2 Strikers away from home?

[Woodwardfan]

The way we ended last season we were always on the front foot, we could afford to have Clarke and Sharp up front as we were strong defensively, the midfield two were tidy on the ball and we had Freeman getting forward and creating a lot.

Lafferty played slightly deeper on the left and provided some cover there

Duffy supported Clarke and Sharp.

However, Clarke and Sharp wasn't the strike partnership which got us to the top for the league. Done and Sharp was, then Hanson and Sharp.

Done-Sharp: very busy, lots of chasing from Done, Duffy in behind created a third striker and Sharp provided a lot of goals
Hanson-Sharp: not sure it worked that well as Hanson never seemed fit. However, he provided an aerial threat. Again the likes of Duffy playing off scraps behind
Clarke-Sharp: until Clarke was fit many fans didn't rate the partnership. However it worked well when we were on the front foot.

Away from home Are we set up too much to attack? But what we really need is to bolster the centre midfield? Perhaps playing Coutts-Fleck with Carruthers in front and then Duffy/Ched/ Brooks in behind Clarke/ Sharp, effectively playing a lone striker?

Wilder has said that we need to be better in both boxes but from what I saw at Boro, we didn't keep the ball well. We lost out and weren't able to keep our shape.

From the highlights of last night Carruthers is very deep anyway, leaving a bigger gap to Clarke-Sharp

Wilder knows deep down that last season's midfield is not going to see us through this season in say mid-table or better.

He has made signings already - Thomas, Baldock, Stevens, Carruthers last season - and he is still trying to sign Leonard having failed to sign Holmes. He has now turned his attention to Coady. A manager who knows we need to be better in midfield at this level.

In comparison we have only signed Evans up front and Stearman at the back. We have been linked with the Blackburn lad but not anybody else.

Wilder is an honest people manager. He will believe that as many of last season's contributors to our success deserve a chance to establish themselves at the new level. He is also a realist and will be observing them very carefully.

As regards the point about formations in the excellent OP, our manager will himself be wondering whether 3-5-2 will serve us as well and he will have more than half an eye on building a squad for 4-5-1 and maybe 4-4-2.

It's very early days yet. We came up strong and united as a club and the inevitable changes will evolve as the season progresses. Wilder was decisive over Hussey and will be over the new signings again. He feels he has to give Brooks playing time and has high hopes for Evans who is probably not fit enough for regular starts.

There is time left in the Transfer Window and we have just the one loan player as yet. We have budget available for money signings and the two defeats will strengthen our case for bigger spending, maybe even a silver lining in the cloud of two defeats. Big clubs are still spending frantically and there will be loads of quality players shaking out of the Prem and Championship Money Tree over the coming days e.g. Barry off to West Brom as soon as Siggurdson is lined up.

Keep the faith. We are here to stay for a while but we won't go straight through this division this season. If anybody expected that then they know better already.

 

[Norderner]

Still waiting for the premiershit 25 man squad release, then movement will begin at pace.

 

[SwissBlade]

Not quite true, because after 8 minutes we could, and should, have been 2-0 through Clarke and fleck?

Yeah that's fair comment. However when we played Chesterfield last season at their place we got battered for 20 mins and even went a goal down. Over the course of the game though we really walked over them and their midfield.

So it's about how you set up for the entire game when it settles down, not just 8-20 mins

 

[SwissBlade]

Have to go with Freeman lafferty

We better get into the transfer market for a couple of fullbacks then as Freeman certainly isn't one

 

[Sheffsteel]

Last season:

Coutts - - - - - Fleck

Duffy
​

Yesterday:

Coutts
Carruthers - - - - - - - - Fleck
​

This was how our midfields were set up, but obviously player roles within differ.

Makes you wonder how much we are missing Duffy.

Last season he was often the player that played incisive defence splitting passes.

 

[BigBed]

We better get into the transfer market for a couple of fullbacks then as Freeman certainly isn't one

I said a back 4 of Freeman-Brayford-Wright-Lafferty?

 

[SwissBlade]

I said a back 4 of Freeman-Brayford-Wright-Lafferty?

Crikey! It's worse than I thought

 

[Ginger Gnome]

Still waiting for the premiershit 25 man squad release, then movement will begin at pace.

They don't release that until the transfer window shuts, at which point the transfer window is shut and no movement can occur.

I know everyone likes to bash Clough, mostly because of how he didn't have a clue how to break teams or buy central defenders, but in the cup games against higher division teams, we were a very effective counter-attacking team despite not having that many superfast players and often having Baxter or Porter as a lone striker.

The players we have now are better than what we had then and the opposition isn't quite as good, so what Wilder needs to do is find a system that can do a similar job in away games. Assuming we keep last year's system at home, the easiest tweak is just to add an extra midfielder in place of a striker in the tougher games or away, allowing for Brooks or Duffy to go in the team and give us a bit more in midfield to link the defence and attack. Playing one up front doesn't have to be a negative move.

