Formation

[Lmaobob]

4-4-2 is clearly not working.

We NEED a formation that has a CDM who constantly patrols in front of defence. For me, if we sign Morsy then he will do that job perfectly.

For those saying we need the height of Basham, screw that... he won absolutely nothing in the air today. His height has done us no favours at all.

We NEED an attacking midfielder to retrieve the ball on the counter attack and play through balls to Sharp, or Clarke or Lavery if they ever sign...

It should not the striker's job to receive the ball and then try and play it to a winger. It slows everything down, ESPECIALLY when wingers like Duffy (When Scougall gets subbed on... god help us all)

We need our strikers to run behind the defenders, not play deep and collect the ball. We need someone like fleck to play CAM so he can play it through to the strikers.

You all may disagree with me on my tactics but I'm sure you can all agree that 4-4-2 is NOT the way forward from now on.

 

[Roygbiv]

Judging by Wilders interview I think we will see a change of formation on Saturday. Possibly a 4-5-1. Maybe with a new midfielder next to Basham and Fleck. As poor as Basham is, I don't see anyone else better than him in the squad at the moment.

 

[sheffielder]

Judging by Wilders interview I think we will see a change of formation on Saturday. Possibly a 4-5-1. Maybe with a new midfielder next to Basham and Fleck. As poor as Basham is, I don't see anyone else better than him in the squad at the moment.

If Basham plays in midfield again, I am slapping Wilder

 

[Chezzy Blades]

I'd give you a million likes for this if I could. Playing 4-4-2 with these players is one of the biggest contributors to this start to the season.

 

[Connorse1]

With the way Wilder seems to be playing it I think a 4-3-3 would work better with Done and Scougall or McNulty on the wing and Coutts replacing Basham in the centre. Perhaps Freeman replacing Hussey too.

 

[bartman]

4-4-2 is clearly not working.

We NEED a formation that has a CDM who constantly patrols in front of defence. For me, if we sign Morsy then he will do that job perfectly.

For those saying we need the height of Basham, screw that... he won absolutely nothing in the air today. His height has done us no favours at all.

We NEED an attacking midfielder to retrieve the ball on the counter attack and play through balls to Sharp, or Clarke or Lavery if they ever sign...

It should not the striker's job to receive the ball and then try and play it to a winger. It slows everything down, ESPECIALLY when wingers like Duffy (When Scougall gets subbed on... god help us all)

We need our strikers to run behind the defenders, not play deep and collect the ball. We need someone like fleck to play CAM so he can play it through to the strikers.

You all may disagree with me on my tactics but I'm sure you can all agree that 4-4-2 is NOT the way forward from now on.

Have you seen the games this season ? We play a narrow 4-3-3 with no width . We don't play with any wide midfield players which is why we opposition find it so easy to work behind our full backs. We do need to play a traditional 4-4-2 with two wide.midfielders

 

[bartman]

I'd give you a million likes for this if I could. Playing 4-4-2 with these players is one of the biggest contributors to this start to the season.

We have been playing 4-3-3 so far this season

 

[Reedy1889]

I'm unsure how he'll be looking to line us up vs. Millwall. Maybe revert back to his favoured 4231? I do expect Wright SNR to start at CB though. Then hopefully we'll have a new body in to play alongside Fleck as the midfield duo then the tricky bit... perhaps Duffy behind the lone forward? with Chapman on the right & Done on the left but!! not as a winger as but more as someone looking to get up alongside and beyond the forward.

Ah f*ck knows, we'll lose anyways no doubt

 

[Lmaobob]

Can you explain please?

Sharp Clarke
Done Fleck Basham Duffy
Hussey O'Connell Wilson Brayford
Long

That's 4-4-2

 

[Chezzy Blades]

We have been playing 4-3-3 so far this season

???

I'm assuming you're going to say Done's played up front because he's been tucked in and not tracking back, but it's really not a 4-3-3.

 

[Latters]

We have been playing 4-3-3 so far this season

I don't know where we've been hiding the third striker because all the games I've seen its been Clarke and Sharp up front with Done and Duffy out wide and Basham and Fleck in the middle. It might not have been as bad if Done had been in a three up front, but that certainly hasn't been the case yet.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Basham allowed himself to be bullied by some little bald cunt at every set piece.

That sums up United as a whole for the past 3 seasons.

 

[Minty]

Fuck knows what the answer is but clearly what we've tried to do so far in hoofing up to Clarke/Billy is just making us look like relegation fodder...........as for wingers, what's the fucking point when the pitch is so narrow and there's no room for them to do anything and find space to run.. Everything looks so congested.

 

[sheffielder]

We have been playing 4-3-3 so far this season

My mind has now blown

 

[sheffielder]

Basham allowed himself to be bullied by some little bald cunt at every set piece.

That sums up United as a whole for the past 3 seasons.

That was our topic of conversation at every corner

 

[Caseh]

Judging by Wilders interview I think we will see a change of formation on Saturday. Possibly a 4-5-1. Maybe with a new midfielder next to Basham and Fleck. As poor as Basham is, I don't see anyone else better than him in the squad at the moment.

Coutts. In this one match alone, he showed more ability than Basham throughout the whole 4 games. He isn't great granted - But he showed for the ball, and actually looked for passes. Everyone else just hoofs it to Clarke and look lost when that doesn't work.

 

[Roygbiv]

I don't think we have been playing a 4-3-3 personally. I think Done and Duffy have been in the box about 3 times between them all season. We seem to be playing a very, very narrow 4-4-2.

 

[Roygbiv]

My guess for the team on sat would be

New Gk

Brayford Wright O Connell Hussey

Duffy Fleck New CM Basham Chapman

Clarke

 

[Connorse1]

What's happened to Whiteman anyway? I thought he might have got a chance to prove himself given his performances in the development squad. He'd probably do a better job than Basham right now. And Kelly (who has just gone on loan) could have been a replacement for left back fighting for a place.

