England's tactics - could they work for us ??

[Deleted User 728]

I've been very impressed with the way Gareth Southgate has moulded the England squad and shaped the team to take advantage of the pace, energy and - dare I say it - technical ability of his young charges.

The three ball-playing defenders, the fluidity of the attack and the dogged midfield makes us hard to beat while giving us a chance against the better teams by utilising the speed on the counter of players like Sterling, Lingard (seriously !) and Vardy while also - and I really don't know how he's done this - getting the best out of Henderson.

So could it work with our current squad ?
I've long been an advocate of three at the back as it allows us to pack the middle of the park where I feel we're weakest, just like England.

We don't have anywhere near the depth of talent but let's have a go anyway ..





Player roles :

GK - BPF

DC - Pennington, covering Berardi if he's caught up-field and we switch to a temporary back four with Alioski dropping in at left-back
DC - Jansson playing as a stopper
DC - Cooper playing as a stopper
(in the England team, all three DCs are ball-playing defenders encouraged to break forwards, but in our team they're not technically good enough and should just feed Vieira and Forshaw or the wing-backs as quickly as possible)

WBR - Berardi (or Dallas) shuttles up and down the pitch, looking to add width and cross into the box where possible
WBL - Alioski plays there for Macedonia and can bomb on or slot back in to a four should Berardi dare cross the halfway line

DMC - Vieira primarily acting as a ball-winner, looking to feed Forshaw and Hernandez

MC - Forshaw
MC - Hernandez, both playing as roaming playmakers, looking to break forward but also drag opposition players around, creating space for others

DLF - Saiz, playing as a deep-lying forward - hard to mark, moving all over the front-line like Sterling did for England in the last two matches
FC - Lasogga, almost playing as a target man, acting as the fulcrum of the front-line



I'd really like us to try this, rather than the hackneyed 4231.
It offers stability at the back but allows us to be less predictable going forward, changing the angles of attack and allowing us to be more flexible.


Thoughts ??

[zigzag]

I like that alot.

One caveat is that Im not sure Berardi can offer the required quality going forward, maybe better with Dallas, but then he probably cant offer the required defensive qualities.

[birkybullufc]

I wasn't overly impressed at all in the performance against Italy. Lucky not to concede a hat full. Immobile should have had 3 at least. And they're a team that didn't even qualify for the World Cup.
Sterling was impressive and the catalyst for most of the good work. Vardey and Lindegaard did alright.

As for Leeds playing that system. I'd still prefer a back four with two defensive midfielders, with a 3rd combative midfielder away from home or in big games to make sure we win the midfield battle. Put Hernandez and Saiz out wide behind a lone striker in those games.

[johnh]

I don't necessarily object to a system based on three at the back. What I object to is this 'build from the back' nonsense. Goalie rolls it out to the left-back who is put under pressure so passes it square to the centre-half who passes it to the right back who plays a 5 yard pass to a midfielder who plays it straight back to him etc., etc., etc., In the meantime, the opposition have got all eleven men behind the ball without even breaking sweat. England eventually get to the opposition penalty area, which is packed with defenders, and then we run out of ideas. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that we have no one who can head the ball so the crossing option is out. Time and again against Italy we passed our way from our own penalty area to the Italy penalty area where we immediately lost possession, usually because we end up with isolated forwards who find themselves marked by two or even three defenders. If we play this way against the top teams we will get hammered.

PS Its only a matter of time before this passing backwards and sideways in our own penalty area presents the opposition with a goal.

[Deleted User 728]

PS Its only a matter of time before this passing backwards and sideways in our own penalty area presents the opposition with a goal.

.. er .. you did see John Stones the other night, didn't you ?

[johnh]

Yes, and I've also seen him lose the ball trying to dribble out of his own six yard box and concede a goal - and more than once.

[mapperleywhite]

Spot on analysis Rigger; I'm impressed with Southgate's stewardship of the national team, neither a thicko nor a dinosaur.

And yes we do have the personnel to play 3 at the back - my selection:

BPF

Beradi----Pontus----Cooper

Alioski----Forshaw---Vieira----Dallas

Saiz/Pablo---Lasogga---Clarke

Like you say, we need to load up the midfield, but this also gives us width

[SiMamu]

I definitely would not be opposed to such a tactical reversion. I would, however, say that Berardi definitely cannot play as a wing back, offers far too little going forward. It would need to be Dallas at RWB and Alioski or Pearce at LWB (De Bock offers too little going forward too). I would actually like to see Berardi at CB over Pennington (as mapperleywhite has just suggested) - with back 3s often consisting of one very defensive full back, i.e. Walker and Azpilicueta for instance. Otherwise, I generally agree with your selections, rigger.

[Selby White]

I definitely would not be opposed to such a tactical reversion. I would, however, say that Berardi definitely cannot play as a wing back, offers far too little going forward. It would need to be Dallas at RWB and Alioski or Pearce at LWB (De Bock offers too little going forward too). I would actually like to see Berardi at CB over Pennington (as mapperleywhite has just suggested) - with back 3s often consisting of one very defensive full back, i.e. Walker and Azpilicueta for instance. Otherwise, I generally agree with your selections, rigger.

Can't agree with Beradi ahead of Pennington as one of the 3 CB's as one of our major problems is lack of height.

I do agree with the system though, whether we have the right players is open to debate.

[Mr Russell]

Why not? Its quite clear the current system does not work for us or we don't have the players who can play it but i just can't see PH playing it against Bolton.

I"m with John with all this passing it around the back 3 or 4 nonsense, its got to stop. I've seen it with teams all around the world and you can see its an accident about to happen as they will lose possession and the good teams will take advantage of that