The 21/22 Formations Thread

[kingfox]

I expect us to be flexible, 3-4-1-2, 3-4-3 or 4-2-3-1 is what I expect to see throughout the season.

 

It’s our attacking options that give you a headache. I just don’t see Rodgers having Maddison out of the team, the only way to accommodate him though is in a 3-4-1-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation, you can’t go shoving him out wide, he’s been crap whenever he’s played there.

 

Then you have the predicament with Iheanacho. He clearly works best in a two, plus the way his form was in the second half of last season, it will be disappointing to see him become a bench player again. The best way to accommodate him would be in a 3-4-1-2, or you could push him out on the right, but that might not be ideal. Same applies to Daka, who I could see being more effective in a 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-3 system, simply because of his pace.

 

On paper, I think these two systems are our strongest...

 

Schmeichel

Fofana - Evans - Soyuncu

Castagne/Ricardo- Tielemans - Ndidi - Thomas/Bertrand

Maddison

Iheanacho/Daka - Vardy

 

or

 

Schmeichel

Castagne/Ricardo - Evans - Soyuncu - Thomas/Bertrand

Tielemans - Ndidi

Daka - Maddison - Barnes

Vardy

[Stuntman_Mike]

17 minutes ago, sdb said:

I think our best XI would be:

 

Kasper

 

Castagne

Fofana

Evans

Justin

 

Ndidi

Youri

Madders

 

Perez

Vardy 

Barnes 

 

Perez the obvious weak link. Justin obviously out so hopefully Ricardo can regain form and go to RB with Timmy LB. But imagine that side with a right wing Barnes equivalent. 

The first post to mention Justin! 

It's ridiculous how good our squad is getting haha 

[sdb]

What are people's predictions for Thomas. Is he the next Chillwell or the next Mattock/Sheehan? I'm 50/50. (Obviously he's far better than the latter 2 but you hopefully catch my drift).

[Raw Dykes]

34 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

With the players we’ve got at the moment 

 

433 

 

Kasper 

 

Timmy/Ricky

Evans 

Fofana/Soyuncu 

Bertrand 

 

Ndidi 

Youri 

Soumare 

 

Maddison 

Any of the 3 Strikers 

Barnes 

 

352 

 

Kasper 

 

Fofana 

Evans 

Soyuncu 

 

Timmy/Ricky 

Youri 

Ndidi 

Soumare/Maddison 

Thomas 

 

Iheanacho 

Vardy/Daka/Barnes 

 

4231 

 

Kasper 

 

Timmy/Ricky 

Evans 

Fofana/Soyuncu 

Bertrand 

 

Ndidi 

Youri 

 

Ricardo/Perez/Albrighton 

Maddison 

Barnes 

 

Any of the 3 strikers 

 

41212

 

Kasper 

 

Timmy/Ric 

Evans 

Wes/Cags 

Bertrand 

 

Ndidi 

Youri 

Soumare 

Madders

 

Iheanacho 

Vardy/Daka/Barnes 

 

343 

 

Kasper 

 

Fofana 

Evans 

Soyuncu 

 

Ricky/Tim 

Ndidi 

Youri 

Thomas 

 

Perez/Maddison 

Barnes 

Any of the 3 strikers 

 

442 

 

Kasper 

 

Ricky/Tim 

Evans 

Soyuncu/Fofana 

Bertrand 

 

Maddison/Albrighton 

Ndidi 

Youri 

Barnes 

 

Iheanacho 

Vardy/Daka

 

Take your pick, plenty of options to rotate and keep opposition guessing. Genuinely think Brendan could be planning to use any of those options across next season.

I agree with much of the sides you picked here, although there are a few nitpicks I have.

 

One is that I'm not sure Bertrand will automatically be first choice left back over Thomas. He might be, but I don't think there'll be too much between them, and Thomas is only going to improve. I'm looking forward to seeing Thomas at LB with Barnes ahead of him again - I think there's a lot of potential in that as they linked up so well last time.

