Formation and Tactics Discussion

[DDA 9,939]

This is quite an interesting article about how we might set up our midfield for the season coming... we musn't forget that we will be losing both Mikel and Essien during the African Cup of Nations, a vital period of the league season...eek!

http://www.epltalk.c...Talk (EPL Talk)

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

This is quite an interesting article about how we might set up our midfield for the season coming... we musn't forget that we will be losing both Mikel and Essien during the African Cup of Nations, a vital period of the league season...eek!

http://www.epltalk.c...Talk (EPL Talk)

Its ok everyone wants shot of Mikel and Essien anyway...

[DDA 9,939]

Its ok everyone wants shot of Mikel and Essien anyway...

Haha I want shot of this sore throat ... but you learn quickly, life's a bitch and then you marry one!

[Rahul Haque 57]

its absolutely clear after today that 4 2 3 1 is our formation.

absolutely scrap, throw, clean, flush the 4 3 3 and it's narrowness out of this team.

[Kojo 4,676]

I don't get the problem with 4-3-3, just because it never worked then, doesn't mean anything, 4-2-3-1 never worked either.

Try it when we have full strength players, obviously not against City because we are out of time now to practice it.

[YouNameIt 1,511]

I don't get the problem with 4-3-3, just because it never worked then, doesn't mean anything, 4-2-3-1 never worked either.

Try it when we have full strength players, obviously not against City because we are out of time now to practice it.

Because with a 4-3-3 we dont have enough creativity behind the striker. Also we havent really got enough pure wingers (RW) atm to play that.

4-2-3-1 is the best option, but id also like to see us try a 4-1-3-2 or 4-1-4-1:

4-1-3-2

Cech

Iva - Cahill - Terry - Cole

Mikel/Essien

Ramires/Hulk? - Mata/Oscar - Hazard/Marin

Sturridge - Torres

4-1-4-1

Cech

Iva - Cahill - Terry - Cole

Mikel

Hulk?/Ramires - Oscar/Lampard - Mata - Marin/Malouda

Hazard

Torres

[Rahul Haque 57]

hazard is not an out and out winger, nor is mata, nor is oscar. they can all play wide but as a creative midfielder. 4 3 3 requires width. we have no width if it's not from the full backs.

4 2 3 1 is the best formation. also in a 4 3 3 the 3 in the middle needs to be agile. essien and lampard have lost all their quickness over the years. all in all, if it's a formation we have to play- it's 4 2 3 1. it's what suits our team the best. we have the players for it and lastly, torres is actually very good in it. in a 4 3 3 without any width and any natural crosser of the ball, we have nothing.

[Kojo 4,676]

Our attack won't be as good i agree, but we will get fucking smashed on the counter.

Do you seriously think

Lampard-Mikel will actually be a good midfield consistently through out the season?, come on for fuck sake, if anyone has even a slight bit of common sense you can see that's not right at all. We will get raped.

And before anyone tries to be a smart arse, yes this was the midfield in the CL Final, but all we did that final was completely defend, we didn't dominate games constantly, and Lampard was holding out then, no way will he remain as DM throughout this season. It's time to start again.

[Rahul Haque 57]

lampard mikel combination is far better with mata ahead of them. clearly, in a 4 3 3 mata cannot be deployed as a CM. he's wasted there. he has to be advanced. 4 3 3 is done man. face it. we've moved on from it. we don't play like that anymore. it doesn't suit us.

[Kieran. 6,317]

I'd feel a lot better if we brought in Sahin for the double pivot. Mikel - Sahin with Oscar - Hazard - Mata in front would be great.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

I'd feel a lot better if we brought in Sahin for the double pivot. Mikel - Sahin with Oscar - Hazard - Mata in front would be great.

LOL.

Di Matteo is already convinced that Lampard and Essien can do well in the double pivot. He is not able to see the blinding obvious in this case.

[Kieran. 6,317]

LOL.

Di Matteo is already convinced that Lampard and Essien can do well in the double pivot. He is not able to see the blinding obvious in this case.

Why are you a cunt all the time?

You can make your points without coming off like a complete twat.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Why are you a cunt all the time?

You can make your points without coming off like a complete twat.

I pity you that you have an optimistic outlook on this case, you know very well that he will do jack shit.

[warnie_666 1,081]

Ivanovic-----Terry----Luiz-----Cole

--------------Mikel---Oscar------------

Mata-------------Hazard---------Marin

-----------------Torres----------------------

Ivanovic-----Terry----Cahill------Cole

--------------Essien---Lamps-----------

Marin/Ramirez---------Oscar--------------Hazard.

--------------------Studge---------------------

[Kojo 4,676]

Sam8 has a point, Di Matteos biggest mistake will be not buying a good DM and a deep lying player, I don't want that to happen.

AVB's mistake was not overhauling, I'm sick of seeing a failure seasons with soo many faults this could be the 3rd fucking season in a row we dont do well in the league.

And it will cost Robbie his job and I want him to do well because he's a legend to this club.

[Deanocfc 22]

I think our midfield is covered. I used to be Mikel's biggest critic but I think he is really coming good now. Oscar can play that deep lying playmaker role. From what I've seen of him he has an engine and his link up play is excellent.

