What formation best suits the squad?

[MadMike]

This was a one off as both Mac and Fred were unavailable. We frequently play with both Fred and Mac leaving us with 2 forwards. Unless you consider Bruno a forward which I don't as I see him as a midfielder. Anyway different opinions

Not really a one off though is it? Pogba doesn’t always play and when he plays it’s not always on the left. Last season we played 4-2-3-1 with Rashford on the left mostly. Were all those months one-offs too?

You can consider Bruno a goalkeeper if you want, power to you, but that’s just not where he plays. Evidence abounds. The guy plays like a forward, or like a support striker to be more precise. In many games he ends up more advanced than Greenwood.

 

[CR1]

We are absolutely stacked with attackers so no @CR1, the formation that utilises the lowest possible number of them is not a great idea. You want to play to your strengths, as opposed to trying to cover your weaknesses.

Suggesting playing with 2 forwards, when we have 7 forwards(Cavani, Ronaldo, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho, Lingard) at the club, is just asinine.

IMO Ronaldo, Cavani, Rashford and Greenwood are the regular first eleven contenders. I regard the rest of the attackers/forwards as squad players. Some of them might become regular first eleven contenders though. While good players in their own right, you shouldn't build your first eleven around the likes of Martial and Lingard if you want to win titles, as proven over recent seasons.

 

[largelyworried]

I think the formation we've been seeing more often is our best bet

Ronaldo
Pogba-Bruno-Greenwood
McT-Fred
Shaw-Varane-Maguire-AWB
De Gea​

Bruno gets to push forward and play like a second striker and Pogba can come inside and play from a central/inside left channel kind of position. It creates a bit of space on the left for Ronaldo and Shaw work in and means we get a decent balance between width and control in the middle.

Plus from this formation, we can change our game easily without using too many subs. We can swap Pogba for Rashford/Sancho if we want more width. Or we can swap McT for Rashford/Sancho, put Pogba in the double pivot if the opposition arent trying to control the midfield. We can even swap McT for Dalot and go 3 at the back with 3 wingbacks.

 

[CR1]

Would be interested to see this. Bodies in the middle. Ronny and Greenwood can drift wide allowing space for Bruno through the middle. Pogba can get forward and Donny playing box to box. Width can come from the full backs.

Ronaldo Greenwood​

Bruno​

Pogba Mctominay Donny​

Shaw Maguire Varane Dalot​

De Gea​

Good suggestion IMO.

Do the thing that works. Fred + McTominay works, and against some great opposition too. Also, Bruno is such a productive nr. 10 that there's no way you can move him around. 4-2-3-1 all the way for me, it's what the squad is built for. Even solves the Pogba conundrum, as he's shown he can produce from LW, and works well with Shaw. I want Pogba upfield without sacrificing Bruno's role, and 4-2-3-1 provides just that.

Also a good point IMO. Yes, we can't afford to experiment too much. But maybe in some games we could. McFred gets too much criticism at times, as did MagaLof.

 

[Siorac]

IMO Ronaldo, Cavani, Rashford and Greenwood are the regular first eleven contenders. I regard the rest of the attackers/forwards as squad players. Some of them might become regular first eleven contenders though. While good players in their own right, you shouldn't build your first eleven around the likes of Martial and Lingard if you want to win titles, as proven over recent seasons.

There's also our 70m signing who's definitely a first XI contender (and who has no position in your 3-5-2). And that's fine in our current line-up when we utilise four attacking players. But in a 5-3-2/3-5-2, we basically have two spots for:

- Ronaldo
- Cavani
- Greenwood
- Rashford
- Bruno
- Sancho

You might say Bruno can play attacking midfield in a 3-5-2 behind two split strikers and sure, that can work I suppose. But even then we have five more players for just two positions, and we have Lingard, Martial, and Mata as well.

And while you're right that we shouldn't build the XI around Martial and Lingard, your 3-5-2 suggestion basically means building the first eleven around Lindelöf, Fred, and McTominay. That doesn't exactly strike me as the brightest idea.

I understand the appeal of a "proper" three-man midfield, the way Liverpool do it, or Barcelona did in the days of Xavi. But let's face it: with Bruno it's not going to happen. Ever. That's not the direction we chose.

 

[Highfather_24]

IMO Ronaldo, Cavani, Rashford and Greenwood are the regular first eleven contenders. I regard the rest of the attackers/forwards as squad players.

You missed Sancho there. You dont have to build a squad around Martial and Lingard, they are your squad players. We are stacked up front and will struggle to involve everyone with a 3man attack as is. Playing with a 2 man attack is stupid.

 

[Chesterlestreet]

Our best XI right now is probably the one we played on Sunday.

Which raises some questions - but there it is.

We have many options/combinations for the positions up front, which is a good thing.

We have far less options (in terms of players actually challenging for the positions further back), which is not so good - especially in the middle of the park.

(I don't mind Varane - Maguire emerging as a pairing that can't be challenged, realistically, at all though - that's a pure positive if that happens).