3-5-2 versus 4-4-2

[Don1]

Formation is a theoretical concept that merely talks about placement of player or pieces in space and time, it is about being able to create a man advantage in a certain space. in 4-5-1 you stack to the middle, you can quickly move resources in either direction, that is why many of the best teams are even stacking to a 3-6-1 with the mids as the fulcrum point, swinging resources to the fore or aft, it gives you the ability to be more fluid in your response on defense or attack than say 4-4-2 or worse 4-3-3 where your men are more commited and the fluidity of movement between the three areas is more restricted.

Space n Time tuh di Whirl!!!!

[Stonigut]

Frustrating is not the word, is like they see the CR's and Panamas as weak or not so strong opposition we have been made to pay twice.

[Muadib]

Have you seen my recommended formation.. ??

Mi guh Campion.. but nuh mind dat.. this is not a football ting... dis is a Dark Side ting.. follow the money and di Ego...

Once the obvious is being ignored.. follow the Money and di Isims...

When JFF can tell Mattocks seh him have a slight attitude suh him fi juss cool..and can have Hue pon bench while Rudi Austin a give wheh ball.. yuh know seh someting STINK innah di place !

[Baddaz]

agree... formation is like a speedometer in a car... at some point it is meaningless...

[Muadib]

no disrispec.. but please shut up...

[Karl]

Stoni: They had a man advantage in every section of the field. At times it appeared Costa Rica had XIV players to our X1. They just 'moved and passed & passed and moved around us to death!!!

That good moving and passing/passing and moving will make it seem the opponent has you outnumbered!

[Muadib]

My recommendation to you is to put Mexico game out of your mind..

It mad Tappa and Burrell dem.. tink dem can leave man like Mattocks out of Squad and have Hue on bench while dem play Luton Shelton as holding forward and Rudi Austin as midfield general !

lol ! woiee ! mi belly ! !

[Muadib]

But mi tink seh unnuh bring di English man dem fi move and close down space.. ??

Mi confuse now..

[Stonigut]

Baddaz, formation in and of itself is meaningless, I agree, it is the execution to the formation with a specific purpose in mind that is critical.

So Baddaz, cr playing 3-5-2 what you going to do, keep playing 4-4-2 and cede the man advantage in midfield when cr going into attack. It is all about movement of players into critical space when you need it. How did we pick up two goals scored against us, our midfield was wide open and thus our defense was scrambling at many points to counter the cr attacks, playing with an extra man in midfield instead of playing two at top would have been helpful, did the extra man atop help us win the game, no! We scored zero goals so what was the point of two forwards. The first order of the game was to get a draw on the road, stack the defense, instead we thought we were an offensive juggernaught and played at a man disadvantage in the midfield space. Why is that so hard to understand.

[Mosiah]

We lost points at home. Maybe that's why we were trying to seek them on the road?!?

Hey, the formation is the least of my, or the RB's, problems!

[Gamma]

The one man advantage in midfield would Accou t for less if our midfielders could thread a pass. The opportunities were there but poor execution and a lack of vision (the personnel on the field did not have that as required) let us down.

[MrLaidback]

4-5-1 is the solution as Stoni says. There is no point playing 2 forwards with such sparse midfield service. If we do have to play two forward and try to score off crosses, we should play Johnson over Shelton for heading ability.


If we have to lose, let us not lose by 2 goals the way we did last night. Costa Rica didn't even play well.

[Karl]

But mi tink seh unnuh bring di English man dem fi move and close down space.. ??

Mi confuse now..

Frankly we should not be disappointed in McAnuff. He plays the same ineffective way with his EPL club. - Fails to pass quickly and timely....and does not shot often! Runs around a lot...but too often arrives late!

He should be able to do better than that...make meaningful movements and passes i.e. play more TEAM. After all the EPL - game in, game out - encourages 'tons' of movement and passing!!!

Step it up, Jobi!!!
Pleeeeeeease!!!

[Mosiah]

Frankly we should not be disappointed in McAnuff. He plays the same ineffective way with his EPL club. - Fails to pass quickly and timely....and does not shot often! Runs around a lot...but too often arrives late!

He should be able to do better than that...make meaningful movements and passes i.e. play more TEAM. After all the EPL - game in, game out - encourages 'tons' of movement and passing!!!

Step it up, Jobi!!!
Pleeeeeeease!!!

Don't understand. You knew this about Jobi before. And you are surprised that playing in such a league has not yet taught him how to play better football. Yet you still are hoping that he will one day learn.

How old is Jobi again?!?!

[Jangle]

Again we disagree. Jobi is Reading's best player. He doesn't try to dribble as much as he does when he plays for us. He makes great crosses into the box but Reading just doesn't have great strikers. I think he felt he had to take last night's game by the scruff in order to make things happen. Afterall, he had Shelton playing in the same space as him most of the game and not many options to pass the ball to inside the field.