I think Stendel has to go against his principles and beliefs and look at a different system now. He has two weeks to put something different in place before we entertain Swansea on the 19th. If it means playing boring, negative football let's give it a go in the short term. It may not be pleasing on the eye but if we can get a couple of results then that may give these young lads a bit of confidence moving forward. If we target the next three games (Swansea, West Brom and Huddersfield) and say no matter what happens we're going to stick with 4-5-1! We can't play as open as we have or a team my rack up double figures against us soon. IMO I don't think we're good enough to pick up sufficient points irrespective of the formation, personell etc but something has to give. If we play 4-5-1, continue to make mistakes, give away poor goals and lose then it's pretty much the end of the road as far as this season is concerned.
Let's be clear. Stendel and his team have a big ask of them here. Putting formation and tactics to one side - they do make difference but not as much as the player mentality, concentration, energy and intelligence. He has to find a way to get them all focused, switched on and energised for the whole 90+ mins. They constantly have to be passing and moving, closing down, reading the game, being innovative at set pieces etc, etc. I wish him the best of German and British luck!
