Does 3-5-2 suit our players better than 4-2-3-1?

[Carver]

quite often we will see one of the striker playing out wide which does not help the team one bit.

You couldn't be more correct.

Only Tevez is effective at getting to the line and pulling the ball back. Balotelli just picks up bookings, Aguero ties himself in knots then slips and Dzeko... well you just look at him and think 'he doesn't want to be out there on the wing, he wants to be causing havoc in the middle'.

 

[sam-caddick]

I think the 352 worked well when put in use against Spurs, and for me playing 4 full backs is what should be used in the system.

This should be our plan B in my opinion, more of a 343 though in attack then moving Silva back to a 352 when defending.

----------------Hart--------------
-------Zabaleta Kompany Clichy-------
Maicon-----Toure----Barry----Kolarov
-------Silva-----Dzeko------Kun-----

Silva and Toure will be perfect for Kun to get goals and Maicon and Kolarov will be perfect for Edin to get goals with some crosses.

 

[taconinja]

this "It's a plan B" thing is shooting into popular fan mythology as a truth when it isn't.

Plan A: 4231 with Nasri and Silva as the creative players and one of our fowards wide
Plan B: 4222 with NAsri and Silva as the creative players and two forards up front
Plan C: 4231 with Ya Ya as an attacking midfielder (would be my plan A)

The 352 is coming in as a plan D at the moment. It is another alternative of course.

To clarify I think we have a Plan A and multiple Plan B's to suit situations.

It'll be interesting if we're ever in a situation where we've more or less wrapped up the league with maybe 10-15 matches to go to see if we try to institute it on a competitive level. I don't think we can afford to do it at this point.

We played it all pre season so I half expected us to start the season with it to be honest.

I thought we might too, but looking back I think our personnel at the time (and we're just starting to get to a situation where key people aren't injured) necessitated a back line of 4 as some of our fullbacks, especially on the right side, don't have the positional discipline needed for the system. Not saying they aren't quality. They are. That system doesn't seem to suit them when playing at wingback.

 

[flb]

Hart
Richards Nastasic Kompany
Milner and Clichy as attacking fullbacks
Nasri Yaya Silva
Aguero Tevez

Love to see this given a run out

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Hart
Richards Nastasic Kompany
Milner and Clichy as attacking fullbacks
Nasri Yaya Silva
Aguero Tevez

Love to see this given a run out

I don't rate Milner at right wing back as he's got no pace whatsoever. Not enough tackling ability in that central midfield either - in fact there's none. You couldn't have Nasri and Silva in the same team in a 3-5-2 because there's only one attacking midfield slot. It also means that Ya Ya has to play deep.

If City don't have both Ya Ya and Silva in attacking midfield roles then we are not at our best in my opinion.

 

[taconinja]

How about...

Zabaleta - Kompany - Clichy

Maicon - Milner - Barry - Kolarov

Silva - Yaya Toure

Aguero (or take your pick really)

Silva can also move forward for 3-4-1-2.

 

[flb]

Hart
Richards Nastasic Kompany
Milner and Clichy as attacking fullbacks
Nasri Yaya Silva
Aguero Tevez

Love to see this given a run out

I don't rate Milner at right wing back as he's got no pace whatsoever. Not enough tackling ability in that central midfield either - in fact there's none. You couldn't have Nasri and Silva in the same team in a 3-5-2 because there's only one attacking midfield slot. It also means that Ya Ya has to play deep.

If City don't have both Ya Ya and Silva in attacking midfield roles then we are not at our best in my opinion.

Disgaree about Milner fella, hes got enough pace to patrol the right side of the pitch,It often becomes a flat five in the middle in that formation so again i disagree about enough tacking ability-we hardly have a Gerry Gow in the midfield as it is now-do you class Barry and Yaya as tacklers?

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Disgaree about Milner fella, hes got enough pace to patrol the right side of the pitch,It often becomes a flat five in the middle in that formation so again i disagree about enough tacking ability-we hardly have a Gerry Gow in the midfield as it is now-do you class Barry and Yaya as tacklers?

Barry's a tackler. Milner is. Garcia and Rodwell are supposed to be too.

Ya Ya isn't.

I can't stand to see him in the holding role for that reason.

Milner had a decent game at wing back against Chelsea but he's a tackling, battling midfielder, not a wing back, for me. He's dead slow too. I don't like seeing him played in the wide attacking role he's been mainly used in at City, either. He adds a bit of battle and pressing to the team overall but doesn't crate enough for me.

 

[blue wang]

How about...

Zabaleta - Kompany - Clichy

Maicon - Milner - Barry - Kolarov

Silva - Yaya Toure

Aguero (or take your pick really)

Silva can also move forward for 3-4-1-2.

this is the attacking 3-5-2, wich would give us that nice width, for kolorov and maicon woudl be great at exploiting. You need dzeko in the middle for this.

the defensive 3-5-2 , when you need a foot hold in the middle of the pitch will require the likes of miner for maicon. garcia/rodwell or a de rossi type player. de jong would be perfect for this

 

[Didsbury Dave]

How about...

Zabaleta - Kompany - Clichy

Maicon - Milner - Barry - Kolarov

Silva - Yaya Toure

Aguero (or take your pick really)

Silva can also move forward for 3-4-1-2.

Clichy's not a centre half, Kolarov isn't a wing back. Maicon had a great 15 minutes at the weekend but I wouldn't like to see him doing 90 against a good wide man. Barry and Milner would be good holding players with Yaya ahead of them - that's probably our best midfield structure. But 352 in it's classic fashion has two strikers and you've got Silva as one of them. I've seen Spain play him there I suppose, but I sense Mancini's persistance with 352 is partly an attempt to get two strikers on the field with a playmaker behind them. I suppose your version is about the only way we could shoehorn both Silva and Ya Ya into attacking roles so it has some merit.