[WillieJohnstonsGreenhouse]

Bloody Nora Beefy you really don't like the chap  

I admit I was banging my head against the wall when it was announced (but less than I would have been with Sherwood and his cronies)

What is it with our recent managers    I do spend half the time boinging my head off, followed shortly by WT

I think the fact Bera is still with us is a good sign - (especially since his form has been unexpectedly stunning    )

- Brownio is still an unknown quantity (through no fault of his own) but he is a goalscorer ( )

It's difficult to judge AI at the moment. We haven't had a fully fit squad despite some quality signings. I'm still holding out.
I think the squad is massively improved - I just want to see it  

[Beefy 1965]

Hi Wilbur hope your ok mate long time no hear

[WillieJohnstonsGreenhouse]

Nice to catch up mate, hope all is good - Loving the new site and nice to see everybody here - (I will get adding 'likes' if my new 'puter holds up)

(sorry to derail the thread folks)

[Beefy 1965]

Nice to catch up mate, hope all is good - Loving the new site and nice to see everybody here - (I will get adding 'likes' if my new 'puter holds up)

(sorry to derail the thread folks)

Didn't know you had taken up Golf

[WillieJohnstonsGreenhouse]

---

So..............

No one fancy a Brown - Saido front two?????

Just throwing out ideas. I know 4-4-2 and its variations are frowned upon.

Saido seems to love someone playing him into scoring opportunities - I don't know if Brownio does that....


JOSH ALERT

[WBA-Josh]

I have nothing wrong with a normal 4-4-2 (2 wingers, 2 strikers and 2 defensive/central midfielders) but it needs the right players and right tactics to make it work. The Villarreal 4-4-2 is the perfect example of making the 4-4-2 work in modern day football whilst playing excellent attacking football. They have 2 central midfielders who are good in both attack and defence, 2 wide men who have plenty of pace and craft with both able to play as 'proper' wide men or as central wingers and finally 2 strikers who are very proactive off the ball with their movement. The result is a fluid, interchanging 4-4-2 formation that causes lots of problems for the opposition.

Ideye isn't the sort of striker that has the craft to play in teammates. He, like Berahino, is the guy to finish off attacking moves. I think a Beraideye strike partnership would work if we were to play quick, passing football with the aim to get the ball from back to front quickly with Varela outwide on the left side. However, our attacking play could be annulled by the opposition just simply defending deep. We would then have to play more patient possession football but neither Berahino or Ideye like to really drop deep. Ideye would drop deep occassionally when he was at Dynamo Kyiv but he wouldn't do anything good with the ball. It would just be a simple pass to a midfielder.

Far too many times against Newcastle we would have no forward pass so it would have to backwards or sideways. That isn't a problem if it happens sometimes during the match but when it happens for the whole match, then it is a problem. That was caused by playing a 4–4-2 with 2 strikers that didn't want to drop deep. Playing Berahino and Ideye together would continue that problem. That is where Sessegnon and the 4-2-3-1 formation comes into play. With Sessegnon positioned in between the opposition midfield and defence, the other midfielders have the option of playing it forward to him so he can then turn and do something good with the ball or simply continue the passing play. It provides an extra man to the midfield which when playing a possession style of play, which is how we are playing at the moment, is crucial. If we choose to play a quicker style of play then Sessegnon is a great player to have as a central pacey outlet.

Anyway, enough of my boring tactical ramblings that would bore a goat to death. Like I said before on this thread, Ideye will eventually get his chance because Berahino's goalscoring form won't last forever. Berahino has also been fairly quiet in his last couple of matches which is probably due to teams starting to work him out and that we haven't played to his strengths so we could see Ideye sooner rather than later.

[talkSAFT]

Didn't Noah and Saido start upfront v Everton? (I'm sure they did). It was like playing with 10 men!

[Luke_East_Baggie]

3-5-2, Saido and Ideye up top, Dawson / Lescott / Mcauley at the back, Poco and Gamboa as wide men on the 5, Gardner / Sess and 1 other in the middle?

Maybe leaves us too defensive?