Rob Dawson ESPN: Solskjaer tells players he wants to implement a more attacking 4-3-3 this season.

Cman

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I’m hoping to see an improvement and more game time for DVB this season. What formation did Ajax play when he was there, would he be more suited to the 433 maybe? Good player for keeping possession.
 

Adnan

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Norweigan journo on the tactical/philosophical switch that could potentially take place this season.

 

Adnan

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I’m hoping to see an improvement and more game time for DVB this season. What formation did Ajax play when he was there, would he be more suited to the 433 maybe? Good player for keeping possession.
He played in a two and three at Ajax, aswell as playing as the most advanced central attacker. But the key difference was how Ajax approached games, which was to impose their will on the opposition playing possession football which required positional awareness both on and off the ball.
 

TheRedHearted

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I'm inclined to lean towards no role at all.
He’s one of four of our attacking central midfielders (if you for some reason include McTominay.)
Surely pogba and Bruno can’t play every game
I’m hoping to see an improvement and more game time for DVB this season. What formation did Ajax play when he was there, would he be more suited to the 433 maybe? Good player for keeping possession.
Agreed. He needs to prove to be effective early on. I think he could do it.
 

Adnan

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As has been mentioned previously, it would benefit far more players if we switched to a midfield 3. But like I've said previously, the formation isn't as important as the approach to playing the game will be.
 

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As has been mentioned previously, it would benefit far more players if we switched to a midfield 3. But like I've said previously, the formation isn't as important as the approach to playing the game will be.
Far more? I can only see Pogba who would benefit from that. And he's almost gone anyway.
 

Monger

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I'm a little skeptical of the reported 433. It may not be a change from the double pivot but an additional formation with 4213 remaining the default. It also is unlikely to designed to get bruno and pogba both on the pitch as I agree with most this is unbalanced, plus pogbas contract situation remains a concern.

More likely this will be deployed with matic, Fred & Bruno with Garner, McT & DVB as backup. Neither would look progressively different from the 4213, however, that depends how it is deployed and whether it gives more freedom to the front 3 or provides the team with a higher press.

Either way I'm not ready to get over excited by the news of a 433 tactical switch just yet. Ofcourse signing a new DM might change that.
 

Borys

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There is no place for a player like Bruno in a 4-3-3. We can't afford to carry him. People saying "bin Fred off" must be joking too. He would be the most important player in that set up and that's not as a DM.

Also we'd need a new DM depending on the condition of Matic. I hope we won't go anywhere near an overhyped & overpriced player like Rice.
He doesn't need 2 workers. He needs two midfielders though. Especially when our wingers in Sancho and Rashford provide very little defensively. Neither Bruno or Pogba are your tempo setters, deeper midfielders who control games and progress the ball up the pitch. Ideally we'd want one of those and one of Bruno/Pogba ahead of a defensive midfielder. 2 attacking midfielders like Bruno and Pogba who like taking risks and who are weak defensively, behind Sancho and Rashford on the wings, is asking to get fecked hard on constant counter attacks because it's too much space for any defensive midfielder to cover.
Exactly.
You switch to 4-3-3 to use players like Fred (or Pogba +2 midfielders) in the box to box role, not to play two AMs in midfield.

All of our forwards (including Bruno) do very very little defensively. This is why we use conservative tandem in midfield.
 

Murder on Zidane's Floor

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Who is the missing piece of the DM puzzle for this new look 433.

Rice?
Camavinga?
Neves?
Fred?
Bissouma?
Casemiro?

I'm struggling.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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I've wanted a midfield 3 system for so long. I hate the double pivot for build-up. I feel like it's too restrictive.

I also really hope our pressing game and build-up play goes up a level this season(Ramsay should help with this hopefully). We have a good squad. We just need to maximize it.
 

James Peril

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Well, it makes sense, because we are generally atrocious in our attacking build-up and we’ve had zero success even though the squad is worth 5-600M and still counting.
 

Martial

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Get rid of Pogba and replace him with a midfielder who isn't a defensive liability to make it work.
 

