Obviously, we've been playing 4-3-3 in games so far, but from watching some pre-season friendlies, and watching some generic Serie A football, and then taking into account the players he's signed, I think Zola intends to in time turn us into a 3-5-2 team, like how Juve/Udinese etc play, and like how we played in some of our friendlies. It makes sense with the personnel we have: Centre backs: Ekstrand, Nosworthy, Chalobah, Neuton - I'd play Ekstrand, Chalobah, Neuton out of these and then when we do have the ball, Chalobah can push forward into the midfield to receive the ball at times, allowing wing backs to drop and cover as full backs creating a back four if need be to compensate this. Wing backs: Doyley, Cassetti, Pudil, Forsyth - Can see Hodson going out on loan, but Cassetti and Pudil (more so the former) are much better going forward than defence and seem more wing back than full back. As mentioned, wing backs would drop if one of the centre backs pushes forward to form back four line temporarily. Anchorman: Chalobah, Hogg, Battocchio - Depends how we want it, a tireless player like Hogg who will sweep, or a more technical player like Battocchio who isn't quite so physical but has the vision and ability, Chalobah could play here also. Centre Mids: Abdi, Yeates, Murray? - One sitting inbetween the defensive midfielder and one sat a bit further up, possibly Abdi/Murray/Yeates further up so long as he has someone alongside him that can cover a lot of ground, Hogg or Battocchio (or Abdi) could play alongside him here. Support striker: Vydra, Forestieri - The quicker of the strikers who can run at players link up the midfield and strikers Striker: Iwelumo, Geijo, Deeney - As Geijo and Deeney enter the frame and become match fit I guess Iwelumo will be phased out, but the striker who is more physical, wins the balls and links up with the support striker in the final third, will be the main goal getter in theory. Almunia Ekstrand Nosworthy Neuton Cassetti.............................Pudil Chalobah Hogg........ Abdi Geijo Vydra Probably missed some people out, it sort of renders Anya pointless, though he or M'Bia could play as an attacking mid or support striker I guess. A lot of players would become obsolete in doing this, probably those who are more likely to leave towards the end of this season. Not entirely sure Chalobah is the answer, he looked good when he came on today where Brighton were happy for him to have the ball on the half way line and sat with 10 men in their box, from the start it might not be so straight forward, in which case I'd put Hogg in his place and Battocchio centre midfield alongside Abdi. Only thing that concerns me with Abdi is his physique, he's incredibly slow, luckily his touch and brain lets him get away with that, think Murray would prosper in this position if he screws his head on? Not saying this is how we should play on Saturday, just something I think Zola COULD be aiming towards.
I think M'Bia will definately be a starter for us. Will play as a right sided attacker, I would have thought. We have to have 6 home grown players playing/in squad as well don't we? Means a bench of Bond, Doyley, Hogg, Yeates etc
I don't think the 433 works. We seem to get the ball in the final third, but then there's a huge congestion of players In the middle of the pitch, which is very easy to defend. We seem to lack width, but there also never seems to be anyone in the box. It's confusing really.
Completely agree. Like i said in another thread, would like to see us go back to 4 in the middle and use more width. 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 somthing like that.
I don't not rate Iwelumo, I just don't think he's what we need at the moment, not mobile enough and can't put their defence under pressure.
433 - won't work too much room for players to go missing. 352- Ive never been a fan of wingbacks I believe it leaves us defensively frail 4132 or 4312or 442 or 4411 are the way forward
The 4-3-3 with Iwelumo doesn't work. Considering that he is a player who's sole purpose is to knock the ball down and flick it on to someone else he is left far too isolated in that system. As a result the two wingers move inside but not enough to sufficiently help Iwelumo and this also results in us having a real lack of width on the wings which was evident in the first half yesterday. When we switched to the full back system with three at the back and two up front we looked far more dangerous and functional and by finally making use of the wings we actually caused them problems rather than trying to play it through the middle where they packed their players to stop us doing this.