Wilder took a few games to get the system right last year, he's already tweaked it a bit last night. I'd expect us to have two strikers against Barnsley as we're at home to one of the less-good sides, but the cup game would be a good place to experiment with a slightly different shape to consider using against Derby or in future away games.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

CONAH COADEH.

 

[Balham]

We've now come up against two sides who played three up front. Boro and Cardiff set up differently though with Boro playing a 4-3-3 and Cardiff playing three at the back but in both cases they've been able to target the gaps behind our wing-backs. Us playing two up front means that we're narrow with the only width being provided by Stevens and Freeman. It's no coincidence that both those two have been struggling as they're being turned more than Wilder would like. On the bright side, we're not going to face forward lines of this quality for a while now:

Boro's midfield/forwards

Forshaw Clayton Howson
Bamford
Assombalonga Gestede​

Cardiff's forwards

Mendez-Laing Tomlin Hoilett
Zohore​

 

[Cyprus Blade]

It's early days still and we are still finding our feet I think and we have been away to the costliest side and a couple of the better teams.Saturday will be a good barometer. From the early evidence it seems to me with my limited perspective :_

1) We are having problems aerially at the back (Cardiff especially won too much in the air against us).Players in this division seem generally taller, fitter and quicker.
2) The WB's are not as effective going forward ( forced into defending) and are being found out defensively (especially Freeman)
3) 352 works in Div1, but seems less effective in the Championship - eg Bristol City had to drop it on their first season up.
4) Our midfield is getting over-run for long periods and we have difficulties getting out of our own half (even happened v Brentford)
5) Strikers have had very poor service - not seeing enough of the ball. MF is getting sucked back leaving the forwards isolated.
6) When they have the ball the strikers are not holding onto it effectively and are wanting too much time with the limited opportunities available.

Baldock and Moore to come in yet. Not sure how Lundstram fits in unless its for tacking in MF. He looks way off the pace at the moment though.. I'd prefer Duffy to start over Carruthers. Carruthers and Brookes seem more like impact players at the moment. Promising as he is Brookes seems too one footed to me and Carruthers link play with the forwards is too inconsistent. I think CW has it about right with wanting one more at the back and one in MF. Without the additions I think we are going to struggle. I am not convinced Lavery or Clarke tick the boxes up front in this league (for me Clarke caught offside too often and Lavery has a poor first touch). Still a lot of questions about Sharp and Evans (pace,height,fitness plus I am not sure they would make a good partnership). Can't see a start for Hanson.

I'm sure CW is not one for rose coloured glasses and he will look to get things sorted. Early days. Survival has to be his number one priority.

UTB

 

[wizadry]

Whilst Clarke did well towards the end of the season that was when the pressure was off and we were in dreamland, he played a lot better coming off the bench showing some good cameos which is what he should be doing now as it's as clear as day to me that he's better of the bench.

As much as I like Lavery and Carruthers some of their better performances have been whilst coming off the bench as well.

Sharp is effectively a box player, a very good one and I only wish that chance fell to him and not Clarke against Boro as it would've been a different outcome.

Evans is the best option to partner Sharp for me. He is a better player outside the box and Sharp will pick up all the scraps in the box from Evans' play.

Ultimately, what it seems like to me is we have some good options as subs but we need some first xi players who can do it from the start.

You can have all the formations under the sun but if you don't have the players at your disposal to utilise them then it doesn't really matter what formation you play.

We're not far off and I'm convinced Wilder will sort it.

 

[RMBlade]

I would like to see us develop a system which merges tactics from Chelsea and Monaco. I think we have most of the players that can play it.

I think most people are familiar with how Chelsea were setup last season in the 3-4-3 with wing backs pushing high and the wingers becoming inside forwards.

Well Monaco played in a similar way although on paper they looked nothing a like. Monaco played a 4-4-2 with two combative CM's in Bakayoko and Fabinio. When defending they had the back 4, 2 DM's and the wingers would track back also (Lemar more so that Bernardo Silva). However when they attacked the full backs would push up high over lapping the wingers who would become inside forwards. This created a massive overload with 2xST, 2xFB, 2xWingers. Bakayoko would sit behind the attack receiving backwards passes when they were trying to find a gap. Fabinio would drop into the back 2.

For UTD I would look to play a 4-3-3 on paper lining up like this:

Ched------------Sharp-----------Brooks
Fleck------------CDM------------Coutts
Laffaerty---JOC---Stearman--Freeman

when attacking the CDM would drop into the back line the full backs would push high and wide, the wingers will come inside with Fleck and Coutts dictating play. Something like this

------------Ched-Sharp-Brooks-----------
Lafferty----------------------------Freeman
--------------Fleck---------Coutts-----------
------JOC-------CDM----------Stearman

The 3 forwards will out number the opposition center backs forcing them to change shape by moving midfielders or full backs in to help cover. This is when gaps will start to appear.

The front 3 can be fluid as we have seen in the past.

I think this setup would allow defensive solidity, tons more pace (Ched and Brooks) and allow the overload we saw last year.