxM14Blue]

I agree. Im not sure from watching Fabinho a few times he can play the fulcrum either. Although he is a FB he seems to prefer getting forward from the Midfield role.

 

[richards30]

I wonder if the club see dinho and yaya as good enough for one year? maybe dinho wont get a contract extension and we will go big on a DM next season?

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

I wonder if the club see dinho and yaya as good enough for one year? maybe dinho wont get a contract extension and we will go big on a DM next season?

Hopefully not; making do with what we have isn't the answer this season if we are indeed chasing a treble (or quadruple)

 

[richards30]

Hopefully not; making do with what we have isn't the answer this season if we are indeed chasing a treble (or quadruple)

but gundogan could always drop deeper? stones could move up to DM if required?

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

but gundogan could always drop deeper? stones could move up to DM if required?

Yes we could but I think we need greater squad depth; currently we are only an injury or two away from no adequate cover, DM a prime example. I would much prefer we went all out to sign two quality options per position or at the very least a couple of players who have the versatility to be a good cover in two or more roles.

 

[Hungarian blue]

I wonder if the club see dinho and yaya as good enough for one year? maybe dinho wont get a contract extension and we will go big on a DM next season?

Or integrate Aleix Garcia to the first team, not that I'm getting my hopes up. :)

Gundogan never played as a lone pivot yet in his career, even here he always had either Dinho or Yaya besides or behind him, but of course it's Pep, so anything can happen. :) But his dribbling and final third skills would be a bit wasted there.

 

[richards30]

Or integrate Aleix Garcia to the first team, not that I'm getting my hopes up. :)

Gundogan never played as a lone pivot yet in his career, even here he always had either Dinho or Yaya besides or behind him, but of course it's Pep, so anything can happen. :) But his dribbling and final third skills would be a bit wasted there.

forgot about Garcia mate! my only thinking is that gundogan has the skill set to sit deep as well? bear in mind we have just signed silva as well and there is also merlin, kev, Leroy, raheem all there who can play higher up the pitch?

 

[Hungarian blue]

forgot about Garcia mate! my only thinking is that gundogan has the skill set to sit deep as well? bear in mind we have just signed silva as well and there is also merlin, kev, Leroy, raheem all there who can play higher up the pitch?

It's true that one would think that 5 of them (meaning Silva 2x, KdB, Sterling, Sane, Jesus, Sergio, eventually Alexis maybe...) will always be on the pitch, which still leaves 2 (3) of them on the bench, and it gives way to only 1 DM/CM and 4 defenders, unless we will see 3 defenders a lot more, which is quite frequently speculated to be fair, and for me it's easier to see Gundo in a 3-2 setup but anyway, exciting times. :)

 

[Andrew___K]

Curious to know why folks think a 4 man defence is a given for next season?

If anything it really looked like Pep forced himself to let the team play 4 3 3 because he saw that the players are just not up to do anything else, such as his preferred 3 at the back.

Sorry, how did you make this conclusion? 433 if a very good formation for education, it's used by the majority of youth teams. Besides, the whole 'makeshift back 5' idea with FBs used across the pitch looks very promising, Pep is perfecting it for 3+ years already. It's very versatile, allows to deal with various opposition.

If by '3 at the back' you mean adding 1 CB and using wingbacks, Pep has already installed a system that stretches oppos with wingers and got personnell for it, don't see any reason to change it.
If you mean playing from the back using 3 CBs, we're doing it quite often. 4 turns to 3 easily, by sending of of FBs to attack the flank or cut in to act as a mid and stretching the remaining trio (2CBs + 1FB) across the pitch. Another opportunity is a standard 'lavolpiana' with DM falling between CBs.
I think Mendy will be moulded into a hybrid LB/CB like Pep did with Abidal, it will add more possibilities to our playbook. The only thing that worries me is Walker's possible addition - he isn't versatile enough to play for us, but we'll see. Presume he'll be used mostly as a marauding FB.

Having watched all Pep's games since 2008 I can say that discussing fixed 'formations' is relevant only to initial phases, when players are getting accustomed with the main principles and learn their moves. The play can look somewhat 'robotical' at this step, a bit like LVG at United (we'll see that a lot next season). Later 'formations' become hardly recognizable and vary according to a particular opposition and their current approach - judging by Bayern experience, playing 433 one game, 334 another, then 406 is a norm for him.

 

[Dax777]

I guess it depends on the formation and how you look at it. If we're talking about a pivot like in what Pep wants in a 4-3-3 or 4-1-4-1 I'd say we currently have 2 players who can play the position. Yaya and Garcia who is young and inexperienced. I don't think any of the others have the ability to play it well enough. If we choose to play a 4-2-3-1 then we could play any 2 of Delph, Gundogan, Dihno, Yaya, Garcia, Fernando and maybe De Bruyne and Bernardo. It's really up to Pep if he thinks Garcia is good enough because if Yaya is out for a long period of time then we might be screwed. Fabinho is not the answer IMO though. He's similar to Dihno. I'd go for Carvalho if I had my pick.

I agree with everything you've just said. Even though I've only seen Carvahlo look good on YouTube. Personally I'd consider Leandro Paredes ( assuming Llorente is not gettable.)