Formations, Tactics, Analysis, and Statistics

[thebigbangtheo]

My analysis of the team as it stands is that the single most functional part of it, is the defence. From an engineering standpoint as such, how it operates is still within the tolerances it needs to withstand for its purpose of achieving a successful Premier League and European campaign season.

However, what is not in dispute is that it's functionality becomes significantly degraded upon any of the components within the mechanism succumbing to fatigue and fracturing under stress to cause almost irreparable damage (Tierney, Tomiyasu and Partey).

Remedial action by the engineer in now recasting those components out of titanium instead of aluminium, or alternatively improving the design to now include a type of actuator suppressing any harmful effects are good solutions in solving the problem.

That we are currently unable to enter the realm of Sci-Fi technology to enact our own version of the Six Million Dollar Man and utilise bionic legs for Tierney, *Partey and Tomiyasu is an extreme hindrance to the first option as is their replacement with replica players impervious to injury.

Therefore, the recruitment of Lisandro Martinez or a very similar player would equate to being that actuator as the second and more feasible option, with the design improvement now moving the Ghanaian into central midfield as the perpetual motion box-to-box midfielder, whilst situating the Argentine behind him in the defensive midfield slot to best utilise his mixture of assassin and quarter-back like qualities.

In the event of Tierney once again imitating a KitKat and activating Martinez's need to nullify his loss, Partey would effortlessly slide back to accommodate that or offer the option of a slight modification to operate in tandem with Elneny now as the deepest midfielder.

*Also scheduled to have a bionic eye fitted in addressing the inaccuracy of his long range shooting.

[CrimsonGunner11]

Ramsdale
(Turner/Runarsson)
Saliba White Gabriel
(White/Tomiyasu) (Gabriel/Holding) (Tierney/Mari)
Tomiyasu —- Partey —- Odegaard —- Tierney
(Cedric/Niles) —- (Xhaka/Elneny) --- (Vieira/Lokonga) —- (Zinchenko/Tavares)
Saka Jesus Martinelli
(Pepe/Marquinhos) (Nketiah/Balogun) (ESR/Jesus)

[theHotHead]

To be honest with the CBs we have I think 3 at the back is a great shout.

[Losmeister]

Ramsdale
(Turner/Runarsson)
Saliba White Gabriel
(White/Tomiyasu) (Gabriel/Holding) (Tierney/Mari)
Tomiyasu —- Partey —- Odegaard —- Tierney
(Cedric/Niles) —- (Xhaka/Elneny) --- (Vieira/Lokonga) —- (Zinchenko/Tavares)
Saka Jesus Martinelli
(Pepe/Marquinhos) (Nketiah/Balogun) (ESR/Jesus)

I came here to aske if anyone was thinking we are going to a back 3?

and ... viola

[DiamondGooner]

I'm not seeing it.

Remember we're back in the Europa now so we'd need at least 5 CB's to play 3atb and we only have 4 CB's.

That to me looks more like Saliba & Holding in some Europa's and cups and White & Gab for the tougher games?

I could be wrong but if we're playing 3atb most of our best CB's will be playing in almost every game.

From pre-season I'm sure we've started every game 4-2-3-1?

[Losmeister]

tho i didnt say it... what i was thinking of was that we'd go 3 atb SOMETIMES...

mixing it in here and there?

[Losmeister]

stats... for the first time i spent a few minutes looking at these stats

https://fbref.com/en/players/fce2302c/s ... ut_full_FB

is that something you all do?
heat maps and that kinda thing also intrigue me..

are there any particular sites you'd recommend
or what is the general consensus on using these tools?

[CrimsonGunner11]

I'm not seeing it.

Remember we're back in the Europa now so we'd need at least 5 CB's to play 3atb and we only have 4 CB's.

That to me looks more like Saliba & Holding in some Europa's and cups and White & Gab for the tougher games?

I could be wrong but if we're playing 3atb most of our best CB's will be playing in almost every game.

From pre-season I'm sure we've started every game 4-2-3-1?

Don’t forget, we still have Mari. So we do have the 5 CB minimum. Cedric can also play in a back 3, giving us 6 options. And then there’s the worst case scenario, where we can also use Xhaka and Elneny if need be.

3 at the back is not my preference tbh but it does seem to suit a lot of our players

[alexafc12]

Who plays RWB in a back 5 ?

[CrimsonGunner11]

Who plays RWB in a back 5 ?

Tomiyasu, Cedric, Bellerin, and Niles given the players we have currently.

Saka can play there too but I would prefer he doesn’t

[alexafc12]

Who plays RWB in a back 5 ?

Tomiyasu, Cedric, Bellerin, and Niles given the players we have currently.

Saka can play there too but I would prefer he doesn’t

The latter two are for sale and will likely leave.

Tomiyasu doesn’t fit at RWB imo and Cedric should not be anywhere near our starting lineup.

Saka has to play in his strongest position which is RW where he can focus mainly on attacking.

I don’t think we have a player made for the RWB position (assuming we sell Bellerin and Niles as planned)

[CrimsonGunner11]

Who plays RWB in a back 5 ?

Tomiyasu, Cedric, Bellerin, and Niles given the players we have currently.

Saka can play there too but I would prefer he doesn’t

The latter two are for sale and will likely leave.

Tomiyasu doesn’t fit at RWB imo and Cedric should not be anywhere near our starting lineup.

Saka has to play in his strongest position which is RW where he can focus mainly on attacking.

I don’t think we have a player made for the RWB position (assuming we sell Bellerin and Niles as planned)

If we sell all the players we plan on selling then yeah 3 at the back doesn’t look so good anymore.

But I’m going off who we have currently and to me the formation seems to answer a lot of questions. The Zinchenko one especially

[theHotHead]

stats... for the first time i spent a few minutes looking at these stats

https://fbref.com/en/players/fce2302c/s ... ut_full_FB

is that something you all do?
heat maps and that kinda thing also intrigue me..

are there any particular sites you'd recommend
or what is the general consensus on using these tools?

I look at stats all the time, sometimes they tell me I am wrong for what I was thinking. I love seeing those details, can only help strengthen your belief or argument. That FBRef stat list is crazy detailed, all sorts of metrics I never knew they measured. Makes you wonder, how the flip do they gather all of that info for every player in every match so damn quickly !!

[theHotHead]

Who plays RWB in a back 5 ?

Would be perfect for AMN to be honest, he is clever enough on the ball going forward and decent defensively. Tomi - not sure of his credentials as a wing back, he's a fantastic full back

[Power n Glory]

Who plays RWB in a back 5 ?

Tomiyasu, Cedric, Bellerin, and Niles given the players we have currently.

Saka can play there too but I would prefer he doesn’t

The latter two are for sale and will likely leave.

Tomiyasu doesn’t fit at RWB imo and Cedric should not be anywhere near our starting lineup.

Saka has to play in his strongest position which is RW where he can focus mainly on attacking.

I don’t think we have a player made for the RWB position (assuming we sell Bellerin and Niles as planned)

If we sell all the players we plan on selling then yeah 3 at the back doesn’t look so good anymore.

But I’m going off who we have currently and to me the formation seems to answer a lot of questions. The Zinchenko one especially

We have been switching to a 3 at the back formation in the second half for pre season games.

A 3-4-3 would help explain why he's bought Vieria. The front 3 in a 3-4-3 need to comfortable in both wide areas and the middle. May work well for ESR and Saka. Plus options to play Nketiah and Jesus. Tomiyasu could also play as a CB and is comfortable on either foot. We'll see. So far it's been a 2nd half formation and he hasn't started a game this way.