3-4-3 system

Mayor Goldie Wilson

Mayor Goldie Wilson

Well-known member
I genuinely cannot believe that we are about to start the season with a manager insisting on playing a formation that we in no way have the players for. The most important players in a wing back system are, arguably, the wing backs, yet our new manager seems to think we can start the system without any, as the only player we have at the club who could remotely be called a wing back is permanently injured. If we start the season with Ayling and Silvera as wing backs we will get a very nasty shock early, and I fear it will turn toxic very, very quickly.

One of the main complaints Luton fans had with Edwards was that he was unable/unwilling to change his approach when things started to go wrong for them, and it appears that he is still just as stubborn and only wants to play one way.
 
I'm not going to knock Edwards for coming in and trying to implement his system, but it seems like a poor man's version of what's happened with Amorim at United where they've brought in a manager that wants to play a way that's not suitable for the players available, they need a reasonable turnover of players to make the right squad profile, it takes time to bring that together and then no-one knows whether it's all been worth it.

The delay in moving on from Carrick set us back for starters, then the subsequent decision-making by the club is typically questionable (and entirely consistent with us see-sawing between managers of different styles across the last decade), but given the circumstances I think Edwards deserves some time and patience from the fans. Having seen it at Rangers, although I'm no fan of 3 at the back systems there were some promising signs in the intent and I hope at least he'll fix a few things from the latter end of the Carrick era, but with the squad we have he's going to have a difficult task also.
 
We don't really have the players for regular fullbacks either, so he might as well stick with what he knows, the club have ****ed up, not him.

Got more players that can fill in as makeshift wingbacks than makeshift fullbacks.

One injury to Ayling or Borges and we'd have no orthodox senior fullbacks at all.
 
Mayor Goldie Wilson said:
I genuinely cannot believe that we are about to start the season with a manager insisting on playing a formation that we in no way have the players for. The most important players in a wing back system are, arguably, the wing backs, yet our new manager seems to think we can start the system without any, as the only player we have at the club who could remotely be called a wing back is permanently injured. If we start the season with Ayling and Silvera as wing backs we will get a very nasty shock early, and I fear it will turn toxic very, very quickly.

One of the main complaints Luton fans had with Edwards was that he was unable/unwilling to change his approach when things started to go wrong for them, and it appears that he is still just as stubborn and only wants to play one way.
Click to expand...
We're struggling with players to suit any formation at the moment. He said that we'll change and adapt as players come through the door. I don't think he's insisting on anything
 
BernieisGod said:
I'm not saying Ayling is the answer and he's obviously older now, but when we signed him on loan, didn't he set up about eight goals in half a season?

Maybe he might surprise a few people?
Click to expand...

His legs and engine seemed to go early last season unfortunately. I think he's a good experienced head to have in and around the squad and rotate in as needed, but I'd be concerned if we're relying on him as part of the first XI by this time next month.
 
"Since then, though, Borges has been a standout performer as the left wing-back of Pascal Gastien’s five-man defensive set-up."
 
I would assume that we are going to be bringing in a couple of wingbacks.
I would also assume that the reason we have not done so is because we are waiting for the hackney money.

If we have 25 million to spend on players rather than 5 or 6 million then the players we are signing would be of different caliber.
It would be silly to spend a million each on a pair of mediocre players when in a week's time we could spend 5 million on good ones.

so it would be daft playing 433 all pre season then switching to 3 at the back when we finally get the players in.
 
I think people are treating wingbacks like unicorns. There are specialist wing-backs, usually players who aren't good enough to be specialist wingers or full backs but generally, the key thing when you play 3 at the back is the central defenders.

In 4-3-3 you play with one very defensive midfielder who sits just in front of the other two centre backs. The attacking width is provided by overlapping full-backs. The front three tends to be one striker and two inverted wingers who stay fairly narrow.

In 3-4-X you play with 3 central defenders instead of 2 defenders and 1 defensive midfielder. The attacking width is provided by overlapping wing-backs.

The difference between playing full-back in a 4-3-3 vs wing-back in a 3-4-3 is negligible however, playing 3-4-3does give you options of using wingers with defensive abilities in a way that 4-3-3 doesn't if you have good defensive midfielders to cover. It also becomes a natural 5-4-1 when you need to endure pressure.

One thing about playing 3 at the back is that the right and left-sided defenders are almost hybrid centre-backs/full-backs. They need to be comfortable stepping forward and occasionally going out wide.

We have Ayling, Borges and McCormick who are all probably best as RCBs and LCBs respectively. They all struggle with the attacking side of being a full-back but they are comfortable stepping out with the ball and covering wide. We also have Jones and Lenihan who are both good on the ball. (Mowbray used Lenihan as a wingback occasionally.)

As it stands, we actually look better stocked playing 3 at the back than 4 at the back because although Borges and Ayling could cover at full back they both seem to have lost their pace and ability to overlap which, given that we have no orthodox wingers to play up front would be horrible.

The only specialist full back of any type we have is Bangura who is a) injured and b) seems to be far happier attacking than defending. Plus he had a pretty ropey pre-season before he was injured. So whatever we do, we need an attack minded full-back for both sides.
 
Brittain will hopefully be signed before Swansea and he's had a full pre season for Blackburn so will be good to go.

Still need a left wing back too.
 
I think the squad is more suited to 3421 than 4231. Especially because we have decent centrebacks that have previously played well in a 3 (Fry is best at the centre of a 3).

Someone above asks why we haven't used Borges.

I think there are 2 reasons:
1. Borges is well suited to the left side of a back 3.
2. Unlike most of our fans I genuinely think Edwards likes the look of Silvera in that role (was started there after being watched in training and has been consistently good in pre-season).

I think most Boro fans see Silvera as a scraping the Barrel option... I think Edwards has made a positive decision that he looks good there rather than being forced.

Whitaker, Azaz, McGree and Burgzorg are all not true wingers or true 10s in my opinion. So the 3421 formation gives them that space in between. The game is about putting your best players in a position to succeed.
 
I think when Hackney leaves we will sign a permanent RWB, Midfielder, attacking midfielder and probably a cheap experienced striker(such as Ings). I think we will loan A striker and a LWB.
We also have several players who only have a year left on their contract so if we got offers for them we would probably accept and rather buy a young or cheap replacement or loan a player in to replace them. If we get a decent offer for one of the more key players(RVB or Azaz) then I think we would sign a decent quality replacement.
Out of the players with a year left I think Fry will be offered a new contract and Lenihan will probably let his contract run down and see how his injuries are this season then offer him another year if he can stay relatively fit and make say 25+ appearances.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top