15 minutes ago, jack_super_class said:

Im not confident about Alonso in a back 4 and Moses playing RB would be weird. I think the 343 is fine but apart from Hazard we lack creativity hence the lack of goals in the league. I have wanted to see 2 upfront for a while but no manager ever wants to even try it.

For me, Moses wouldn't be a RB it would either be Azpi or Zappacosta. 

48 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

For me, Moses wouldn't be a RB it would either be Azpi or Zappacosta. 

so we sell Moses?

Not necessarily as he can play a right winger or forward yet selling surely would be a consideration if we reverted to a back four.

6 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Not necessarily as he can play a right winger or forward yet selling surely would be a consideration if we reverted to a back four.

Moses as a RW/FW? Sorry but his output is poor in those positions.

4 minutes ago, ducavis said:

Moses as a RW/FW? Sorry but his output is poor in those positions.

Don't disagree though don't think we originally bought him to play in defence.

Another thing that grates just now is that we don't seem to have anyone except our left central back that can provide Morata ( the best attacking header of the ball in the league) a decent cross.

Moses would never play RB, Dave would. 

Im more inclined to think the problem is that other teams hsve rumbled how to nullify us. Formation change worked last year and is unlikely to do so again, especially in the short term. We seem.to have lost our blitz counterattack and we are being stifled by good opposition defensive play. Only trouble is it makes for dreadfully boring football. BTW I don't have a solution.

I believe we will continue to play 3 at the back. We have been very solid at the back recently with 5 clean sheets in 6 which has probably been overlooked a bit in this topic. We only conceded twice to Arsenal last week and both goals Thibaut could do nothing about.

Let's remember all good teams start with a solid defence.

Antonio just needs the team to find that spark in the final third again and I believe we can get on a good run. He will have to decide whether to revert back to two wingers more regularly like last season.

I expect Pedro to get some more minutes this month, whilst Barkley could give us something new. Fresh legs in the wing back areas + a solution to the second striker situation would be ideal (I genuinely believe the club are working to address this in the transfer market).

Will be interesting to see where we are by the end of January.

I'm thinking for the short term try Kante and Drinkwater and use a front three with either Pedro or Willian being the additional in the three.

Given the lack of suitable personnel for a back four (Alonso too slow, but might be worth a shot) it won't happen but a 4-2-3-1 again would probably make more happen in the way of creating chances.

 

                           Courtois

Azpi    Christensen    Rudiger      Alonso

               Kante    Drinkwater/Baka

 Willian        Pedro/Fabregas       Hazard

                             Morata

 

 

 

With the current preference for a back 3, if it's a 3-5-2 the wingbacks are a crucial part of making chances... Their passing and crossing into the box is normally terrible, though. It doesn't help that despite it being a 3-5-2, only one man is normally in the box (Morata) as he is really the  out and out striker. 

I would prefer to see a 3-4-3 in general so that Moses and Alonso both have a man closer ahead to play off of more frequently... BUT

It would be nice to see another striker bought in to enable a 2 striker system sometimes, ie:

 

                         Courtois

      Azpi.       Christensen.       Rudiger

Moses.   Kante.    Drinks/Baka.    Alonso

                          Hazard

               Morata.         Batshuayi

               

   

I think Conte will did use. 4-2-4 before and he did so when he first joined, albeit as something to switch to when chasing goals (putting on Moses as an extra winger with Costa and Batshuayi both on).

 

Edited January 11, 20188 yr by Sun zhi

I’d love to play with 2 strikers

Even if Conte wanted to revert to a back four now, I think with our current schedule his hands are tied he won't have the time to drill the players.

Sadly with all the video analysis these days that has become more challenging, teams are now predicting our movement and patterns and stopping them.

 

Opponents really don't need video analysis to know that they need to stop Hazard at all costs, minimize Cesc's time on the ball and don't give Azpi time and space from deep. That's our attacking advantage gone, unless Willian/Pedro decide to step up to the the plate.

I think this season we should be looking to switch 352 and 343 and use the players we have. The FA Cup final showed how vulnerable we would be against "top" opposition playing 3-4-3.

 

But if we rotate the third attacker (Pedro/Willian) with a third, more creative midfielder (Barkley/Fabregas) dependent on whether we are expecting to be over run in the middle we can have a solid season. 

 

If we can get a lb in the summer; then I feel that we can have the best of both worlds and have a packed midfield and have numbers in attack by switching to a 4-3-3. I just don't see how Alonso would fair as a left back so I don't see the point in doing it now when any quality lb will likely be tied up in the champions league and that would mean switching between a back 5 and a 4 which would be demanding for the players in the middle of a season. In a dream world we would be getting Sandro with the back four being Azpilicueta, Christensen Rudiger and Sandro. Which, on paper would be up there with the best backline around.

3 hours ago, Walker said:

I’d love to play with 2 strikers

I'd love to have two strikers. 

I'd love to have two strikers. 

Valid point! Haha, I can’t help but think Michy could do a proper job as part of a front 2 though, he just hasn’t got the all round game to play up top on his own... same could be said for morata at times, although he’s quite capable of leading the line on his own when he’s on form

Another game, same formation and same problems persist. Build up play is disjointed and they look like they have never played a game together before.

3-5-2 with the players we have is sh*t. 3-4-3 is slightly better but even then we struggle to create and look disjointed. Gotta go with something different or nothing will change.

Edited January 13, 20188 yr by Scott Harris

I've seen enough of this formation. We won't finish top four if we persist and with no champions league next year you will see an exodus of our top players.  

3-5-2 is too disjointed in attack, opposition close us down quick and stifle the passing lanes. In defense, Bakayoko and Cesc tend to be massive liabilities and the opposition just run through them without them causing the back line to collapse and gaps to appear — as Leicester seeming exposed this today. 

Going forward, we’re gonna have to address these issues by signing better players or just switching to a back 4 until we become potent on the attack. Right now Morata is isolated at times because Hazard’s is moving around looking for the ball, can’t find a teammate to pass too that’s not 10 yards away after he gets the ball. 

 

I'd just like to see us play with a consistent style. We look so bereft of ideas at the moment, we rely on Hazard to do something magical or we struggle to score.

Definitely need a different formation now - it's not working.

We don't commit enough players when attacking, our end product is either over reliant on our wing backs having good games or over reliant on Hazard or Morata coming up with a bit of magic despite be heavily outnumbered.  

No other top team plays with such few attacking players and it shows.

Pochettino seems to be willing to adapt his tactics... Spurs are 4-2-3-1 tonight and winning 3-0

Conte seems unwilling to adapt tactics and we draw 0-0.

Forget 'we must continue to work'... Conte needs to work smarter or I'll be happy to see him go.

He won't play a 3-4-3. He won't play a 4 at the back system despite the fact David Luiz is no longer in his team

what about azpilicueta in midfield? he is getting forward into the midfield position quite often these days that it could be worth a shot. i was then thinking going to four at the back again or do you guys think four at the back has had its day? 

Same formation won the league last season. Difference this year is we have no Diego or David Luiz from last season, and the players that performed last season haven't this season. At the minute you could put Chelsea in any formation you can think of and the results would be very simliar. Chelsea FC Win the league one year, f**k it up the next. Repeat.