No, we don't.Do we really think Pogba can play as the deepest midfielder? I don’t see it myself. He was outstanding there for me in FM17 though so who knows
Nobody thought Martial will lead the line, hold the ball, and press like crazy. Pogba‘s problem is that he is good at everything. Deepest midfield player suits his skill set the best in my opinion. Especially ability to carry the ball and long passing. He is tall and strong and will be able effective against long balls. Can tackle, can hold the ball. He is actually an ideal DLP. He just need to embrace the role and stop trying to be everything.Do we really think Pogba can play as the deepest midfielder? I don’t see it myself. He was outstanding there for me in FM17 though so who knows
5-3-2 with Maguire, Shaw and AWB as CBs. We'd need to rely on Williams and Laird for width, though. If we bought a couple more wingbacks, it might work with a bit of coaching. Then three B2Bs in midfield, as you say, and Martial/Rashford up top.Let's just try 3 box to box midfielders and see what happens.
let‘s stop being arrogant by using cliche referrals to FM or FIFA. FM terminology is handy to explain tactics and deservedly widely used. constructive criticism is welcome.
McT is awful in there tbf.
If Ole wanted to switch to a 433 he'd have done it by now. He clearly favours 2 midfielders in that deeper pivot position and then a #10 ahead of them.
My theory is he had no choice with the MCs and AMs he inherited. Also, Ole is a great tactician, he can use any formation depending on players at his disposal. He will opt for 4-3-3 because it’s simply the best formation for dominating teams.
it became typical on this forum to Classify a poster into some strata of average stupid posters thus“ becoming“ a more knowledgeable poster, so to say connosseur. Said connoisseu, unfortunately, doesn’t add any substance to discussion, other than phantom association from the “history of the forum”.
Doesn't look at all realistic to me that midfield. That's putting a helluva lot on Pogba's shoulders. Even though the game continues to move away from tackling, you still at least need someone in the deep midfield spot with positional discipline who can read the game defensively, get interceptions and track runners coming from midfield. I really don't see Pogba fulfilling that role well.
I'm always very suspicious of the midfield diamond. Fans tend to love it when talking about formations, but in the real world its not very well used. If it really was as useful as us fans seem to think, I feel like it would be a lot more common.
Doubts over Pogba positional play are legitimate but it’s trainable at any age unlike height, strength, passing, technique, etc. Martial is an example of such a transformation. Also, Pogba is already playing deeper than he used to, so the transformation is already under way.
if you dont agree fair enough, just saying what I have seen. a signing doesn't have to mean a shift to shoehorn them into a consistent 11, they can simply be part of a squad that plays 60 games. that the fact that ole said exactly this whenever he has spoken about the window gives me more conviction that we will play as we have played and rotate
Infact, I should be saying that - using players as you like and saying this will work , works only in FIFA or FM.
Don't disagree. I'm just saying about our options there.
I’m not saying it will work. I’m looking forward to watching how the team tactics will evolve next season and want to discuss the formation with other posters.
The 5-3-2 would be an interesting experiment, just to see what happens. Unfortunately, I think you'd need a great set of full backs to be doing that, who would be able to bomb up and down the pitch and be just as great/useful in attack and defence. The two best full backs that we have are in the CB position in that formation, so it would need a little moving around. Not sure AWB would do well in that system as a full back, but as a CB three, he could potentially see his calling there. I'd quite like to see him in that position.
Pogba has poor defensive positioning, he isn’t very good at tracking the runs and he takes risks at the rate of a creative player (which he is).
Didn't Liverpool try that before Fabinho ? It could work if you have good one on one defenders.
We should really have brought in an upgrade for Matic and kept him as a squad option. McT and Fred play best as B2B midfielders and neither look competent in a deeper role. I fear that Ole wants to shoehorn McT into that role but it doesn't look natural to him whatsoever.
My theory relies on his abilities (attributes) which you don’t deny and on the simple assumption that a players traits (which you listed as weaknesses) can be changed. Martial, Alaba, Ox, Giggs, CR7, there is an endless list of players who changed their traits (and often positions) to be more productive for the team.
Liverpool destroyed us under Rodgers when Moyes was the manager with that system, playing Sterling at the top of the diamond. Ancelotti's Milan sides in the mid 00s played it consistently but they had the perfect players for it. Its not used as frequently now but I think most fluid systems tend to have a wide player drift in and effectively create an overload in midfield.
For that we need a pair of extremely gifted (in terms of technique and vision) players as wing backs
Portugal haven’t got the most attacking fullbacks and it works for them, we would need Martial to put up big numbers though as they have Ronnie up front..
