Alonso is a world class wing back and a championship level full back. End of story. 

If Frank decides to utilize the 3 CBs I can see us playing Alonso more frequently.

Although in this system you lose an offensive player it is misleading as Alonso is exceptional with assists and goals. 

Alonso is a world class wing back and a championship level full back. End of story. 

Pretty much this and we have the evidence to prove it.

Our left side was awesome today... still think Mount is too loose with the ball, and Azpi, had a few beautiful switches to him that he received with space, only to cut them back... The 3-4-2-1 would suit James/ Alonso well IMO, and I'd rotate Azpi in the back 3 with Rudi, Tomori and Zouma. The change today obviously flustered Mourinho and the Spurs... but for it to take more affect than a surprise gimmick against a coach that wants to overprepare for his opponent we need to maintain more technical quality.

If Frank decides to utilize the 3 CBs I can see us playing Alonso more frequently.
Although in this system you lose an offensive player it is misleading as Alonso is exceptional with assists and goals. 

I actually think we gain an attacking player LOL I saw him closer to Tammy than his back 3 so many times I thought he was a second striker

16 minutes ago, just said:

No Slojo, my point flew over your head. It was, (and still is), that our midfield, IMO, needs a physical presence like Essien. Neither Kante, Jorginho or Kovacic give us that. At the time I posted I would have left out Kova before Jorginho to fit that player in. See my post to dansubrosa on 1st December for reference. Now, based on current form, it would be Jorginho before Kova.

And, sorry. I forgot you don't like talking about Luiz now. Don't you think that's hypocritical too?  Like you trying to decide what is and isn't up for debate?

 

Why are you obsessed with David Luiz? He's a mediocre defender and I've said that many times, I don't understand your point. 

And you can't back pedal on that, you said it specifically after the City game in the Kovacic thread after he made a mistake you were straight on his back, you and that Gol15. How many times did we hear from you that Barkley is the player to put forward and Kovacic is w**k and shouldn't have been signed? You've yet to admit you're wrong on that and still refuse to give Kovacic any credit despite being our best midfielder this season. Me and many others were telling you this last season to not write him off. There's a reason Lampard plays him all the time, and the only game he didn't start which was last game, we were much better when he came on. 

Tribalism is prevalent on this forum, and it doesn't just start and end with RIPMourinho's views on Willian. 

Just now, Slojo said:

Why are you obsessed with David Luiz? He's a mediocre defender and I've said that many times, I don't understand your point. 

And you can't back pedal on that, you said it specifically after the City game in the Kovacic thread after he made a mistake you were straight on his back, you and that Gol15. How many times did we hear from you that Barkley is the player to put forward and Kovacic is w**k and shouldn't have been signed? You've yet to admit you're wrong on that and still refuse to give Kovacic any credit despite being our best midfielder this season. Me and many others were telling you this last season to not write him off. There's a reason Lampard plays him all the time, and the only game he didn't start which was last game, we were much better when he came on. 

Tribalism is prevalent on this forum, and it doesn't just start and end with RIPMourinho's views on Willian. 

 

Slojo please stop digging. Now you know full well the Barkley comparisons were from last season. The stats, at that time, backed that view up. 

And you defended David Luiz regularly, the most error prone centre-half we have ever had, and yet recently criticised Zouma for his mistakes. I picked you up on that because you had no consistency in your view across the two players.

You can be quite revisionist with your posts, you probably don't even realize you are doing sometimes. But it's grating.  Because you are always quick to point fingers at others, but you don't like it when it is done to you. 

43 minutes ago, just said:

 

Slojo please stop digging. Now you know full well the Barkley comparisons were from last season. The stats, at that time, backed that view up. 

And you defended David Luiz regularly, the most error prone centre-half we have ever had, and yet recently criticised Zouma for his mistakes. I picked you up on that because you had no consistency in your view across the two players.

You can be quite revisionist with your posts, you probably don't even realize you are doing sometimes. But it's grating.  Because you are always quick to point fingers at others, but you don't like it when it is done to you. 

No I didn't... I've always maintained the view that David Luiz is a bad defender, go ahead and prove otherwise. All I said was is that he had a good season when we first brought him back, I never wanted him back in the first place, he's too erratic. 

Once again you've gone desperate and brought up David Luiz, you have an unhealthy obsession with him. What does he have to do with us now? He's at Arsenal making mistakes for fun. Zouma is nowhere near as mistake prone as David Luiz is, what do you want me to say? If I am truly a revisionist you can use the search bar up top and look at my views of David Luiz on the forum, nothing I've said is contradicting. You're shifting the goalposts here, you don't like it when people bring up your views on Kovacic, unlike you I'll happily admit when I'm wrong, anybody on here can tell you that... 

I honestly think it’s worth changing the whole formation just so we can accommodate Alonso - Tonight has reminded me how good he can be as a wingback, and we seem to be really effective playing the system.

He can win us points on his own, and we have the players for the Conte system. Why don’t Lampard give it a go? After all Alonso as a wingback is so much better than having Emerson, Alonso or even Azpi as a left back.

26 minutes ago, Slojo said:

No I didn't... I've always maintained the view that David Luiz is a bad defender, go ahead and prove otherwise. All I said was is that he had a good season when we first brought him back, I never wanted him back in the first place, he's too erratic. 

