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Practically all the possible team formations in Association Football are listed and described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_ ... _football)

It may be a useful exercise for us all to take a look at these, bearing in mind the skills and abilities of the players in the Gulls' squad, and then suggest formations which make best use of those skills and abilities; also remember that a formation can be changed, depending upon the availability of individual players, for a particular match or at any point in a game, from a defensive to an attacking formation or vice versa.

It's also possible that a formation could be changed in order to cope better with an opposing team's system or it's individual players, though this is not normally to be recommended; better to let the opposing team worry about our own players and react to our own formations.

Anyway, 5-3-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-2-1-3-1, what think you...??

Gullscorer wrote:Practically all the possible team formations in Association Football are listed and described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formation_ ... _football) ..........

Anyway, 5-3-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-2-1-3-1, what think you...??

I think it matters not a jot what I think as I do not pick the team and will never have the opportunity of doing so!

Well apparently we went 4-4-1-1 at York. To me that means 4-4-2. Just because Jarvis plays slightly behind Rene then that's somehow a 4-4-1-1? Give me a break! It's 4-4-2 , always has been and always will be.

I would go for a formation similar to how Benitez played with Liverpool. A 4-2-3-1 formation. Similar to how we play but with Mansell and Lathrope holding back and cutting out attacks and Craig given a completely free role as an attacking midfielder, playing further up the pitch.

It allows 4 players to only worry about attacking with 6 players to cut out attacks. Manse and Lathrope play the key role allowed to drift wide to double up on wingers whilst retaining possession when with the ball.

stefano wrote:I think it matters not a jot what I think as I do not pick the team and will never have the opportunity of doing so!

It may not matter, but we're still all dying to know what you think...!!

Gullscorer wrote:It may not matter, but we're still all dying to know what you think...!!

I promise you Gullscorer you would not want me talking about systems. It would be utter garbage!

stefano wrote:I promise you Gullscorer you would not want me talking about systems. It would be utter garbage!

That doesn't stop most people.

I must admit I don't know the right formations for us; quite happy to leave it to the expert, Martin Ling.

cambgull wrote:I would go for a formation similar to how Benitez played with Liverpool. A 4-2-3-1 formation. Similar to how we play but with Mansell and Lathrope holding back and cutting out attacks and Craig given a completely free role as an attacking midfielder, playing further up the pitch.

It allows 4 players to only worry about attacking with 6 players to cut out attacks. Manse and Lathrope play the key role allowed to drift wide to double up on wingers whilst retaining possession when with the ball.

This would be the obvious answer with our current squad of players, but then playing a 4-4-2 at the weekend got a clean sheet and an away win - so what the hell do I know!

Sadly, the stats (I know, I know. Shan't reproduce them here, but take my word for it) tell us that Saturday was more down to luck than judgement. I'm not saying ditch 4-4-2, but maybe base it's continuance on something other than the York result.

Matt.

Agree Matt that the York result was still a tad lucky but had we not had men over at the vital times which we surely wouldn't have playing Rene up on his own then we'd have come away with another drab, negative and predictable performance and a 0-0 draw. The two goals do in a way mask that we again looked a bit clueless and had to withstand some heavy York pressure so you could argue that it followed the pattern of every other away game. So it was indeed the formation that facilitated the scoring of two goals. I think the way Martin plays the game generally it doesn't matter if we have 2 up top or 1 as we can be quite defensive a lot of the time but i'd much rather have 2 up than 1 to provide a slightly increased goal threat therefore i believe the continuation of 2 up front is the way to go from here on in.

I have seen a lot written across all TU related forums about "the expert opinion" Must admit this does make me laugh, after all what really constitutes an expert opinion?

Is it a career as a professional footballer?

Arsene Wenger gained a dimploma in football management in 1981, went on the win the French league title, and 11 major trophies with Arsenal, he never ever played a single professional football match in his life, in fact only has 67 recorded football matchs at regional non-league level, is his opinion that of an expert.

S-A-F once worked in Clyde ship yards before getting his lucky break didn't to bad as a manager I also believe he has never taken a single coaching course.

And to balance this John Barnes played for England at both U-21 and senior levels, as a player won 2 League titles, 2 F.A cups and 1 League cup, yet couldn't manage a piss up in the dressing room let alone a football team .

When it comes to having an opinion on how a football team should be managed is anyone really an expert. That however is the beauty of football every one has an opinion and in the days before the net shared them newspaper letter pages and good old ceefax, and still today in pubs.

I've been thinking, and it may not happen before we sign a new player in January, but I believe we should have, for the most part, a much more attacking formation in the second half of the season, perhaps going beyond 4-4-2 to 4-2-4, by using our speediest players on the wings and two strikers in the middle. 4-5-1 is the mediocrity formation...

We have defenders and midfield players of sufficient calibre, and the flexibilty, to cope with such a system and to revert to 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 when circumstances and the occasion demands. By maintaining an appropriate level of fitness, and avoiding too many suspensions and injuries (and remember that those currently injured should be back in time for the climax to the season), we can then give ourselves the opportunity to score many more goals and to begin a promotion challenge which stands a reasonable chance of success.

I have had reservations all season about Ling and his inability to get the best out of some players by playing the wrong formation. Injuries and suspensions aside, i still think we have a good enough squad to comfortably make the play offs at least but the way we play in many games results in us not maximising our potential points return. A little more positivity would have no doubt turned a few of our draws into wins and we would be sitting IN the play offs as we speak with the same squad and even accounting for all the injury and suspension problems we've had. I' ve seen a few games where we have been fairly comfortable defensively but our reluctance to step up a gear has caused us to lose out on potential extra points. Like i've said before, 3 draws in succession is only the same as 1 win and 2 losses so it's better to go out and try and win games.

Although Ling has opted in recent weeks to go with two up top, i feel that the previous few months worth of football have not seen us play to our potential and that HAS to be down to Lings' negative tactics earlier in the season. The fact that we are still on the fringes of the play offs despite players being out on a regular basis plus the fact that the team hasn't really played too well for the most part is a testament to Martin and to the players. What it does highlight though is that it could have been so much better if we had taken our opportunities to go at teams in some games instead of trying not to lose.

What system Ling chooses to play against the Greeks is open to debate but his hand could be somewhat forced due to lack of players available to him. I hope Thommo is fit to play and if he's feeling it a little he could come off at half time or whatever to be replced by Yeoman. If not, i would still hope that Ling goes 4-4-2 and starts Yeoman alongside Howe and brings on Thommo for the last 30 if nearly fit. I hope he can still adopt a workable 4-4-2 with the players he has available although his reluctance to use Yeoman makes this unlikely, especially if Thommo isn't fit. A 4-5-1 in my honest opinion would rely heavily on the midfielders getting support up to Howe quickly and often that doesn't happen and we start lumping balls up to him leaving a massive gap between him and our midfield. A 4-5-1 will yield a defeat in this game, especially given Exeter's excellent away form and our inability to keep clean sheets at the minute. We'll wait and see and hope and pray. Hey, at least the world is still here. 8-]