 

Another is that Nacho isn't really a lone striker. I think Vardy or Daka would be chosen ahead of him whenever we go with 1 up top. I think it will probably be Nacho and one of the other two when it's 2 up front, though.

 

The main one, though, is that I don't think Maddison should be considered a wide player. We've seen it so many times, and it never works. With the squad as it is right now, I'd like to see Daka at RW in a 4231 with Vardy up front. I'd much rather Perez was picked there over Maddison. Hopefully, we'll sign a RW this summer, but even if not, I don't want to see Maddison out wide again.

 

Other than that, I agree. I think it's great that it looks like we're building a squad that can play in a number of formations, and strengthening the bench at the same time.

[Raw Dykes]

10 minutes ago, sdb said:

What are people's predictions for Thomas. Is he the next Chillwell or the next Mattock/Sheehan? I'm 50/50. (Obviously he's far better than the latter 2 but you hopefully catch my drift).

I honestly think he's going to be better than Chilwell.

[StriderHiryu]

3 hours ago, FoxinNotts said:

This is the system Rodgers used at Liverpool when he had Coutinho.

 

Could definitely see us using this system, but I think he might wait for James Justin to get back to full fitness before he does it, or plays Castagne at left back. Bertrand I don't think can go for 90 in that sort of system, Thomas the same as he's still a bit too young. James Justin has three lungs on him and excels in that type of role.

 

Liverpool smashed teams with this system, often 3 and 4 up after 30 minutes! Would love to see Rodgers try to recreate that style here, because I think with the new squad we could do it!

[volpeazzurro]

28 minutes ago, sdb said:

That looks better than the other posts, but that's because we're trying compensate for no naturally prolific right winger and so any XI looks disjointed or fails to maximise our best players. It's a glaring hole in the squad that has to be addressed in the next 6 weeks if we're to try for top 4 again. 

I don't think it's necessarily trying to compensate for the lack of a right winger because the use of wingers is just one way of playing and arguably a way that is getting more and more redundant and old hat. Arguably, in a team like Liverpool, there's absolutely no need for wingers at all, as the use of width can be provided by fullbacks (not wing backs) or the three forward players. 433 is a formation of it's own and not compensation for the lack of something. To some extent, wingers are old hat and in any case, really good one's are quite rare and costly and I don't see us forking out tens of millions for one.

 

To just use a player like Barnes for example a 'winger' would be a criminal waste of his talents and a bit narrow minded. Forward play these days has moved on and consequently forward players are expected to have more in their armoury than merely being a winger or centre forward. In a team like Manchester City, the fluidity of their play is such that at times you'd be hard pressed to nail down a rigid formation or system. Marhez may have been classed as a winger when he played for us but he's so much more than that now for Manchester City and a far better player for it.

[davieG]

Did I read somewhere that is not renowned for his tackling if so who's going to be Ndidi's cover?

[UHDrive]

6 hours ago, sdb said:

What are people's predictions for Thomas. Is he the next Chillwell or the next Mattock/Sheehan? I'm 50/50. (Obviously he's far better than the latter 2 but you hopefully catch my drift).

I don't want to rain on his parade as he's a good kid and you can tell that from what comes out of the club, from his team mates and the manager too. Chilwell had that ability to be up and down that flank as quick as a whippet, going forwards or backwards. He was a good crosser of the ball. He was good at dead ball situations and corners too and ultimately that's why Chelsea came in for him and he won the champions league.

 

No one knows what the future holds and technically he's a very gifted player on the ball and he has a calmness in tight spaces that other players don't have.

 

Ultimately though from my viewpoint he already lacks a lot of what chilwell has I.e. speed, crossing and dead ball situations. 

 

If he were to catch up with chilwells level and given his age then he'd need to do it this year career wise, and I have doubts that he can.