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Curious to see how Bruno performs a little deeper in midfield. There was times last season he practically played as a 2nd striker
 

RUCK4444

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I'm a little skeptical of the reported 433. It may not be a change from the double pivot but an additional formation with 4213 remaining the default. It also is unlikely to designed to get bruno and pogba both on the pitch as I agree with most this is unbalanced, plus pogbas contract situation remains a concern.

More likely this will be deployed with matic, Fred & Bruno with Garner, McT & DVB as backup. Neither would look progressively different from the 4213, however, that depends how it is deployed and whether it gives more freedom to the front 3 or provides the team with a higher press.

Either way I'm not ready to get over excited by the news of a 433 tactical switch just yet. Ofcourse signing a new DM might change that.
The report says Ole is changing to 433 with the emphasis of getting our most attacking players on the pitch.

I don’t see how playing Matic and Fred with Bruno is anything close to doing that.

I think Ole wants a top DM, I think Ole is keen to keep Pogba and play him left of a 3 with an actual DM with legs and ability (which we don’t have now.) Which I would absolutely love because it’s exactly what I’ve been desperate for since Pogba got here. But let’s see.
 

Inigo Montoya

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He played in a two and three at Ajax, aswell as playing as the most advanced central attacker. But the key difference was how Ajax approached games, which was to impose their will on the opposition playing possession football which required positional awareness both on and off the ball.
:lol:
Big Brother is upon us
 

Alemar

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Rashford has a surgery and will be out for a few months, so Pogba will be playing on the left and not at a CAM (unless, of course, we opt for Sancho-Cavani-Greenwood front line). When Rashford returns to fitness, things may change - or not.
 

SirReginald

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There’s very little difference in modern football between formations.

4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-3-2-1, 4-1-2-3, 4-1-2-2-1, 4-5-1, 4-1-4-1, 4-4-1-1.

They are all the same. Modern football doesn’t have fixed positions anymore, most players (beyond defensive players) have fluid positions and adjust to the game.

Including tactical tweaks throughout a game, more often than not, you will notice a team change shape numerous times over the course of 90 mins.

It’s also not that often you end the game with the same formation you began it with. Therefore despite the optimistic headlines this story is pure clickbait.
 

He'sRaldo

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There’s very little difference in modern football between formations.

4-2-3-1, 4-3-3, 4-3-2-1, 4-1-2-3, 4-1-2-2-1, 4-5-1, 4-1-4-1, 4-4-1-1.

They are all the same. Modern football doesn’t have fixed positions anymore, most players (beyond defensive players) have fluid positions and adjust to the game.

Including tactical tweaks throughout a game, more often than not, you will notice a team change shape numerous times over the course of 90 mins.

It’s also not that often you end the game with the same formation you began it with. Therefore despite the optimistic headlines this story is pure clickbait.
This might be the case offensively, but defensively is a different story.

At the very least the difference when defending with a 4-3-3 with 2 side midfielders vs 4-2-3-1 with 2 sitting midfielders, is a pretty noticeable one. And even on the ball the roles the players play have differences as well.

The setup in attack is more fluid, but generally speaking it's always closer to the actual formation than anything else.
 

ghagua

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He played in a two and three at Ajax, aswell as playing as the most advanced central attacker. But the key difference was how Ajax approached games, which was to impose their will on the opposition playing possession football which required positional awareness both on and off the ball.
This is what I want to see, a team that uses possession to dominate a team. It is time our team started doing that instead of playing senseless football. VDB will be a good start as he is used to it. Van Gaal had the right idea, unfortunately, the wrong approach.
 

Frank Sinatra Fan

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This might be the case offensively, but defensively is a different story.

At the very least the difference when defending with a 4-3-3 with 2 side midfielders vs 4-2-3-1 with 2 sitting midfielders, is a pretty noticeable one. And even on the ball the roles the players play have differences as well.

