Formations, Tactics, Analysis, and Statistics

[Angelito]

[starmandb]

Quite good Man City
In the lead up to the 1987 league cup final win v Liverpool
At home in the league
We drew 0-0 with 10th placed Coventry
Lost 1-0 to 3rd placed Liverpool
Drew 0-0 with 4th placed Nottingham Forest
Lost 1-0 to 2nd placed Everton
In that period we also lost 1-0 at home to 6th placed Spurs in the first leg of the league cup semi final
With little evidence but blind support me and friends got roaring drunk and were telling everyone interested or not that we would do them in the second leg
We did
Some of the best days I have ever spent in a football ground

[theHotHead]

Saw a video on the BBC site about why Simeone us great at Athletico, think he was quoted as saying he plays formations/systems to suit the players he has, explaining the move from 4-4-2 to a sort of 3-5-2

I don't understand why that isn't the standard formula for all managers, this annoying habit of trying to mould players to play a system they can't play is straight up annoyong.

[swipe right]

Should never have sold this guy.
https://youtu.be/CUBQHR-jfRE

[KG3]

Saw a video on the BBC site about why Simeone us great at Athletico, think he was quoted as saying he plays formations/systems to suit the players he has, explaining the move from 4-4-2 to a sort of 3-5-2

I don't understand why that isn't the standard formula for all managers, this annoying habit of trying to mould players to play a system they can't play is straight up annoyong.

Tbh if the players are good enough under the right manager this isn’t an issue, look at Chelsea champions in 14-15 with Jose, 16-17 with conte. Two different managers/systems within a few years mostly the same players, both successful in implementing their systems in short period of times.

[theHotHead]

But some players are good enough in other systems, lets be clear, they are ALL pro footballers, they must have been good at something to get this far!

Ok you might have a situation where a squad assembled is unbalanced but, the core of the players were Wenger players and their only flaw was being defensively naive/stupid. Emery came in and the players that were brought in should've reduced that naivety/stupidity, but we became worse at defending. This season we have 2 better CBs a top class CM that can screen the defence and 2 creative players and we look worse than we have ever been.

There is no way this should be the case, especially when you consider they are all ball players, we didn't buy any water carriers or technically limited players on the ball.

[Power n Glory]

If we can go from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3 and back again, surely we can play a two striker system. When we were playing the 3-4-3, I never understood why a 3-4-1-2 was never tried.

Aubameyang---Lacazette
------------Smith Rowe-------
Tierney--Partey-Ceballos-Bellrin
Gabriel-------Luiz-----Holding
-----------------Leno--‐-----------

[theHotHead]

To be honest, and it kinda goes back to what DG was saying about us looking better playing 3 at the back, I too didn't understand why we didn't play 2 up top, like you suggest PnG.

Auba has looked better when played next to Laca, they worked well together, isolating them has not worked for either, in my opinion.

[Power n Glory]

Laca and Auba compliment each other and I've never understood why we haven't combined the pair up front. Auba makes more of the runs behind and Laca comes short for the link up play.

[ag6789]

Trouble is previous live wire Auba is now a lethargic sleepy wire. That is why no formation works. He kept Unai in business for 18 months, then kept hopes up for Arteta last season.
Think Arteta tried Pepe against MC, because he had shown signs of life in past two games before that. Thought his dribblrs could take out a defender or two. But true to Pepe's nature he turned up a damp squib. Arsenal has so many whimsical unpredictable parts in the cog, it is impossible to have predictable outcomes now.
Couple of games Luiz plays awesome then suddenly has a moment of madness and we submit 3 pts. Similarly w/Xhakha. Even Leno and Gabby have their shares not to speak of Holding and Belkerin

[ag6789]

Trouble is previous live wire Auba is now a lethargic sleepy wire. That is why no formation works. He kept Unai in business for 18 months, then kept hopes up for Arteta last season.
Think Arteta tried Pepe against MC, because he had shown signs of life in past two games before that. Thought his dribblrs could take out a defender or two. But true to Pepe's nature he turned up a damp squib. Arsenal has so many whimsical unpredictable parts in the cog, it is impossible to have predictable outcomes now.
Couple of games Luiz plays awesome then suddenly has a moment of madness and we submit 3 pts. Similarly w/Xhakha. Even Leno and Gabby have their shares not to speak of Holding and Bellerin. And up front similar performances : Auba, Pepe up and down.
Only predictable performers are Saka and Tierney, mostly positive and ESR getting there of late And Willian always negative. Mindboggling really!

[theHotHead]

But thats exactly the point we are making, we haven't played the 2 up top, we have always played 3 and Auba has been wide or one of Auba and Laca have not played.

The 3-4-1-2 PnG mentions should be worth a try because we get the 2 of them up top in the middle, to play off each other, ESR can be the creative mid behind them, width could be provided by any 2 of Saka/Pepe or Tierney/Bellerin (if more caution is in order). Tierney could fill one of the 3 CB positions, which leaves 2 players in central mid- Partey plus one of Ceballos/Elneny/Xhaka (in that order).

The point is there is quite a lot of room for change, depending on the opponent, the formation can be more offensive or cautious.

[Zenith]

[Power n Glory]

No Plan B. Or whatever we're doing isn't good enough. It's definitely reflective in the subs.

[theHotHead]

Well bringing Willian on in any game you are trying to win from behind shows magnificent levels of idiocy/delusion/blindness .... delete as appropriate.