[Raw Dykes]

54 minutes ago, UHDrive said:

I don't want to rain on his parade as he's a good kid and you can tell that from what comes out of the club, from his team mates and the manager too. Chilwell had that ability to be up and down that flank as quick as a whippet, going forwards or backwards. He was a good crosser of the ball. He was good at dead ball situations and corners too and ultimately that's why Chelsea came in for him and he won the champions league.

 

No one knows what the future holds and technically he's a very gifted player on the ball and he has a calmness in tight spaces that other players don't have.

 

Ultimately though from my viewpoint he already lacks a lot of what chilwell has I.e. speed, crossing and dead ball situations. 

 

If he were to catch up with chilwells level and given his age then he'd need to do it this year career wise, and I have doubts that he can.

Chilwell will always be the quicker player, but I'm surprised that you think his crossing is better than Thomas's. I didn't really rate Chilwell's crossing ability, and I thought he opted not to too often. With us, it seemed like he'd frequently pass the ball backwards when he was in a good position to cross.

 

The main thing that has impressed me so far about Thomas is his ability to put good crosses in. I think he's already considerably better than Chilwell in this aspect.

[UHDrive]

3 hours ago, Raw Dykes said:

Chilwell will always be the quicker player, but I'm surprised that you think his crossing is better than Thomas's. I didn't really rate Chilwell's crossing ability, and I thought he opted not to too often. With us, it seemed like he'd frequently pass the ball backwards when he was in a good position to cross.

 

The main thing that has impressed me so far about Thomas is his ability to put good crosses in. I think he's already considerably better than Chilwell in this aspect.

I completely disagree. If chilwell was that bad then why was he entrusted to carry out dead ball situations. I understand people want Thonas to be the next best thing, home grown etc, but pace in the Premier league is everything. I dont rate Thomas as better than chillwell and I certainly don't rate him at our level moving forward. You only need to compare his play against Castagna and JJ to realise that. Back up maybe, but that's stretching it for me

[Raw Dykes]

2 minutes ago, UHDrive said:

I completely disagree. If chilwell was that bad then why was he entrusted to carry out dead ball situations. I understand people want Thonas to be the next best thing, home grown etc, but pace in the Premier league is everything. I dont rate Thomas as better than chillwell and I certainly don't rate him at our level moving forward. You only need to compare his play against Castagna and JJ to realise that. Back up maybe, but that's stretching it for me

For starters, I never said Chilwell was bad. Being trusted with dead ball situations isn't really an accurate indicator as to how good a player is. Is it not possible that your best dead ball specialist is also your worst player on the pitch? And besides, whether a player gets to take free kicks or corners depends on who else is on the pitch with them. It's also just a decision by the manager, who could be mistaken. I think a much better indicator is just to look at a few examples of crosses by each player to compare.

 

Pace is not everything! It's very useful, but it's not everything. Youri's not blessed with pace (far from it), but he's the first name on the team sheet.

 

Castagne is a seasoned pro, and I think JJ could possibly be a generational talent. I hardly think it's fair to compare a 19 year old thrown in at the deep end to them. I think Thomas has performed very well, despite his age, and he's only going to improve.

 

I think his crossing is already a lot better than Chilwell's was for us, and watching him link up with Barnes, compared to when Chilwell attempted to, is like night and day. Even if Thomas's ceiling turns out not to be higher than Chilwell's, I really think that Thomas will turn out to be the more effective player for us, at least. I think you're being very harsh on the lad.

[Analysethis]

I dont think we will ever see this line-up but I`d like to see it for one game at least.

 

Kasper

Catsagne - Caglar - Fofana - JJ

Tielemans - Ndidi - Soumare

Madders - Barnes

Daka

 

 

a friendly against our reserves would be decent too LOL

 

Ward

Riccardo - Evans - Amartey - Bertrand

Mendy - Hamza - Dewsbury-Hall

Praet

Vardy - Iheanacho 

 

That would mean that Albrighton, Thomas, Perez, Benkovic wouldn't get much game time which will be extremely unfair on LT and Albrighton.

