Talking Tactics

It has been obvious since the start of last season, to me at least, that Winnall and Hourihane are incompatible. Indeed, I suggested that Hourihane be sold when he was scoring all those goals at the start of last season, because of that incompatibility. It is a problem that Danny Wilson struggled with, and it is a problem that Lee Johnson has come nowhere near solving.

The problem is that if we play two up top, Hourihane is out of his comfort zone in a four man midfield. If we play 5 across midfield, Winnall is out of his comfort zone as the lone front man. The nearest any manager has come to solving the problem was when Danny Wilson used the diamond with Ryan Williams at the attacking point and James Bailey at the defensive point. In the end, that system was binned because of Williams' injury and Bailey's lack of mobility. Perhaps it is time to polish up the diamond and try it again.

Of course, with the current players, there will still be a number of positions with square pegs in round holes. As I have said recently, it is impossibly to pick a team in any formation at the moment without square pegs in round holes. We are all hoping for some more players before the current transfer window closes on Tuesday, but unless either Hourihane or Winnall are sold before Tuesday evening, I suspect the problem will still exist on Wednesday morning.

I would like to see us try the diamond again against S****horpe, but I recognise that diamond does require wing backs and it does require two forwards, both which at the moment present us with a problem. It is an experiment, and this is how we can potentially conduct it.

At the moment we have 3 centre backs, and Johnson appears unwilling to upset any of them by leaving one out. I propose he tries Roberts as a target man next to Winnall. Roberts consistently wins the ball in the air and has great pace, qualities that are valued in a forward even more than in a defender. He has shown absolutely no instinct for goal scoring so far, but this is not as important for a target man, provided he creates more space for Winnall to do what he does best.

Midfield would consist of a narrow diamond with Pearson in the defensive point, Scowen on the right, Hourihane on the left and Crowley at the attacking point until we get Williams fit.

The thing that gets people exercised in the diamond formation is the lack of width. Currently, in my opinion, we do not have a decent winger on our books so it is not as if we will be leaving out a player that is vital to the team. Wing backs must provide the width by augmenting midfield outside Scowen and Hourihane when we have possession. The selection of players in the wing back positions must reflect both their heavy work load and their ability as midfield players as well as defenders. For me, these requirements mean that the best players that we have in these positions would be Bree and Smith if injuries and fitness allow.

This leaves Mawson and Nyatanga at the back and probably Townsend in goal.

In my opinion, this is an experiment that we can afford to conduct in a game that does not matter.

 

You talk a lot of sense apart from the Roberts bit.

Apart from been quick & having the ability to win aerial battles he's shown absolutely nothing to suggest he could play up front.

I think the lad has great potential but it's clear his biggest weakness is with the ball at his feet. You can't play a defender up front who hasn't got a first touch or the ability to pass it well.

 

roberts up front have you had a bang on the heeead!!

 

Obvious since the start of last season that Winnall and Houriane cant play together? You need to show more patience.

 

I must have written the next bit at least 3 times before, and that is just this season, but for those who have missed it, here goes again.

The problem with the 5-3-1/3-5-1 system is that the opposition will use 4-5-1/4-3-3 to counter it, and the later nearly always wins. Why? The 3 centre backs are given just one player to mark between them, but that player keeps all of them busy with his lateral movement. The two wide players occupy the two wing backs preventing them from being effective going forward. This leaves 3 v 3 in midfield, except it doesn't because in the later system, the full backs join midfield on an ad hoc basis outnumbering the opposition for the majority of time. The players in the first system struggle to pass the ball through midfield and resort to hitting the ball from back to front, playing straight into the later team's hands unless those long balls are delivered accurately and the team has players up front who are able to compete in the air. We have no-one capable of competing in the air.

The deficiencies of the 3-5-1 system are now well known in the game, as is the way that you combat it. Hence, it is rarely used these days.

Identifying the square pegs in the system. Hourihane / Crowley would not cope defensively, especially if as is likely, they are outnumbered. None of Winnall, Wilkinson or Watkins would welcome the challenge for the aerial ball. What is more, we would probably lose our loan players at the end of their loan periods if we resorted to hitting long balls over midfield. The young players are here because we have promised to play the game properly so that they learn to play the game properly. Hitting long balls to big forwards and competing for the second ball is not how the Premier League teams want young players taught to play the game.

 

As shown on Saturday. Three woeful passes straight to Rochdale players just outside the box.

 

351 or 531? The problem with those against 433 or 451 is the extra man the opposition have.

 

All this guff about tactics!

Pass and move; chase back when we lose the ball. All you need are the players with the ability and workrate to do it.

The rest of it is guff!

 

Roberts upfront are you mad?



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this is 100% correct.....it's just the pundits and waffle merchants that try to make it complicated so some fans think you have to be clever to do it.

Paul Merson
Stuart Pearce to name but two who are not the sharpest tools in the box......and lets face it, most of the players are not exactly intellects are they. It's a simple game so stop trying to over complicate it. Score and don't let them score...how hard can it be.

on the subject of tactics...I like the little orange ones

hth

 

The 4-5-1 system and the 4-3-3 system is the same system. It is 4-5-1 in its defensive shape and 4-3-3 in its attacking shape just as the wing back system is 5-3-1 in its defensive shape and 3-5-1 in its attacking shape. In fact, the 4-5-1 system has the potential to become 2-5-3 when attacking, and it is in this shape that our 3 man midfield would be overwhelmed. Every system has a defensive shape and an attacking shape. All systems have two shapes in order to keep the maximum number of players involved in the game for the maximum amount of time. I don't know whether you are old enough to remember 4-2-4, but that system left the two wingers unoccupied when the team was out of possession. It was cast into the great football dustbin when 4-4-2 swept it away. That system became 2-4-4 when a team was attacking bring more players into the game for more of the time.

If one of the centre backs steps forward into midfield, the system becomes the diamond (4-1-2-1-2 neutral position / 2-1-4-1-2 attacking position / 4-4-2 defensive position). If a central defender steps forward into midfield he goes into an area that is outside his comfort zone, an area that is better occupied by a defensive midfield player. You have identified how closely 5-3-2 (wing back system) and 4-4-2 ( diamond system) are related. The difference is only that the diamond system substitutes a defensive midfield player for a centre back, playing him in front of the defensive line.

Most people believe that the main defensive job of a midfield player is to tackle. Whilst this is one of their jobs, their main job is to get into a defensive shape so that they can cut down space, eliminate passing angles and rush the final pass so that either the direction or the pace of the pass is inaccurate. It is this part of the game that both Hourihane and Crowley struggle with. Hourihane's balance is not right and Crowley struggles with the work load. It makes both a liability either as part of a pair in a 4-4-2 with wingers or in an outnumbered midfield trio.

The reason that I have suggested Roberts moves to target man is that LJ has stated that he is picking 3 centre backs because he feels the team is short of height at set pieces. Keeping Roberts in the team means that his height can still be utilised defensively for set pieces.

 

More guff!

[In my humble opinion!]

 

Utter guff....try explaining that lot to a set of numpty footballers!!!

 

I'm sorry you don't like my comments. Perhaps you need to stop reading.

 

Wtf is 531 or 351? You're missing a player.

 

Change the 1 for a 2. Sorry.

 

I think the general idea is for us to play with 2 goalkeepers