Of course it doesn't. Teams find it very easy to score against opposition who don't play a goalkeeper.
Lets get back to 4-4-2! Get Vydra up there with Deeney/Geijo, Hogg and Abdi in the midde, Forestieri and Murray wide. We can still play good football, Vudra can drop into holes looking for the ball and can also offer a goal threat. Almunia Doyley Neuton Ekstrand Pudil Murray Hogg Abdi Forestieri Deeney (Iwelumo for now) Vydra Bench: Bond Chalobah Cassetti Battocchio Anya M'Bia Geijo
Zola's tactics seem to work OK in general but then again I do not really want Watford to be called "The long ball team" like we were once. I like the way we play the ball around the park, and some of the inter-play between the players is looking good. I also believe that the team is still in the "gelling" stage. A team has to adapt to each other before a manager can hammer home a playing philosophy.
Away from the formation aspect, I am glad to see we have a manager who can see when something isn't working. Cassetti was getting left for dead by Buckley, and fans were commenting that Doyley needed to come on instead. Zola made that exact change at half time. I think that willingness to make an early change is something we've lacked for a while.
The 4-3-3 will work fine once we have a capable striker (Deeney or Geijo) as the focal point of the three, a proper wide man on the right (Bia or Anya) and Abdi is free'd up by either Eustace's return or Chalobah/Battocchio in place of Yeates. The players we have are actually very well suited to the system I think, it's just a lot of them haven't been fit enough to be part of it yet. I don't see us ever seriously playing a formation like 3-5-2 week in, week out.
4-3-3 will work fine when the players get used to each other and they get up to match speed. You can tell that players like Foriestri were blowing out his behind after 70 minutes (he did have a good game though). The only thing lacking going forward is a bit of movement. Too often the player on the ball has to go sideways because there is no movement in front of him. It will all be OK and we'll be in or around the play offs in May.
I saw that - with 2 of the 5 wing backs? could call it 5-3-2 really. It's a shame cassetti is in place of doyley because of it though. Doyley is a better defender from the game I saw and what others ahve said, but casseti must fit the style of play more
Didn't go today, did the 3 cb's work well v set pieces? From the radio it didn't sound like they were particularly troubled.
I'd like to see us going 4-2-4. Two out of Chaloba, Hogg, Eustace or Forsyth as midfield anchors, protecting our mixer and pressing play towards the opposition's mixer Solid defence with attacking wing backs overlapping and pinging early balls in the mixer Goalkeeper hitting it long early, putting pressure on the opposition mixer 2 full on wingers, getting plenty of ball into the mixer Deeney and Emu, permanently in the mixer to hammer home goals. Nobody can tell me that this is not a guaranteed recipe for success. We'd win 20-2 most games.
Just needed a leader, a point man if you will and we had one today (Hall) Whereas previous games saw confusion and players left unmarked, Neuton and Hoban now both know that any aerial ball into the mixer is Hall's 9 times out of 10, leaves them available to clean up second balls and mark runners
It worked fine, it somewhat makes Doyley redundant now unless we're defending for our lives, as you need Cassetti and Pudil on either flank pushing forward.
Doyley has been quality going forward in the new formation and is improving all the time as he gets more used to it. The 3-5-2 is definitely the way forward.
It's about players rather than formation. Hogg played great yesterday and we had much more of spine and some grit about us with him and Deeney back in the 11. Abdi, for me, ponces about too much and is lightweight. I don't think he has the attitude for the Championship, talented fellow though he is. Got reminded of this when a Palace fan on a phone in said last night that he attributes their good form after the loss of Sean Scannell and Darren Ambrose to their more industrious replacements, even if they are unknowns. Said Ambrose was a luxury player who couldn't be relied on. That's how I see Abdi. As for Zola, at least he's not afraid to change things and adapt; something Boothroyd, Mackay and even Dyche used to get hammered for on here
