Bergen Blade
Well-Known Member
Sometimes the 4-5-1 formation is dismissed as negative, but Nigel Clough has managed to make it work well. He's given the right type of players the right type of roles, and the team has gelled.
A team's formation normally describes how a team lines up when they have all players behind the ball and the opposition team starts an attack.
Thus, the formation can't fully describe what happens when the team attacks. Let's have a look at the current preferred XI:
Most of them are actually given licence to bomb forward. Our very mobile full backs are often overlapping, providing width and supplying crosses from wide. Murphy and Flynn are now very direct, running at their full backs, always aiming to get into the box.
Scougall and Coady also regularly get into the box, and they are starting to get on the end of things, chipping in with vital goals. Scougall's ability to glide past players is not just a joy to watch, it is very effective too. I'll be hugely surprised if he doesn't end up playing both international and Premiership football in not too long.
Even the centre halves are making attacking contributions. When space opens up for them they have been encouraged to try running forward on the ball. It has produced goals and it's something that the opposition teams struggle to cope with. When they think they have all our midfielders under control, they may see 6'4 Harry Maguire barging forward on the ball. Who was told to pick him up?
To give balance to all this forward movement Doyle (or the equally effective McGinn) is keeping a deep position most of the time, while the lone striker, Baxter, is also coming short for the ball more than making runs in behind or down the channels. Baxter is not a traditional target man, maybe he's not even a real striker. But his touch, vision and balance is good, which means that he holds the ball up well and brings others into the game. For now at least it has worked, although he's probably a temporary solution.
* * * * *
In contrast, last year's team, usually playing a narrow 4-4-2, was very often static and predictable. Danny Wilson preferred the full backs to defend first and foremost. They were steady and hardly went forward at all.
In the wide midfield positions, players were often selected for their defensive qualities, even if it meant playing out of position - Marcus Williams and David McAllister were examples. In midfield Kevin McDonald had the ability, but was hopelessly out of passing options in a side that became more and more immobile. The two isolated strikers at least had eachother, but the service was often abysmal.
For a while we were very hard to beat, conceded few goals and results were decent. We scored quite a few goals from set pieces. But in the end there was no rhythm, no movement, no idea, and it was painful to watch us.
(The team above drew 0-0 at Swindon in November 2012 )
The 4-4-2 line up of 2012/13 may have had a striker more, but in terms of attacking threats it doesn't come close to Clough's current 4-5-1.
A team's formation normally describes how a team lines up when they have all players behind the ball and the opposition team starts an attack.
Thus, the formation can't fully describe what happens when the team attacks. Let's have a look at the current preferred XI:
Most of them are actually given licence to bomb forward. Our very mobile full backs are often overlapping, providing width and supplying crosses from wide. Murphy and Flynn are now very direct, running at their full backs, always aiming to get into the box.
Scougall and Coady also regularly get into the box, and they are starting to get on the end of things, chipping in with vital goals. Scougall's ability to glide past players is not just a joy to watch, it is very effective too. I'll be hugely surprised if he doesn't end up playing both international and Premiership football in not too long.
Even the centre halves are making attacking contributions. When space opens up for them they have been encouraged to try running forward on the ball. It has produced goals and it's something that the opposition teams struggle to cope with. When they think they have all our midfielders under control, they may see 6'4 Harry Maguire barging forward on the ball. Who was told to pick him up?
To give balance to all this forward movement Doyle (or the equally effective McGinn) is keeping a deep position most of the time, while the lone striker, Baxter, is also coming short for the ball more than making runs in behind or down the channels. Baxter is not a traditional target man, maybe he's not even a real striker. But his touch, vision and balance is good, which means that he holds the ball up well and brings others into the game. For now at least it has worked, although he's probably a temporary solution.
* * * * *
In contrast, last year's team, usually playing a narrow 4-4-2, was very often static and predictable. Danny Wilson preferred the full backs to defend first and foremost. They were steady and hardly went forward at all.
In the wide midfield positions, players were often selected for their defensive qualities, even if it meant playing out of position - Marcus Williams and David McAllister were examples. In midfield Kevin McDonald had the ability, but was hopelessly out of passing options in a side that became more and more immobile. The two isolated strikers at least had eachother, but the service was often abysmal.
For a while we were very hard to beat, conceded few goals and results were decent. We scored quite a few goals from set pieces. But in the end there was no rhythm, no movement, no idea, and it was painful to watch us.
(The team above drew 0-0 at Swindon in November 2012 )
The 4-4-2 line up of 2012/13 may have had a striker more, but in terms of attacking threats it doesn't come close to Clough's current 4-5-1.