I know it is now time to build a new team but people are rarely including Lampard in their starting 11's. He is still the most complete midfielder we have and was our best player today against Brighton I'd say - though the others didn't give him much competition for that. We need better link up between the deeper midfield positions and the 3 behind the striker. I've got full faith that Oscar will do this and a lot more.

[Kojo 4,676]

Can someone please tell me the fascination with Mikel?

He's just not good enough, i would love him to come out good to save us a lot of money, but he just doesn't have it in him, he will get caught out on the counter attack so easily. He cannot track back, that's his biggest problem and his marking isn't the best either, but that will improve in some time. Mikel doesn't have the pace either, he's always just too slow to intercept a pass or make that last challenge.

His performance against Barcelona was overrated also, he wasn't that good, people act like he ran the game when he never, he actually was one of the few who was making too many mistakes what almost cost us. But then he would do something good afterwards. But still even if he's making up for it, he's still making the mistake, it's not CONSISTENT! enough. An aggressive DM is just what we need also, and Mikel hasn't got a bad ass bone in him. If we are playing this risky two man deep midfield, then he must have that urge to stop players from scoring, he rarely does that.

I love how Mikel is so composed and calm on the ball, and he does calm it down for others around him he does, but it's not enough, we simply don't need that. The double pivot cannot consist of that, especially when we have 4 attackers up front.

Nuri Sahin can leave, Mourinho confirmed it, he will go for 20 million, FUCKING BARGAIN!. He is a must get, don't let him go to Arsenal or Spurs, that's where we will make a huge mistake, he's bound to be a star, and let him be one here, especially when we really need this type of player. If there's any player in the world right now who i want here, it's him, and i really mean that, (obviously i mean players available, no smart arse comments about Ronaldo or Messi please). Then get a proper defensive midfielder like Tiote, someone who will kick arse in that midfield and will track back and wont get tired because he's a fucking machine.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

once mata comes back all will be good, and we buy that rw.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Can someone please tell me the fascination with Mikel?

He's just not good enough, i would love him to come out good to save us a lot of money, but he just doesn't have it in him, he will get caught out on the counter attack so easily. He cannot track back, that's his biggest problem and his marking isn't the best either, but that will improve in some time. Mikel doesn't have the pace either, he's always just too slow to intercept a pass or make that last challenge.

His performance against Barcelona was overrated also, he wasn't that good, people act like he ran the game when he never, he actually was one of the few who was making too many mistakes what almost cost us. But then he would do something good afterwards. But still even if he's making up for it, he's still making the mistake, it's not CONSISTENT! enough. An aggressive DM is just what we need also, and Mikel hasn't got a bad ass bone in him. If we are playing this risky two man deep midfield, then he must have that urge to stop players from scoring, he rarely does that.

I love how Mikel is so composed and calm on the ball, and he does calm it down for others around him he does, but it's not enough, we simply don't need that. The double pivot cannot consist of that, especially when we have 4 attackers up front.

Nuri Sahin can leave, Mourinho confirmed it, he will go for 20 million, FUCKING BARGAIN!. He is a must get, don't let him go to Arsenal or Spurs, that's where we will make a huge mistake, he's bound to be a star, and let him be one here, especially when we really need this type of player. If there's any player in the world right now who i want here, it's him, and i really mean that, (obviously i mean players available, no smart arse comments about Ronaldo or Messi please). Then get a proper defensive midfielder like Tiote, someone who will kick arse in that midfield and will track back and wont get tired because he's a fucking machine.

I was watching some Real Madrid highlights of Sahin from last season, he actually makes vital tackles and gets quite a few interceptions as well as playing good long passes from deep. I'd imagine he'd be a good buy for us but I don't think Robbie will go for him, unless Spurs want him then we can pip AVB to him. Also he played in a 4-2-3-1 at Dortmund & Real so its not really a new formation he will have to adapt to.

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

4-1-4-1

4-4-1-1, bit more advanced though I'll explain.

Effectively Mata is a left winger and Hazard is in the number 10 position. Ramires is more of a wide midfielder, Mikel sitting slightly deeper and Oscar just a CM.

Mata and Hazard could interchange positions (similar to what Inter Milan's Ricardo Alvares and Wesley Sneidjer did in this formation under Andrea Stramaccioni in May when Inter beat AC Milan 4-2.) If they both end up in central positions the team can switch to 4-3-2-1 or a 4-3-3 basically with Ramires coming inside as a box to box midfielder. Also if we occupy the build up play more to the left with Hazard and Mata interchanging, we could then spray the ball to right into space catching teams out (hopefully) where our right back could go and deliver the ball in to the box.

Kind of links on with the bit I just mentioned, if we had a right back like Dani Alves or Maicon we could play a 4-4-1-1 but with 3 central midfielders in Ramires, Mikel and Oscar, the ball could come inside to either Oscar, Mikel and Ramires and then to the right back who could go further up and provide a cross/shoot for goal as Ramires isn't the greatest crosser in the world. (Similar to what Inter did with Zanetti coming inside more and Maicon having all the right flank to himself.) Also it enables us to get more bodies into the box if we have a third central midfielder spare rather than having a winger and full back both in the flank.

Just an idea, read about Stramaccioni's tactic vs Milan and wondered if we could use it but for a start we'd need a more attacking right back with pace, good delivery and stamina being able to go back and fourth easily.

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/05/07/inter-4-2-milan-inter-build-up-play-down-the-left-then-spread-it-to-the-right/