[Koke]

Any line up with Perez and we will struggle. 

[OadbyBlue]

41 minutes ago, Koke said:

Any line up with Perez and we will struggle. 

This one didn’t do too badly

[UHDrive]

13 hours ago, Raw Dykes said:

For starters, I never said Chilwell was bad. Being trusted with dead ball situations isn't really an accurate indicator as to how good a player is. Is it not possible that your best dead ball specialist is also your worst player on the pitch? And besides, whether a player gets to take free kicks or corners depends on who else is on the pitch with them. It's also just a decision by the manager, who could be mistaken. I think a much better indicator is just to look at a few examples of crosses by each player to compare.

 

Pace is not everything! It's very useful, but it's not everything. Youri's not blessed with pace (far from it), but he's the first name on the team sheet.

 

Castagne is a seasoned pro, and I think JJ could possibly be a generational talent. I hardly think it's fair to compare a 19 year old thrown in at the deep end to them. I think Thomas has performed very well, despite his age, and he's only going to improve.

 

I think his crossing is already a lot better than Chilwell's was for us, and watching him link up with Barnes, compared to when Chilwell attempted to, is like night and day. Even if Thomas's ceiling turns out not to be higher than Chilwell's, I really think that Thomas will turn out to be the more effective player for us, at least. I think you're being very harsh on the lad.

Saying that Chilwell was "bad" wasn't meant as a direct quote just broad that's all, just like saying I'm being harsh when I'm just being pointed.

I'm sure us foxes fans we remember a period when we we thought Chilwell was God-awful and had to go! But now look at him, so it goes to show that anything can happen. Thomas has talent there is no doubt and despite that lack in pace I also didn't mention in my previous post that he has a fantastic ability to be able to control the ball at his feet with his head up. He is also tactically good at throw ins.

I have to go back to that pace issue though because it seemed evident that opposition wingers appeared to be aware of it. He was caught out a number of times in out defensive 3rd whether via tracking players and losing them or giving away needless free kicks in dangerous areas because he lacks the pace that all of our other wingers have, together with the height and athleticism.

You can't compare Youri, he's there to distribute midfield balls, not charge up and down the wings all game. Youri does his best but its his other quality's in his position that matter.

As I've said, Thomas I'd a good kid, and a genuine one it appears too. I just don't see him at this level.

[leicesterseddon]

I do think we play better with a back 4 but apart from that I’m at a loss!

 

We have clearly become a very versatile side, but I do worry about the lack of a stable formation.

 

Ideally I’d like us to play with proper wingers (including Barnes who I think was a real loss) but as others have said - who plays on the right? 

[messerschmitt]

22 hours ago, leicesterseddon said:

I do think we play better with a back 4 but apart from that I’m at a loss!

 

We have clearly become a very versatile side, but I do worry about the lack of a stable formation.

 

Ideally I’d like us to play with proper wingers (including Barnes who I think was a real loss) but as others have said - who plays on the right? 

I can't see 5 at the back being used that much (hopefully) We'd need to sign 2 CB's, you'd need 5 proper CB's, even if 4 were fit it doesn't leave much squad rotation for that position, there were only a hand full of games in which Evens, Soyuncu and Fofana played together.

We'd also need at least a couple of proper wing backs. We didn't have anybody latterly who could do that and by that I mean the ability of a proper wing back to take on and go past an opponent, without that you have a back 5 who can only pass along the back line, and the opposition can see that a mile off and set up to let players pass inside. James Justin looked the only player who could slot into that role. We have a lot of options at full back but not wing backs.

I can see us moving towards a 4.3.3. now that we have Soumare.

[Nicolo Barella]

No diamond midfields please... Best I can do for you is a 4-3-3 with inside forwards