433 - The way forward

Hello Everyone. I have been reading the BBS for years, but never posted anything before. So here goes...

So if we go back to the summer and put ourselves in Danny's shoes. He knows his budget and (eventually) who hes going to keep at the club. It's a chance to rebuild with his own players and own ideas. Danny's plan was to, in the main part, adopt a 433/451 formation and play a passing game. This style and formation has worked very well in some parts of the season, but has also failed miserably in others. The point of this post is that I don't think the system is at fault., but for large parts of the season we just simply haven't had the players to play anything more expansive than 442.

This can make a Saturday afternoon very frustrating when you are watching us constantly exposed down the flanks when we lose the ball, huge holes in the middle of the pitch, a single striker completely isolated up front, with nobody running the channels.

BUT we are in a situation this season that we have not been in for a long while. One where we are not in any real danger (honest) of being relegated and without the demand for instant promotion. Instead of having to come up with short term plans to keep our heads above water, we can actually implement some medium to long term plans. While we're on the subject that obviously also means Danny HAS to stay (as long as the relegation mentioned above doesn't become a reality) so he can follow through on these plans.

So yes I agree the 433 system isn't best suited to the players we currently have, but switching to 442 to win a few extra games in the short term is too short sighted IMO...

 

Play best players, and play formation that gets the best out of them... And set up to counter opposition and win! Simple

If you are say to stick with it an it will come good... Would you apply logic to players... If so Lita, Jennings, Treacy and Digby should start every game. Until they get fit and firing... DW has certainly applied that logic and stuck with Bailey just hope he starts fulfilling potential soon

 

Hi mate welcome to the world of posting ! :0)
personally I think with our current strengths and weaknesses we need to swap it around for a bit to suit whoever we have available, personally I've always liked 442 (mebbe its my age) but am a strong believer in picking your best side in the formation that suits them and let the opposition do the worrying, however like Farnham says there's no point in anything if you are being overrun in midfield.

 

4-5-1/ flexible 4-3-3 are the best systems not sure we yet have the right personnel to play them.

 

Welcome aboard the board

 

What everyone has said so far is what I have been thinking for the most part of the season.

My post was more of a speculating one to see what other people thought about the idea of pushing an ethos at the club rather than Danny worrying about the criticism he will get if we lose on Saturday.

Of course you cant play one system and 11 players all season, but there has to be a plan A.

In terms of players - I think they need to be treated differently. There is a lot more that contributes to a good performance on a Saturday than just ability. For example I think Cole has bags of ability, but he needs a rest. I wouldn't play him on Saturday, but that doesn't mean i think we should send him back to City.

I happen to rate Bailey, but that's a whole other thread..

 

You rate Bailey ? Good lad, welcome to the club. There's 2 of us

 

Playing with three up front is a bad idea when we've only one striker who knows how to score on a regular basis and he's injured.

 

4-5-1/4-3-3 wouldn't necessarily involve 3 strikers though would it? It does need players capable of playing as wingers/wing backs and at the minute we are sorely lacking.

 

Thanks for all the welcomes.

I agree we don't have the players at the moment to play 433/451 as effectively as we would like, but should the system suffer because we don't have the players?

Short answer will be Yes!

Would we not be better sticking with it and moulding the playing staff around how we want to play..?

 

First of all, welcome aboard, mate. Hope your stay is a long and happy one.
Secondly, if you rate Bailey, tha'll do for me! Apparently, those of us who do are in the minority, but who cares?

 

Welcome aboard fella.

That Bailey has got some bridges to build if tha knows what I mean.

 

So should we stick with 433 even though we dont have any players capable of playing it?

Wilson is at fault for our mess. He completely ignored wingers even though he only had one winger at the club and he was 10 stone overweight.

 

'He completely ignored wingers'

Apart from signing Keith Treacy & then Ryan Williams on loan.

So what we're saying is that we needed to build a perfectly balanced squad in the space of 4 weeks. He's not f.cking stupid, he knows what we need but maybe, just maybe, the right one hasn't come along yet?

 

And welcome to the forum Red in Brum....

 

I think 4-3-3 with the ball and 4-5-1 without it is the way to go. However, if that system is to work, we need two workaholic wingers prepared to attack and defend in equal measure, a front player capable of controlling the ball with the first touch and holding off the opposition central defenders until his support arrives and a midfield player to play at the attacking point of midfield (between the lines) to support the target man. So all we are short of currently to play this system is two workaholic wingers, a target man and an attacking midfield player. There is no point substituting the above for three forwards and three defensive midfielders as we have done for a month since Williams got injured because it is not going to work. In the short term, we have to have a system that best suits the remaining players after injuries have taken their toll, and whether we like it or not, that system will have four players in midfield.

 

Welcome - good to see another Birmingham-based red on here! Whereabout are you in this fair city?

 

3 of us.