I think 5-3-2 same as last year away from home, and 4-3-3 at home or when teams sit back and park the bus. Using forestieri more to try to unlock teams who sit back is necessary this season.
In the fans forum GZ did say that 4-3-3 was his preferred tactic so we may see this as plan a next year with 3-5-2 as plan b...
Good thread. Have to agree with you, on the formations too. 3 5 2 against better teams as it allows us to keep possession in midfield, 4 3 3 against lesser teams as it puts more attacking players on the pitch. Zola definitely needs to come up with a separate tactic to solve our weakness at beating lesser teams. Especially as we wont have the luxury of going under the radar for the fist 20/30 games
If we do play 4 3 3, do we need a new LB? Or could Anya adapt his game ? One suspects not, and Pudil doesnt seem too high on GFZs list
Almost put that one in, but I decided it was close enough to 3-5-2 and I didn't want to bloat the list too much. Same deal with 4-4-1-1 vs 4-4-2.
The obvious candidate to me would be Neuton, assuming he's over his injury. Pudil is more a midfielder than a defender, so I agree that it seems unlikely he'd fit a dedicated LB role. Faraoni is a RB/CB; I can't find any record of him playing at LB, although he might be good enough to do it. EDIT: actually found a mention of him as a left back here: http://talentshunter.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/marco-davide-faraoni/
way back when I remember Zola saying 3-4-3 was his favourite but naturally you need a pair of exceptionally able defensive midfielders for it to be all encompassing. I'm not sure we'll be quite ready for that yet so we'll probably start 3-5-2 and evolve.
Would be interesting to see how Neuton fares at LB, he s certainly got the technical skills, if he can cross well then its a good shout. I wonder if Cassetti could swap flanks and play LB, or Faraoni swaps to LB and Cassetti at RB
I confess, I struggle giving an opinion on this subject. I may be in a better position when I know who our players are. Call me 'old-fashioned' if you like.
3-5-2. We don't have the midfielders for 4-3-3. That's why we were 5hit at it last season for the first 2 months!
Can see a 3-4-2-1 with a front man Deeney/Acuna/Ikpeazu, behind him 2 x deeper attackers Fessi/Abdi/Fabrinni/Vydra So something like --------------------Bond---------------- ------Ekstrand--Angella--Cassetti----- Faraoni-----Hogg---bottachio----Anya -----------Abdi-------------Fessi------- ------------------Deeney--------------- So not a 4-3-3 as we dont have the midfielders but still makes room for 3 attacking players
3-1-3-1-2 Gk - Almunia/Bond/ANother? CB's - Ekstrand - Angella - Hoban Holding MF - Cassetti RWB - Faraoni - CMF - Abdi - LWB - Romero AMF - Fessi or Fabbrinni St's - Accunna - Deeney And what a bench we will have!!! WOW!!!