 

[blade789]

I'd give you a million likes for this if I could. Playing 4-4-2 with these players is one of the biggest contributors to this start to the season.

Disagree. Formation is nothing to do with the results. We don't have players who can perform. We dont have any of the right ingredients to win games. I think I saw Adkins play 5/6 different formations last season, didnt make a blind bit of difference. Formations are designed for the opposition. When we have the ball formations are irrelevant if you have quality on the ball and good movement. We have neither.

We could have played any formation going and we would still have got 1 point from 9.

 

[Roygbiv]

Coutts. In this one match alone, he showed more ability than Basham throughout the whole 4 games. He isn't great granted - But he showed for the ball, and actually looked for passes. Everyone else just hoofs it to Clarke and look lost when that doesn't work.

My issue with people praising Coutts tonight is that he came on at 3-0 down when Southend didn't try and press our midfield and didn't look to run beyond our midfield. Coutts is technically one of the best players at the club, he just can't run. I imagine if he played on Saturday we would see the same Coutts as we saw last season.

It was easy tonight for a comfortable ball player as there was nobody near him half of the time. If he had started I think his influence would have been no better than Fleck or Basham

 

[bartman]

Can you explain please?

Sharp Clarke
Done Fleck Basham Duffy
Hussey O'Connell Wilson Brayford
Long

That's 4-4-2

Done plays on the left of a front three. . He is not played as a left midfielder which is why we get caught out. Done and Sharp are narrow and if you notice there is hardly any option out wide when we attack oher than the two full backs. It is why we are so easy to defend agqinst

 

[Caseh]

My issue with people praising Coutts tonight is that he came on at 3-0 down when Southend didn't try and press our midfield and didn't look to run beyond our midfield. Coutts is technically one of the best players at the club, he just can't run. I imagine if he played on Saturday we would see the same Coutts as we saw last season.

It was easy tonight for a comfortable ball player as there was nobody near him half of the time. If he had started I think his influence would have been no better than Fleck or Basham

I'm not saying he is a good player by any means, he isn't a good enough passer of the ball to make up for his lack of running/pace. But Basham's running down blind alleys and generally being bullied off the ball by a stiff breeze has got to be worse.

 

[Caseh]

Done plays on the left of a front three. . He is not played as a left midfielder which is why we get caught out. Done and Sharp are narrow and if you notice there is hardly any option out wide when we attack oher than the two full backs. It is why we are so easy to defend agqinst

To me it just seems more like Done is a striker being played in the wrong position, and so naturally drifts to his correct position. You know, square pegs and round holes.

 

[bartman]

I don't know where we've been hiding the third striker because all the games I've seen its been Clarke and Sharp up front with Done and Duffy out wide and Basham and Fleck in the middle. It might not have been as bad if Done had been in a three up front, but that certainly hasn't been the case yet.

Duffy very rarely goes wide he floats around midfield. We do not have any width from midfield which i think is quite obvious

 

[Roygbiv]

I'm not saying he is a good player by any means, he isn't a good enough passer of the ball to make up for his lack of running/pace. But Basham's running down blind alleys and generally being bullied off the ball by a stiff breeze has got to be worse.

Both are shit really. One is a better footballer than the other but can't run. The other is fitter than the other but can't play football

 

[Fulwood Blade]

My issue with people praising Coutts tonight is that he came on at 3-0 down when Southend didn't try and press our midfield and didn't look to run beyond our midfield. Coutts is technically one of the best players at the club, he just can't run. I imagine if he played on Saturday we would see the same Coutts as we saw last season.

It was easy tonight for a comfortable ball player as there was nobody near him half of the time. If he had started I think his influence would have been no better than Fleck or Basham

Coutts ball distribution is on a different planet to Basham - Basham is far more athletic than Coutts would ever be. Take your point about Southend sitting a bit in the 2nd half, but at least Coutts can pass a ball.

To play 4 in midfield, the midfield middle 2 HAVE to be creative and you trust the 2 x CH's can handle themselves as midfield push forward.

Our defence is shit - it was obvious in pre-season and even more obvious once the season has started.

Wilson is an atrocious CH - Hussey is nothing more than average L1 - the beard has just gone - O'Connell had a mare.

Said it after Saturday (in fact 2 of us did) - this (same) team WOULD get relegated.

UTB

 

[Caseh]

Both are shit really. One is a better footballer than the other but can't run. The other is fitter than the other but can't play football

I'll take the footballer At least there is then a small chance of some passing going on

 

[Chezzy Blades]

Disagree. Formation is nothing to do with the results. We don't have players who can perform. We dont have any of the right ingredients to win games. I think I saw Adkins play 5/6 different formations last season, didnt make a blind bit of difference. Formations are designed for the opposition. When we have the ball formations are irrelevant if you have quality on the ball and good movement. We have neither.

We could have played any formation going and we would still have got 1 point from 9.

Formations aren't everything that's true, but to say formations are nothing to do with results is bizarre. I'm sure if we stuck 9 up front and played one centre half we'd have a few more problems.

Changing the system won't fix things overnight because some of the players just aren't good enough, but shoehorning them into a system which is leaving us overrun in midfield for the sake of not dropping one of the strikers has made things far worse than they already are.

 

[Silent Blade]

My guess for the team on sat would be

New Gk

Brayford Wright O Connell Hussey

Duffy Fleck New CM Basham Chapman

Clarke

I have always thought having Sharp in the starting line up lessens our chances of getting promotion. He isnt suitable for the lone striker role because he hasnt the height or pace. Our midfield were outnumbered last Saturday and tonight. Clarke is the best for the lone striker role and Sharp to be on the bench