Once again you've gone desperate and brought up David Luiz, you have an unhealthy obsession with him. What does he have to do with us now? He's at Arsenal making mistakes for fun. Zouma is nowhere near as mistake prone as David Luiz is, what do you want me to say? If I am truly a revisionist you can use the search bar up top and look at my views of David Luiz on the forum, nothing I've said is contradicting. You're shifting the goalposts here, you don't like it when people bring up your views on Kovacic, unlike you I'll happily admit when I'm wrong, anybody on here can tell you that... 

I have gone back and looked through the Luiz and Cahill threads, Slojo and I absolutely will apologise here. I was wrong. It was not you, it was RIP Mourinho I regularly disagreed with. Your view and mine on Luiz were the same, Good passer, sh*te defender, glad to see him go.

And in that spirit I hope that you will be big enough to admit that you have been wrong by persisting in stating that I dislike Kovacic, because I don't. Maybe then we can start having reasoned exchanges on here again without any preconceived agendas on either side.

I can see a bromance blossoming.

32 minutes ago, just said:

I have gone back and looked through the Luiz and Cahill threads, Slojo and I absolutely will apologise here. I was wrong. It was not you, it was RIP Mourinho I regularly disagreed with. Your view and mine on Luiz were the same, Good passer, sh*te defender, glad to see him go.

And in that spirit I hope that you will be big enough to admit that you have been wrong by persisting in stating that I dislike Kovacic, because I don't. Maybe then we can start having reasoned exchanges on here again without any preconceived agendas on either side.

Well now I have to admit I'm wrong about you for f**k sake. 

This was just a ploy from the beginning wasn't it? 

37 minutes ago, Davey Baby said:

I can see a bromance blossoming.

Never had anything against Just, it's just an argument. It's nothing serious, I still like his posts most of the time when I see them on this forum, it's just this topic we get into a scuffle over, nothing that'll make me dislike him. And just right there he shows why he's he's well liked on the forum. 

4 hours ago, bisright1 said:

Alonso is a world class wing back and a championship level full back. End of story. 

I agree with you. Against top teams he should absolutely not play in a back 4. 

Against poorer teams we can do with his attacking ability and height because he is still a way better option than emerson in those games.

Good or bad the press had him sold in Jan to la liga, seems it’s worth a punt on keeping him around until May just in case Frank needs to copy AC’s formation again !

1 minute ago, General said:

Good or bad the press had him sold in Jan to la liga, seems it’s worth a punt on keeping him around until May just in case Frank needs to copy AC’s formation again !

Dont do that. Was Jose's cheap way of taking a shot at Frank.

Conte did not invent the formation. He just used it very well.

5 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

I honestly think it’s worth changing the whole formation just so we can accommodate Alonso - Tonight has reminded me how good he can be as a wingback, and we seem to be really effective playing the system.

He can win us points on his own, and we have the players for the Conte system. Why don’t Lampard give it a go? After all Alonso as a wingback is so much better than having Emerson, Alonso or even Azpi as a left back.

I don't support the idea of basing our system around Alonso.

He was very good today, mind you.

5 hours ago, JMaher94 said:

I don't support the idea of basing our system around Alonso.

He was very good today, mind you.

Fair enough, I didn’t mean it like that btw, just trying to say maybe we could make the most of our squad, with Alonso being one of the best wingbacks in game, maybe we should start making use of him. While we’re at it, why don’t we recall Moses and put him on right wing back 😉

Thought he was fantastic. Refreshing to see him back at his best for the first time in forever.

10 hours ago, Davey Baby said:

I can see a bromance blossoming.

@just always did fancy the youngsters.

11 hours ago, dansubrosa said:

I honestly think it’s worth changing the whole formation just so we can accommodate Alonso - Tonight has reminded me how good he can be as a wingback, and we seem to be really effective playing the system.

He can win us points on his own, and we have the players for the Conte system. Why don’t Lampard give it a go? After all Alonso as a wingback is so much better than having Emerson, Alonso or even Azpi as a left back.

Interesting you say that dan. I thought he was same old Alonso had some good moments going forward but was again caught out for pace in big moments. Witness the point where Kane should have equalised.

One thing I do like about Alonso as a wingback and the three is that it gives us 4 tall defenders which makes it easier to defend crosses and set pieces which is our achilles heel. 

I reckon Jose would have fancied a headed goal with Vertoghen, Toby and Sanchez all in the team. As it was we looked pretty solid.

I can't remember him getting beat for pace in that match once he was rock solid all game

6 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Interesting you say that dan. I thought he was same old Alonso had some good moments going forward but was again caught out for pace in big moments. Witness the point where Kane should have equalised.

No look again. It was a cut back pass and he was not beaten by pace. Also there was only Kane in the Box and 4-5 of our own. Someone from midfield or one of the three cb's should have picked him up. 

Edited December 23, 20196 yr by Nevamind

Alonso 

Tomori

Zouma 

Rudiger

Abraham 

All capable-good in the air.. 

Add Azpi who has a decent leap for a shorter guy. Felt much safer from set plays yesterday. 

Basically we need a left back who is tall, quick , can defend in a 4 and whip a ball in. Should be no problem right?