4-2-2-2

[GingerrrFox]

It became apparent to me last night that getting Barnes, Maddison and Gray into the same side needs a change of formation.

 

Puel is clearly a fan of 4 at the back. Harvey’s been playing as a left sided striker for West Brom. 

 

RB Leipzig use the 4-2-2-2 and it is similar in structure to the 4-2-3-1 (the full backs provide the width and it allows the 2 attacking midfielders to have a free role with the ball).

 

What’s everyone’s thoughts?

[SheppyFox]

I’m not sure we need to be building a team around Barnes, Maddison & Gray.

[matty98]

We'd concede from every corner with that lack of height

[Bert]

4 minutes ago, SheppyFox said:

I’m not sure we need to be building a team around Barnes, Maddison & Gray.

The best three young prospects we have, you mean? Who are we supposed to be building our team round then? 

[Ashley]

6 minutes ago, matty98 said:

We'd concede from every corner with that lack of height

 

Without anyone throwing this out of proportion, you mean like Manchester City and Barcelona do? 

 

Corners can be defended... you just need people in the right place.

[GingerrrFox]

7 minutes ago, matty98 said:

We'd concede from every corner with that lack of height

You can swap Mendy for Ndidi if height is a concern. 

 

General consensus among fans is that they wanna play with 2 strikers to support Vardy, Harvey’s been playing as a second striker for WBA over recent times so he fits perfectly in that role.

 

Plus with the 4-2-2-2 we still get Gray and Maddison in the team without being restricted to being stuck out wide, as they have a free role similar to how Nasri/Silva played under Mancini  who used the 4-2-2-2 at Man City. Defensively we still have the 2 defensive midfielders but we would have more bite going forwards.

[SheppyFox]

48 minutes ago, Bert said:

The best three young prospects we have, you mean? Who are we supposed to be building our team round then? 

Gray hasn’t improved noticeably in ages, Barnes is completely unproven and Maddison to be fair has done ok, I’d say we should just do a better job in the  coming transfer windows.

[StriderHiryu]

@GingerrrFox Consider taking this one to the Tactics thread because as I've found out on here, Tactics definitely aren't for everyone!

 

That system could definitely be tried though something I have seen that is consistent from Puel is that he always seems to have an attacking midfidler playing behind a striker. He did that at Nice, Southampton and now with us.

 

Something that is interesting is that he's not always played 4-2-3-1. He rotated between 3-5-1-1 and a diamond 4-1-2-1-2 at Nice, and tried the Diamond again at Southampton. He mostly used 4-2-3-1 at Monaco and Lille I believe during his stints there.

 

Below is his formation at Nice when they finished 4th in 2016. Here you can see the team has Mendy and Ricardo in it, so it is possible we could see something like this here, though i think it's interesting that in my recollection at least, we have never started with two out and out strikers. Even when Vardy and Nacho start, one is behind the other. Perhaps that's a nod to the European style that many teams in the Premier League play these days.

 

 

[matty98]

57 minutes ago, Ashley said:

 

Without anyone throwing this out of proportion, you mean like Manchester City and Barcelona do? 

 

Corners can be defended... you just need people in the right place.

 

Man City and Barcelona have commanding goalkeepers and I bet they don't face anywhere near as many corners as we do so it's less of a concern for them.

 

Of course you can to an extent, but having only 2 6ft plus outfield players and about 6 players below 5 ft 9 seems very small to me. Maybe if Kasper was more commanding.

[Raw Dykes]

1 hour ago, GingerrrFox said:

It became apparent to me last night that getting Barnes, Maddison and Gray into the same side needs a change of formation.

 

Puel is clearly a fan of 4 at the back. Harvey’s been playing as a left sided striker for West Brom. 

 

RB Leipzig use the 4-2-2-2 and it is similar in structure to the 4-2-3-1 (the full backs provide the width and it allows the 2 attacking midfielders to have a free role with the ball).

 

What’s everyone’s thoughts?

It's very, very similar to what we're doing now. All that's different is the no.10 is pushed further forward.

 

Maddison's not really a winger, either.

[AjcW]

West Brom actually play this to get the best out of him at the minute. Although they're much more attacking with it. Playing two strikers (one slightly held back) two wingers (one barnes and one who is also a natural striker) and two DM's to just sit and spray the balls to the wings.

[Stadt]

It's not that different to how we usually set up, our 4231 is quite structureless in attack, Maddison (or however is the attacking midfielder) will often take up drift slightly wide near the striker.