My brain cannot take this back 5 conversation anymore. 

That was clearly 4231 

 This is our formation 

Jackson 

Chilwell - carney - Sterling 

Gallagher - Enzo

Colwill - Silva - Disasi - Gusto

4231 that morph into flexible 343

             Jackson 

Chilwell - Carney -  Sterling 

          Gallagher - Enzo.       - Gusto

    Colwill - Silva - Disasi 

Sterling is going in n out with gusto behind him (with James it was slightly different because James has different quality) . Chilwell is playing as lw with carney providing between the line play. Gallagher sit to protect our backline and Enzo is free to roam. 

One little thing. I saw a post saying that we needed Enzo to drop to help our build up. This got nothing to do with Enzo or Gallagher skill-set, it was about west Ham's defensive shape. West Ham defended in classic 4411 shape with paqueta sticking to Gallagher like a glue. Hence we need the other midfielder to drop to help with the build up. It is that simple. 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 20232 yr by Bob stark

It’s been stated before but we lack natural leaders and seem quite timid. 

Title winning teams have a core of players that carry a certain gravitas. We seem to be carved from a banana. No backbone

4 hours ago, Bob stark said:

 This is our formation 

Jackson 

Chilwell - carney - Sterling 

Gallagher - Enzo

Colwill - Silva - Disasi - Gusto

4231 that morph into flexible 343

             Jackson 

Chilwell - Carney -  Sterling 

          Gallagher - Enzo.       - Gusto

    Colwill - Silva - Disasi 

Sterling is going in n out with gusto behind him (with James it was slightly different because James has different quality) . Chilwell is playing as lw with carney providing between the line play. Gallagher sit to protect our backline and Enzo is free to roam. 

One little thing. I saw a post saying that we needed Enzo to drop to help our build up. This got nothing to do with Enzo or Gallagher skill-set, it was about west Ham's defensive shape. West Ham defended in classic 4411 shape with paqueta sticking to Gallagher like a glue. Hence we need the other midfielder to drop to help with the build up. It is that simple. 

 

 

 

The point is whatever it morphed into wasn't what we used in pre season (least not to my recollection) and it doesn't work. 

I dont even know what is worse, playing a hybrid 343/4231 that was never really worked on during preseason, or playing Chilwell left wing, and Colwill left back when we are in possession. 

When I think of Pochettino's spurs side, I think of the rampaging full backs, quick transitions, and midfield steel. 

What we have seen so far, in these 2 games is dare I say Potter-esque, and not in wizarding way. 

Pick a centre back partnership and stick with it. 

Play full backs at full back, maybe even give Maatsen a go there.

Decide on shape of 3 man midfield. If we are planning on playing a 10 then we need a potentially world class player in there, as it is a vital position. If we are playing more of 1-2 in there with a dm, then we need to get another big goal threat in that front 3. 

Injuries have killed us, and preseason is looking like a mute point since the squad is going to look pretty different. Thankfully we should have plenty of time on the training pitch this season to get things right.

I'm calm. There is clear progress from last season. Poch is the man.

Oh god is Poch gonna get criticised now. Bloody hell, are we gonna get through a whole season of finger pointing again. 

This is the second competitive match against two opponents you don’t normally want to play until you have your rhythm. We will be fine!!

11 minutes ago, enigma said:

Oh god is Poch gonna get criticised now. Bloody hell, are we gonna get through a whole season of finger pointing again. 

It’s crazy isn’t it after two games I heard people on talk sports calling for him to be sacked . Had we took over chances it would have been a totally different game.

People are so reactionary it’s mind boggling!!

10 minutes ago, El regreso said:

It’s crazy isn’t it after two games I heard people on talk sports calling for him to be sacked . Had we took over chances it would have been a totally different game.

People are so reactionary it’s mind boggling!!

I don't do twitter, twatter what ever it's called or face book or any of the sh*t social media crap. I also steer clear of a lot of the other media garbage so i don't have to listen to the inane crap it all spouts. I prefer the social side of my family, my friends, and other "Football fans" when i go to football matches and travelling.

For decades i've enjoyed the banter/rivalry of other fans at football, but now it's gone beyond that into, how can i describe it-  f**king  diarrhoea at best.

1 hour ago, El regreso said:

It’s crazy isn’t it after two games I heard people on talk sports calling for him to be sacked . Had we took over chances it would have been a totally different game.

People are so reactionary it’s mind boggling!!

It is basically how you react to that. Any social media platform with commenting is riddled with anonymous sh*te that doesn't mean anything. Usually that is also something that is magnified and makes the news.

Luton - Wimbledon - Forest are the next three games. Need to win them all by a decent margin and get some confidence. 

2 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Luton - Wimbledon - Forest are the next three games. Need to win them all by a decent margin and get some confidence. 

Would be lovely to get 9 points there but it is far from being easy. 

My worry is that the players who were here last season and who confidence was so severely f**ked, are going to go the same route quickly if things don't pick up. Just like the rest of us, they'll be thinking "oh no, here we go again". We really need to go on a run of wins.

