Formation

[Keef Chedwyn]

Think it's time to try something new while we're missing a couple of faces.
I thought Miwaw had loads of space down the wings deep in our half yesterday.
So I suggest this. It's a bit 4-5-1 but a bit more 4-1-3-1-1...
Not strictly these players but something like...

Goalie in t'net
CCV right back
O'Connell & Wright/Basham centre back
Enda left back
Lundstram in front of them
Fleck centre midfield
Carruthers or Stevens right midfield
Lafferty left midfield
Duffy between midfield and striker
Leon front man

Nowt to stop the usual overlapping shenanigans.
Duffy feeding Leon or Leon taking defenders away to make space.
Solid both flanks.
Solid down the middle and defence protected.


Hope you're reading this, Chris. It's the future.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

FOUR FOUR F***ING TWO

 

[dc_blade]

Not convinced we need to ditch Wilderball on the basis of two-and-a-half bad displays, after more than a year of magic.

 

[Bladesman]

We need players back in their correct positions. We are totally unbalanced with Bash out wide and most of our attacking comes down the left side.

If we are still struggling once Baldock is back in the team then I will worry about our formation.

 

[Maidenhead]

We need players back in their correct positions. We are totally unbalanced with Bash out wide and most of our attacking comes down the left side.

If we are still struggling once Baldock is back in the team then I will worry about our formation.

Completely agree.

Coutts is a big loss, the RWB situation is a big problem.

 

[Tommoblade66]

Always been a fan of 4 4 2 with a flat back 4 ala George Graeme and his offside tactic. No wonder they were always singing 1-0 to the Arsenal

 

[DeanLearner'sCat]

Wilder played 4-4-2 for the first four or five games last season, and we were shite.

I reckon it's a bit early to ditch a formation/style of play that has helped us get this far. It could do with tweaking a bit. We are naively attacking at times, and maybe in the tougher games we need another body in midfield (like we did at Hillsborough with Bash-Coutts-Fleck) but I think generally it's fine.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

We need players back in their correct positions. We are totally unbalanced with Bash out wide and most of our attacking comes down the left side.

If we are still struggling once Baldock is back in the team then I will worry about our formation.

This formation is not about attacking, it's to make us more solid defensively. We are giving serious goals away when we weren't before.
We simply can't keep doing the same things we are doing with the players we've got available, that's insane. We're on a downward trajectory and our last three games have yielded one point against bang average opposition. By our standards we are playing shit.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

Wilder played 4-4-2 for the first four or five games last season, and we were shite.

I reckon it's a bit early to ditch a formation/style of play that has helped us get this far. It could do with tweaking a bit. We are naively attacking at times, and maybe in the tougher games we need another body in midfield (like we did at Hillsborough with Bash-Coutts-Fleck) but I think generally it's fine.

We need to stop shipping goals against average teams. We are not picking up points. Something has to change.

 

[Ginger Gnome]

Goalie in t'net - you could at least commit to one
CCV right back - he's an out of form central defender, playing him out of position won't help
O'Connell & Wright/Basham centre back - JOC is a headless chicken in a back 4, Wright maybe a bit slow, Basham a bit error-prone
Enda left back - fair enough
Lundstram in front of them - so just the same as now?
Fleck centre midfield - looks like it
Carruthers or Stevens right midfield - Samir isn't anything special out wide, I thought Stevens was at left back??
Lafferty left midfield - he's a defender, his crossing isn't great, wouldn't Brooks or Thomas be better there?
Duffy between midfield and striker - correct
Leon front man - obvs

Nowt to stop the usual overlapping shenanigans. - you can't have JOC bombing on with only one other centre back
Duffy feeding Leon or Leon taking defenders away to make space. - if Leon drift wide who is in the middle to stick ball int'net?
Solid both flanks. - square pegs, round holes, about as solid as a 100% fibre diet
Solid down the middle and defence protected. - weaker centrally in defence, exactly the same in midfield

A very dodgy back four, non-wingers on the wings, the same central midfield three as now and rather than having the argument over Brooks or Sharp up front, we play neither. Brilliant idea, I'd gladly give you the Wednesday manager's job with tactics like that.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

