Txiki and the 4-3-3.......

[Skashion]

I always find discussions about formation entertaining amongst the football experts. No-one can even agree on what formation we've been playing for several years.

Instead of laughing at us why not tell us what you think ...

Why would I denigrate it, and then immediately pretend to be it?

 

[Anonymous]

I always find discussions about formation entertaining amongst the football experts. No-one can even agree on what formation we've been playing for several years.

Instead of laughing at us why not tell us what you think ...

Why would I denigrate it, and then immediately pretend to be it?

True enough ... it'd be like me joining in with all the religious/scientific experts down in the Cellar after mocking them ... :)

 

[Danamy]

Nothing wrong in hoping for the perfect fit for our system, afterall €30 million next year might disagree with your thoughts.

Oh i completely agree about Reus being in many ways the missing link not just system wise, but quality wise. Navas is top drawer, but for me we require balance on the other side which Reus would give (and actually i'm hoping Jovetic will once he's fit). If he does move i'd say we'd be in pole position if he was going to leave Germany - i just don't see it happening.

You seen much of Griezmann ?

I've heard a bit about him but i've not seen enough of him to give an opinion to be honest

 

[Didsbury Dave]

He's gone 4222 again.

Brave man after the recent performances.

 

[Marvin]

Two upfront, and Navas out wide. Doesn't leave much in central midfield

It leaves Nasri, Fernandinho and Yaya Toure with a lot of work. Toure and Nasri aren't known for their appetite for work

You can see why this doesn't work in the Premiership, but maybe against weaker opponents it will be OK.

I have to remind myself that Malaga played really well last season against strong opposition so whatever your misgivings, he does know what he is doing.

The full backs are going to have to push up, Kompany is going to have to come out of defence, and Aguero and Dzeko are going to have to drop back when required.

I never really thought too much about formations under the last manager. We were interchanging all the time, it never seemed to be an issue

Perhaps we are over-analysing things in an effort to find where the problem(s) are

 

[Neville Kneville]

I disagree Dave

Whenever I watched Malaga with Pellegrini in charge he's always gone with 4-2-3-1, which is why I'm puzzled he hasn't executed it here, we have the personnel?

I agree about the holding players though, Yaya and Dinho need to start getting some sort of understanding and gelling soon because at the moment it's costing us.

It's an interesting discussion about why he seemingly is sticking to the 4222 that Mancini played. Must be because of the quality of forwards he has on offer. Personally I agree with Rammy - and I think it was a weakness Mancini exhibited as well ... feeling the need to shoe horn two centre forwards into the team whenever he could, simply because he had them available.

I don't think Pellegrini is helping himself by going down this route - however that's not to say that I don't think we can't be successful playing the 4222 ... we won the league with it ... it's just a much more high risk proposition playing the way Pellegrini wants us to play.

Fascinated to see what he does tonight and if there's any difference from the league games so far in terms of how we line up.

We almost always played 4231 in our title winning season.
If we had two strikers[by trade] on the pitch one of them played in the '3'.

It's such a fine line as one of the two strikers drops a bit deeper it's effectively immediately 4231 but when he goes further forward its suddenly 4 222.

Loads of times we were 4231 but people could call it what they liike depending on the positions each 10 seconds. Silva was in the middle half the time behind the strikers, then on the right side of the box with Milner overlapping him down the wing. So much for formation.

 

[Anonymous]

It's such a fine line as one of the two strikers drops a bit deeper it's effectively immediately 4231 but when he goes further forward its suddenly 4 222.

Loads of times we were 4231 but people could call it what they liike depending on the positions each 10 seconds. Silva was in the middle half the time behind the strikers, then on the right side of the box with Milner overlapping him down the wing. So much for formation.

I think we saw in flashes last night why MP looks like he wants to persist with two up front. Dzeko and Aguero have all the attributes to dovetail perfectly together. It's a mentality thing with those two. The sooner they both learn that being less greedy and always looking to feed your partner quickly will lead to them both scoring more goals.

Looking at the way we played especially in the second half ... it's true that we are going to rely very very heavily on Vinny to play the way Pellegrini wants in this 4222 because he essentially becomes a third midfield player when we attack allowing Yaya to push further forward.

Overall I'm happy that we looked more comfortable playing this way. I guess it'll be the same again on Sunday (but with Silva in for Navas) ... first big test.

 

[toffee balls]

It's such a fine line as one of the two strikers drops a bit deeper it's effectively immediately 4231 but when he goes further forward its suddenly 4 222.

Loads of times we were 4231 but people could call it what they liike depending on the positions each 10 seconds. Silva was in the middle half the time behind the strikers, then on the right side of the box with Milner overlapping him down the wing. So much for formation.

I think we saw in flashes last night why MP looks like he wants to persist with two up front. Dzeko and Aguero have all the attributes to dovetail perfectly together. It's a mentality thing with those two. The sooner they both learn that being less greedy and always looking to feed your partner quickly will lead to them both scoring more goals.

Looking at the way we played especially in the second half ... it's true that we are going to rely very very heavily on Vinny to play the way Pellegrini wants in this 4222 because he essentially becomes a third midfield player when we attack allowing Yaya to push further forward.

Overall I'm happy that we looked more comfortable playing this way. I guess it'll be the same again on Sunday (but with Silva in for Navas) ... first big test.

Would love to see Micah and Kolarov in this system

 

[Anonymous]

Would love to see Micah and Kolarov in this system

Something's not quite right with Zaba and I can't quite put my finger on what it is ... whenever a new manager comes in there's always one previous stalwart who seemingly doesn't 'click' ... and I fear it might be him. For me if Micah ever gets fit ... he needs to get a chance to see how he does.

Kolarov could never play for our first team again and I'd be over the moon. Don't hate the guy and he's an honest pro and does his best. But he's best just isn't good enough.

 

[toffee balls]

Would love to see Micah and Kolarov in this system

Something's not quite right with Zaba and I can't quite put my finger on what it is ... whenever a new manager comes in there's always one previous stalwart who seemingly doesn't 'click' ... and I fear it might be him. For me if Micah ever gets fit ... he needs to get a chance to see how he does.

Kolarov could never play for our first team again and I'd be over the moon. Don't hate the guy and he's an honest pro and does his best. But he's best just isn't good enough.

Disagree Billy.

I know we have numerous threads on this but Aleks has played well for me and his defensive lapses are more than balanced by his vastly superior attacking abilities than Clichy.

Why we don't let Aleks take tho corners from the right God only knows.
His left foot can be lethal.

Zabba is an interesting one . He needs more competion to push him on.

Rotation in pairs of the fullbacks all day long for me.

Micah , sort yourself out you soft ****