The setup in attack is more fluid, but generally speaking it's always closer to the actual formation than anything else.
Good comment. Still, formation by itself doesn't necessarily imply offensive or defensive football. For a long time, it was often thought that formations with 3 at the back were defensive, reactive and pragmatic. But they don't need to be need to be.
 

makcikkaulawa

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ok, im just gonna ask.

What is a double pivot?

Does it mean whenever Fred and McT plays together side by side in the middle of the field, thats called a double pivot? And why can't Pogba plays there say alongside a good DM like Kante.

So what does a double Pivot actually do?
 

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His work rate is fine, same with Sancho. But they definitely don't offer a whole lot of defensive cover. They're closer to forwards coming back than a wide midfielder doing his natural game. It's not like a Giggs and Beckham level of balance on the wings. Not like Young or Valencia. It's barely Nani level of defensive cover from Rashford and Sancho probably does even less defensively.
Nani did far more defensive work than Rashford. It was something quite noticeable, that for such a flair player he had no problem doing the dirty work as well. Rashford used to do quite a lot of defensive work (both pressing high up the field and dropping deeper), but from the start of 19/20 that changed significantly. Now he really does very little, and even when he does eventually get into the right positions it's obvious he hasn't got much interest in being there. Who can forget that moment late in the season near the corner of our own box when he just let the opposition player run straight past him without making any effort at all.
 

Adnan

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This is what I want to see, a team that uses possession to dominate a team. It is time our team started doing that instead of playing senseless football. VDB will be a good start as he is used to it. Van Gaal had the right idea, unfortunately, the wrong approach.
I do prefer a similar approach. But it seems we as a fan base have become overly defensive in our thoughts post Fergie and find it difficult to see things from a overly attacking perspective, which would mean more attacking and less defending by default.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

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This is what I want to see, a team that uses possession to dominate a team. It is time our team started doing that instead of playing senseless football. VDB will be a good start as he is used to it. Van Gaal had the right idea, unfortunately, the wrong approach.
Literally my dream.

I'm not asking us to be Pep's Barca, but we really need to start imposing our will more on the big teams.

Tired of us always sitting back and being conservative in big games(as we did for almost all of them last season).
 

ghagua

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Literally my dream.

I'm not asking us to be Pep's Barca, but we really need to start imposing our will more on the big teams.

Tired of us always sitting back and being conservative in big games(as we did for almost all of them last season).
Amen to that. I agree 100%
 

pratyush_utd

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Bruno and Pogba can work in this formation if Bruno isn't given a free role or played almost as second striker. Play him more as number 8 alongwith Pogba and I think it's balanced enough with Fred as CM. Both Pogba and Bruno need to play with defensive responsibility with position slightly further back than what it was last season and let front 3 occupy the attacking position. With addition of Sancho, don't think we need Bruno that further up the pitch
 

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Herrera Matic Pogba were Ole's 3 man midfield during his caretaker manager. We had very good form when those three play together. But Pogba can't fill in Herrera's spot, that's why Pogba and Bruno won't work together in this 433. I'm curious how Ole will find the balance to make it work or may be it never work so he might end up selling Pogba and play VDB and Bruno with a DM.
 

bosnian_red

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Literally my dream.

I'm not asking us to be Pep's Barca, but we really need to start imposing our will more on the big teams.

Tired of us always sitting back and being conservative in big games(as we did for almost all of them last season).
I'd disagree. In 19/20 we sat back a lot more in big games. In 20/21 we set out to be a lot more proactive, control games and press high up the pitch. We had a lot of stale draws in the first half of the season, but it was the opposition like Arsenal or Chelsea who parked the bus against us and United who tried to knock the door down. We also went for it both games against Liverpool, and dominated Spurs away in the 2nd half of the season. Oh and played the away game vs City perfectly. And played the PSG games really well, apart from Ole forgetting to sub Fred off which was our undoing. Europa League final, United did all the pushing while they played for pens.

Our performances in big games were much more proactive last season, we just struggled to get the breakthroughs in the first half of the year but improved with that too.
 

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VDB will be pleased. The debut season is out of the way. I expect alot from our fringe players from the good news. James as well.