Goalie in t'net - you could at least commit to one
CCV right back - he's an out of form central defender, playing him out of position won't help
O'Connell & Wright/Basham centre back - JOC is a headless chicken in a back 4, Wright maybe a bit slow, Basham a bit error-prone
Enda left back - fair enough
Lundstram in front of them - so just the same as now?
Fleck centre midfield - looks like it
Carruthers or Stevens right midfield - Samir isn't anything special out wide, I thought Stevens was at left back??
Lafferty left midfield - he's a defender, his crossing isn't great, wouldn't Brooks or Thomas be better there?
Duffy between midfield and striker - correct
Leon front man - obvs

Nowt to stop the usual overlapping shenanigans. - you can't have JOC bombing on with only one other centre back
Duffy feeding Leon or Leon taking defenders away to make space. - if Leon drift wide who is in the middle to stick ball int'net?
Solid both flanks. - square pegs, round holes, about as solid as a 100% fibre diet
Solid down the middle and defence protected. - weaker centrally in defence, exactly the same in midfield

A very dodgy back four, non-wingers on the wings, the same central midfield three as now and rather than having the argument over Brooks or Sharp up front, we play neither. Brilliant idea, I'd gladly give you the Wednesday manager's job with tactics like that.

 

[Steve Mackan]

I think we should keep going as we are, but we need a plan B. One that looks something like
-------------------------Blackman
Baldock | Stearman | O'Connell | Stevens
-------------- Lundstram | Basham
---------------- Fleck | Duffy | Brooks
-------------------------- Clarke

 

[Caseh]

If Baldock isn't fit, I'd try someone else at RWB - Maybe Lafferty? and get Bash back at RCB. Other than that I think it would be a mistake to go making big changes.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

There will be better balance when Baldock or Freeman is back, that much is clear. Getting back to JOC, Wright/CCV, Basham will immediately strengthen us defensively.

Despite Basham’s limitations, first half yesterday we saw three great balls from Basham from the right, probably better than Stevens provided all game. He needs to get back to the standards he set earlier in the season, and might benefit from Lafferty coming in for a game or two to motivate that.

 

[BigBed]

No messing needed, baldock back n bash back to defence and were good to go, again, would like to see Carruthers introduced somewhere at some point, but Billy n Leon must start up top Friday n the captain should be the captain!! Bring Brooks on later for sharp as per and hopefully we can kick on.
Maybe introducing Lafferty might give Edna a kick up the arse, cos he needs one lately!!

 

[Pedro Verde]

Think it's time to try something new while we're missing a couple of faces.
I thought Miwaw had loads of space down the wings deep in our half yesterday.
So I suggest this. It's a bit 4-5-1 but a bit more 4-1-3-1-1...
Not strictly these players but something like...

Goalie in t'net
CCV right back
O'Connell & Wright/Basham centre back
Enda left back
Lundstram in front of them
Fleck centre midfield
Carruthers or Stevens right midfield
Lafferty left midfield
Duffy between midfield and striker
Leon front man

Nowt to stop the usual overlapping shenanigans.
Duffy feeding Leon or Leon taking defenders away to make space.
Solid both flanks.
Solid down the middle and defence protected.


Hope you're reading this, Chris. It's the future.

Thats why you are not a manager

 

[blade67]

We need players back in their correct positions. We are totally unbalanced with Bash out wide and most of our attacking comes down the left side.

If we are still struggling once Baldock is back in the team then I will worry about our formation.

This. If Baldock can't get fit soon we may need to change it but my team for Friday would be

Blackman

Bashan - Wright - JOC
Baldock - lundstram- fleck- Stevens
Duffy
Clark- sharp

Sub's to include
Ccv, Lafferty, Caruthers, brooks, Donaldson

Bashan being at RWB causes numerous issues for both attack and defence.

 

[Bladesman]

This. If Baldock can't get fit soon we may need to change it but my team for Friday would be

Blackman

Bashan - Wright - JOC
Baldock - lundstram- fleck- Stevens
Duffy
Clark- sharp

Sub's to include
Ccv, Lafferty, Caruthers, brooks, Donaldson

Bashan being at RWB causes numerous issues for both attack and defence.

That is exactly the team I would pick for Friday as well.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

A lot of hope on Baldock coming back round these parts. Hope he's the miracle we all remember him as.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

Thats why you are not a manager

 

[Ricky]

JOC is a headless chicken in a back 4

Based on what?

