The 4-2-2-2 formation

[K_Ash]

It was a Diamond because Bruno plays between the striker as a 10 as the head of the spear. A couple of times he permuted with Paul as the head of that spear.
"4-2-2-2" knowing again that Bruno was between the striker would imply that we were using that formation(left) and that was certainly not the case. The Diamond provided the balance and put everyone in their best positions once Paul came in

Bruno was the head the spear

 

[Borys]

Definitely that rather than the diamond. We need Fred and McTominay to stay close together and in deep midfield, I don't trust them to be doing more offensive work. Bruno and Pogba can be second pair but to be honest I'd rather play van de Beek with Bruno, they seem to be on similar wavelength.

Front two need to be made of Marcus/Martial/Greenwood though, need some pace there.

 

[TrustInOle]

It looked more like a diamond to me, Fred was further ahead of McTominay and positioned to the right. Pogba was on the left and Bruno was in the middle behind the front two.

Bang on! It was a Diamond, Scott was shielding the defense and Pogba became our 3rd midfielder. Front 3 stayed the same, positionally, all game. I was trying out for Ole to return back to this before the game as I think we are at our best in these type of games, See Spurs, City ect.

 

[Hammondo]

Just leave Pogba as the super sub. Why are we changing things when nothing is broken?

Because the Pogba super fans would mentally crash if the solution didn't include him in the starting 11.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Bang on! It was a Diamond, Scott was shielding the defense and Pogba became our 3rd midfielder. Front 3 stayed the same, positionally, all game. I was trying out for Ole to return back to this before the game as I think we are at our best in these type of games, See Spurs, City ect.

It really wasn't.

Pogba was never as deep as the midfield 2 and Bruno stayed more to the right of the pitch, pogba to the left.

Just because Bruno moved to the middle of the pitch searching for space doesn't mean the base formation was a diamond.

When in possession Fred and Mctominay stayed tight and deeper, the evidence is shown on the previous page.

 

[K_Ash]

It really wasn't.

Pogba was never as deep as the midfield 2 and Bruno stayed more to the right of the pitch, pogba to the left.

Just because Bruno moved to the middle of the pitch searching for space doesn't mean the base formation was a diamond.

When in possession Fred and Mctominay stayed tight and deeper, the evidence is shown on the previous page.

Bruno was between the strikers throughout the game. Positionally the front 3 was unaffected by the entrance of Paul for that Diamond. Bruno was certainly not on the right

 

[Adam-Utd]

Bruno was between the strikers throughout the game. Positionally the front 3 was unaffected by the entrance of Paul for that Diamond. Bruno was certainly not on the right

His heat map will obviously show that because he played 3/4 of the game as a 10.

We only switched the formation when pogba came on for telles, after that point he was clearly in the RAM alongside Pogba in the LAM.

I don't really see why you're so desperate to point out it was a diamond shape? it really is apple and oranges but Fred certainly wasn't as high as Pogba like you insist.

 

[K_Ash]

His heat map will obviously show that because he played 3/4 of the game as a 10.

We only switched the formation when pogba came on for telles, after that point he was clearly in the RAM alongside Pogba in the LAM.

I don't really see why you're so desperate to point out it was a diamond shape? it really is apple and oranges but Fred certainly wasn't as high as Pogba like you insist.

it is okay to admit than you are wrong, that the mapping and screenshots show that it was a Diamond. Trust me. It is okay. You are not Donald Trump

 

[Rilz]

Let's not get carried way, PSG defensively were really really poor, which I suspect has something to do with injuries and not quite being sharp yet (its easier to get up to speed in the prem when all 19 teams will give you a proper game).

I wouldn't take too much away from this game apart from evidence that the team are buying into Ole mentally and the fact that our squad depth is improving.

 

[Adam-Utd]

it is okay to admit than you are wrong, that the mapping and screenshots show that it was a Diamond. Trust me. It is okay. You are not Donald Trump

I'm not wrong though the proof is on the previous page that you've ignored.

Why was Fred not pushed up alongside Pogba, instead sitting right next to Mctominay?

 

[DFreshKing]

Clearly a 4222 and very effective too. Fred and Mctominay are great as DM's esecially when we have two creative AM's in front of them. I mentioned very early on when we signed Fernandes this would work great. Happy to see it and hopefully something Ole will use more often.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I'm not wrong though the proof is on the previous page that you've ignored.

Why was Fred not pushed up alongside Pogba, instead sitting right next to Mctominay?

