Square pegs, round holes and unbalanced

[Captain...]

On 07/10/2018 at 18:36, The Doctor said:

Because that's not the defensive strategy - it's 4-4-1-1 in defence, with Iheanacho sitting slightly deeper than Vardy, then springs into a 3-5-2 with Maddison and Iheanacho moving up when we win the ball.

I agree with your analysis on how we’re playing, it is a 352 at times, with Chilwell and Ricardo as wing backs and Amartey playing as a defensive right back (recall Simpson anyone?) the issue I have with that approach is you don’t need to play 2 holding midfielders. If it’s 4231 with attacking full backs then you need the cover of the “double pivot”. With Amartey, offering little going forwards one of the central midfielders needs to take more responsibility to attack. Obviously there will be changes for the next game but I’d like to see either a proper 343/352/532 or if we stick with the same formation Iborra in the middle with Mendy to give us more creativity.

[WigstonWanderer]

8 hours ago, Captain... said:

I agree with your analysis on how we’re playing, it is a 352 at times, with Chilwell and Ricardo as wing backs and Amartey playing as a defensive right back (recall Simpson anyone?) the issue I have with that approach is you don’t need to play 2 holding midfielders. If it’s 4231 with attacking full backs then you need the cover of the “double pivot”. With Amartey, offering little going forwards one of the central midfielders needs to take more responsibility to attack. Obviously there will be changes for the next game but I’d like to see either a proper 343/352/532 or if we stick with the same formation Iborra in the middle with Mendy to give us more creativity.

Perhaps it’s all trying to be a bit too clever and over complicated for our players to understand and execute reliably. Like you I’d prefer just a straightforward 3 at the back style that appears to suit the players we have available.

[Jimmy]

Or perhaps it’s as simple as people were moaning Vardy was isolated so Puel found a way to get another striker in the system

 

it worked vs Huddersfield so he stuck with it at Newcastle and we won 2-0 so he kept the same team and we came unstuck vs Everton.

[Foxxed]

I don't agree we're unbalanced. We're playing with one full back because we only have one. And we're using Iheancho because he's played really well.

 

If balance means making Richardo a full back and leaving Iheanacho on the bench simply to fit a known formation then I'm happy playing to the teams current strengths.