 

[mancunianblade]

I think we should keep going as we are, but we need a plan B. One that looks something like
-------------------------Blackman
Baldock | Stearman | O'Connell | Stevens
-------------- Lundstram | Basham
---------------- Fleck | Duffy | Brooks
-------------------------- Clarke

We have a Plan B and it’s generally very effective we revert to a back 4 at the expense of the Central defender. See wendy and I believe Leeds

 

[South Bucks]

Not sure there's anything wrong with the formation its more what we do when we win the ball and start going forward. Against the pigs we had the same two up top as against Millwall yet against the pigs we drew them onto us and when we won the ball attacked with pace up to Leon and Brooks. Lots of space, lots of chances and goals, no parked bus. Against Millwall and QPR we didn't do that, too slow getting forward.

 

[DazBlade88]

Despite Basham’s limitations, first half yesterday we saw three great balls from Basham from the right, probably better than Stevens provided all game.

Ironically, the first time we'd put several excellent balls across the box in a few games. It just happened to be on the day that the man who is usually there for them wasn't playing. I completely understood the selection Wilder made though, given the lack of pace at the back for Millwall.

Personally I don't think radical changes are required. We are absolutely crying out for Baldock to come back and add that balance back to the team, along with several others finding their form again.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Plan A, attacking, at home:

Blackman
Basham Wright O'Connell
Baldock - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stevens
Lundstram Fleck
Duffy
Clarke Sharp​

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Plan B, more solid, for difficult away games:

Blackman
Basham Wright O'Connell
Baldock - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stevens
Lundstram
Leonard - - - - - - Fleck
-
Clarke Brooks​

A few times on Saturday Stevens had the ball out wide, Clarke was marked by big centre halves and in the box we had Duffy, Fleck, Brooks, i.e. not a lot of height and power. Could Ryan Leonard add that? He's not got a great scoring record, but maybe he's got goals in him if encouraged to bomb into the box more. We'd be sacrificing Duffy's creativity and flair, but we'd gain athleticism a real box to box man and fighting qualities in midfield. Was it right that we gave away two fouls first half, with Brooks alleged dive one of them? Maybe we need to get a bit tougher?

 

[Ricky]

Plan A, attacking, at home:

Blackman
Basham Wright O'Connell
Baldock - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stevens
Lundstram Fleck
Duffy
Clarke Sharp​

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Plan B, more solid, for difficult away games:

Blackman
Basham Wright O'Connell
Baldock - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Stevens
Lundstram
Leonard - - - - - - Fleck
-
Clarke Brooks​

A few times on Saturday Stevens had the ball out wide, Clarke was marked by big centre halves and in the box we had Duffy, Fleck, Brooks, i.e. not a lot of height and power. Could Ryan Leonard add that? He's not got a great scoring record, but maybe he's got goals in him if encouraged to bomb into the box more. We'd be sacrificing Duffy's creativity and flair, but we'd gain athleticism a real box to box man and fighting qualities in midfield. Was it right that we gave away two fouls first half, with Brooks alleged dive one of them? Maybe we need to get a bit tougher?

I think that box to box, hustle and bustle element is something Lundstram can add to his game and is a big reason I think he's got good potential. I'd like to see him getting in the box regularly playing within the current system. There's no reason to think he can't get goals. He's tall, agile, quite strong and brave and has two good feet.

He won't replace Coutts directly but I think he can develop and go a long way towards compensating for his loss by bringing other qualities to the table.

 

[mancunianblade]

In the pre game (Bristol) Interview with Radio Sheffield he practically laughed at Buchan when he suggested had he thought about changing the formation.

'Regardless of what set of clubs I have got...I always try and hit a 65'

 

[Steve Mackan]

In the pre game (Bristol) Interview with Radio Sheffield he practically laughed at Buchan when he suggested had he thought about changing the formation.

'Regardless of what set of clubs I have got...I always try and hit a 65'

I heard this, but I couldn't tell if this was down to Wilder having a defensive predisposition when it comes to answering questions by Buchan, or whether it was accurate. I'm pretty sure he'll have strongly considered changing the formation and practised alternatives, without deciding to jump the gun and make too big a change.

 

[Baaaaaaa Blades]

we're going with the christmas Pudding !

 

[mancunianblade]

I heard this, but I couldn't tell if this was down to Wilder having a defensive predisposition when it comes to answering questions by Buchan, or whether it was accurate. I'm pretty sure he'll have strongly considered changing the formation and practised alternatives, without deciding to jump the gun and make too big a change.

I think he was genuinely annoyed. I mean that formation has taken him from rock bottom of league one to the top of the Championship in 12 Months. He’s not a one plan man. He’s employed 442 during games when needed to mix things up.

Poor run of results comes down to injuries and attitude the formation works just fine and I think he was annoyed at being questioned