Man Utd fans still don't know their identity after a season of Ten Hag. Meanwhile we have seen noticeable improvements in style in our play after about 5/6 games. Patience is always needed. Pep started poorly with City in his first season, now look at City. Unfortunately we haven't got unlimited funds and we definitely need a goal scorer. Hopefully Jackson comes good as he looks promising. 

2 hours ago, big blue said:

I dont even know what is worse, playing a hybrid 343/4231 that was never really worked on during preseason, or playing Chilwell left wing, and Colwill left back when we are in possession. 

When I think of Pochettino's spurs side, I think of the rampaging full backs, quick transitions, and midfield steel. 

What we have seen so far, in these 2 games is dare I say Potter-esque, and not in wizarding way. 

Pick a centre back partnership and stick with it. 

Play full backs at full back, maybe even give Maatsen a go there.

Decide on shape of 3 man midfield. If we are planning on playing a 10 then we need a potentially world class player in there, as it is a vital position. If we are playing more of 1-2 in there with a dm, then we need to get another big goal threat in that front 3. 

Injuries have killed us, and preseason is looking like a mute point since the squad is going to look pretty different. Thankfully we should have plenty of time on the training pitch this season to get things right.

What happen when your lb looks more dangerous than your LW? Do you want your lb to support your LW or you drop your LW and play your lb as lw? 

Just hope we stop signing players and let Poch work out who works for him and who doesn't. I think the transfer strategy is an absolute joke, a mess, and it reminds me of the saying throw enough sh*t at a wall and eventually some will stick. 

Let the Poch manage his way through this season and we will all see where we're short and what needs fixing come January. I like the idea of a young side with legs that can run and press, but I also think that selling all the Cobham Crown Jewels and signing foreign talent means we won't have an identity for a few months. Local lads like Conor give us identity. 

London Derby's go anyway on the day, galling to say well done West Ham - but lets face it, when a top player screws up a penalty, you probably don't deserve the three points. 

I expect 9 points from the next 3. it's the least us fans should expect. Up da Chelsea

8 hours ago, Bob stark said:

My brain cannot take this back 5 conversation anymore. 

That was clearly 4231 

It's really quite baffling how many people are struggling with this.

Formations have and always will be quite fluid. Back in the day Ivanovic used to tuck in from RB and Cole would maraud down the left wing, but no one dreamed of claiming we played a back 3.

3 hours ago, Remodez said:

The point is whatever it morphed into wasn't what we used in pre season (least not to my recollection) and it doesn't work. 

It was the same as in pre season. Building with 4 or with 3 is not that important, it really depends on the opp. Our build up shape was fine, we could get the ball to final 3rd easily. The question is what next. 

1st half we had Jackson playing as CF with back to goal play and run behind, Sterling played like wc winger, Enzo doing Enzo thing from deep and Carney playing between the line.

Carney gone, Mudryk in. The between the line play was gone. Wall pass was gone because the between the line play was gone. There was no behind run because west ham parked the bus. Sterling was kinda gassed so he could not do the same thing as often as in the 1st half. So what we had left was Madueke and murdyk trying to beat their man (not convincingly) and pumped some crosses to jackson against Zouma. 

 

 

10 minutes ago, cfr95 said:

It's really quite baffling how many people are struggling with this.

Formations have and always will be quite fluid. Back in the day Ivanovic used to tuck in from RB and Cole would maraud down the left wing, but no one dreamed of claiming we played a back 3.

It is just normal stuff. This is city treble winning 3421 formation. 

Haaland - Kdb

Grealish - Gundo - Rodri - B silva

Ake - Dias - ankanji - Stones 

Does it look like formation that pulis/Dyche usually use? Yes 😁😁😁

Edited August 21, 20232 yr by Bob stark

37 minutes ago, evissy said:

Would be lovely to get 9 points there but it is far from being easy. 

9 points from 2 league games and a league cup game is for sure not easy 🙂 

46 minutes ago, Bob stark said:

What happen when your lb looks more dangerous than your LW? Do you want your lb to support your LW or you drop your LW and play your lb as lw? 

You see the bigger picture and play the young left winger and hope he develops instead of playing the left back out of position. Long term not sure term, to match the profile of the squad. 

1 minute ago, big blue said:

You see the bigger picture and play the young left winger and hope he develops instead of playing the left back out of position. Long term not sure term, to match the profile of the squad. 

Obviously hindsight is 20:20, but don't hate Poch going for the "win now" lineup (even though it didnt get a win) early on. We need to get used to winning games again, plenty of youth in other positions, can't expect to blood/develop everyone at once whilst still trying to win games.

32 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

9 points from 2 league games and a league cup game is for sure not easy 🙂 

Todd Boehly is a man of many skills.

3 hours ago, RIP Mourinho said:

I'm calm. There is clear progress from last season. Poch is the man.

definitely 

if we play a game were we play the first half like we played against West Ham and the second half like we played against Liverpool we would probably get a good result 

He's the right person for the job. You can tell there is somebody there with a presence. The team just needs some confidence. 

Friday is the perfect game for that. 

I really felt against West Ham we fell apart after we missed the penalty. Then they get a goal out of nowhere and we didn't recover. This can happen with a young team and a new manager.