Three at the back.

This formation is not working. Time for a change. We need clean sheets. Three at the back and seven forwards!
We have the 12th worse goals conceded record in the championship..

Is the answer really selling one central defender and playing with one less player at the back?
 
I’ve a sneaky feeling he might go for that against Sheff Utd, similar to Leicester away last season. The only problem being if one of the three gets crocked, then we are stuffed. SI Jr at right wing back and Giles on the left, might work, who knows.
 
I'd be a little concerned around Ayling as a wingback, we'd need Dijksteel back in.

For me there's other things at play that are costing us - concentration being a key one - i'm not sure a shift around would resolve it. Three at the back isn't by definition a more solid formation.
 
Posted this on another thread but it fits here too......

We've gone to a back three before, he has adapted and changed when he thought he really had to.

We are painted into a corner somewhat now though,

No Jones for RWB, only three CB's so nobody to sub or rotate, we have recruited heavily (presumably) for the three positions behind Conway. We only have two CM's who are worth playing, plus a non-natural replacement for the two starters and a waning injured older player.

So he can't really go with an extra CM or CB as we'd have no option from the bench, we have no RWB, and have an abundance of attacking midfield / forward types.

I think it is make 4-2-3-1 work or bust unfortunately.
 
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Posted this on another thread but it fits here too......

We've gone to a back three before, he has adapted and changed when he thought he really had to.

We are painted into a corner somewhat now though,

No Jones for RWB, only three CB's so nobody to sub or rotate, we have recruited heavily (presumably) for the three positions behind Conway. We only have two CM's who are worth playing, plus a non-natural replacement for the two starters and a waning injured older player.

So he can't really go with an extra CM or CB as we'd have no option from the bench, we have no RWB, and have an abundance of attacking midfield / forward types.

I think it is make 4-2-3-1 work or bust unfortunately.
Can SIJ do the right wing back role?
 
Tell the right back to sit and stop dropping your midfielders into defence. Bang three at the back. Also more players for them to pass to in midfield.
Exactly as we did last time we had Giles: RB sits, LB bombs forward

So I think the issue on Monday, and maybe in the future is if you play with an inverted right winger like Whittaker, is you have to use your RB as an overlapping wing back to have any kind of width. This worked great for the first 25 minutes, but I think Ayling ran out of steam a bit and Sunderland worked us out and exploited the space vacated by Ayling bombing forward. Ayling was also up against a better player than you’d expect to be in the championship.
 
Posted this on another thread but it fits here too......

We've gone to a back three before, he has adapted and changed when he thought he really had to.

We are painted into a corner somewhat now though,

No Jones for RWB, only three CB's so nobody to sub or rotate, we have recruited heavily (presumably) for the three positions behind Conway. We only have two CM's who are worth playing, plus a non-natural replacement for the two starters and a waning injured older player.

So he can't really go with an extra CM or CB as we'd have no option from the bench, we have no RWB, and have an abundance of attacking midfield / forward types.

I think it is make 4-2-3-1 work or bust unfortunately.

Iheanacho might make a difference to how we play in that 4231 formation. All of our goals conceded on Monday came from us losing it in a defensive position. Having a player who’s very strong and can hold the ball up well should at least allow us to vary how we distribute it from the back, and be less predictable.
All the teams above us, are happy to go direct when they need to, I think a lack of pragmatism for us in playing out from the back has cost us a lot of goals and points.
 
We’re not playing three at the back..

Ayling—RVDB—Engel

Dijksteel—Fry—Edmunson

but I’m all for Ayling slipping into central defence and Engel coming back as a left sided central defender!
 
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