You are right. Was McT/Fred shielding and Pogba came on and played much further up, drifting to the left

 

[KcB32]

Looked like a diamond to me. Fred moved over to the right, Pogba to the left, with Bruno at the top and Scott at the base.

To be honest, I was a bit concerned when Pogba came on for Telles, but with those four in the midfield, it gave us so much control over the game. I really hope to see more of this. With the talent we have in midfield, we should be controlling the game against anyone we play.

 

[HowYouDoin]

It was a Diamond because Bruno plays between the striker as a 10 as the head of the spear. A couple of times he permuted with Paul as the head of that spear.
"4-2-2-2" knowing again that Bruno was between the striker would imply that we were using that formation(left) and that was certainly not the case. The Diamond provided the balance and put everyone in their best positions once Paul came in

Bruno was the head the spear

Thats kinda how I saw it too. What Pogba played was a LM and it worked extremely well.
Who cares what formation it was, was it a diamond, a 4-2-2-2 or even 4-2-3-1, it just worked extremely well.
That is Pogba's position, his best position and he should never ever be a part of the central midfield again.
We finally figured it out after 4 years haha.
When you have Pogba in that position you dont need a LW.

 

[thomas porter]

It looked more like a diamond to me, Fred was further ahead of McTominay and positioned to the right. Pogba was on the left and Bruno was in the middle behind the front two.

This! It was definitely a diamond.

I'd love to see this same formation with Fred holding, Pogba on the left, Bruno on the right, and DVB in the hole. Both Bruno And Pogba are good out wide and DVB is excellent with his movement and 1 touch football.

 

[fps]

It worked really well, but PSG's midfield was truly workmanlike and the starting shape and midfielders won the midfield battle, allowing for that change to reap dividends. At least in part.

 

[smi11ie]

Playing Greenwood, Martial and Rashford together doesn't work. They are all center forwards as is Cavani. Either 352 or 4222 are the only systems to play with the players at Man Utd. Pogba should only be played in the 4222, he makes too many errors in defense. In a 352 he should be competing against Bruno for the attacking midfield role . In the next transfer window Utd should forget about Sancho and go for a right wingback with a good delivery and a fit DM to stand in for Fred / McT.

 

[R0nald0]

It was 100% a diamond. Pogba was clearly playing on the left and Bruno was clearly the tip of the diamond, with both Martial and Rashford split strikers meaning often there was a front 3 of Martial - Bruno - Rashford.

IMO Diamond makes the best use of our players and we should be playing this regularly. Maybe away to tough opposition we move to 5-3-2 which is basically one of the CMs moving back into def

 

[Dve]

Ole switched from a. 3-5-2 to the 4-2-2-2 formation against PSG and we really came alive.

back 4. Fred and Mctominay midfield with Bruno and Pogba ahead, and Rashford and Martial.

we played some absolutely beautiful football and retained possession really well.

Please Ole let’s see this more often!

What I´d like to see, is Ole going back to being more dynamic and less predictable. The 4-2-3-1 formation is fine, but great to have some alternatives as well. 4-2-2-2 (or the diamond) suits our current squad well.

 

[Dve]

Playing Greenwood, Martial and Rashford together doesn't work. They are all center forwards as is Cavani. Either 352 or 4222 are the only systems to play with the players at Man Utd. Pogba should only be played in the 4222, he makes too many errors in defense. In a 352 he should be competing against Bruno for the attacking midfield role . In the next transfer window Utd should forget about Sancho and go for a right wingback with a good delivery and a fit DM to stand in for Fred / McT.

Greenwood, Martial and Rashford were the front 3 taking us to 3rd place last season. When the players are up for it, it has actually proven to work quite well and the bad start we had this season is down to lack of preparation and form, and no formation would have changed that. I do agree though, that Pogba is better utilised further up on the pitch.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Not sure of the formation whether diamond or 4-2-2-2 but we've seen bits of the 2 striker formation this season. Brighton cup game, Newcastle game and now the PSG game. Our game improved every time we played it

 

[smi11ie]

Greenwood, Martial and Rashford were the front 3 taking us to 3rd place last season. When the players are up for it, it has actually proven to work quite well and the bad start we had this season is down to lack of preparation and form, and no formation would have changed that. I do agree though, that Pogba is better utilised further up on the pitch.

Strikers are lazy at defending. Having 3 strikers on the pitch is too much. 2 is enough, it always has been enough. The 433 is a system for wingers and Utd only have Daniel James. It did get Utd to third last season but that was quite fortunate. I think Ole will have a lot of success with the 352 or 4222.