Should we now adopt Spalletti's 4-6-0 strikerless formation?

[mil1lion]

Germany had 3 strikers though. Mueller, Podolski and Klose :wink:

 

[The Apprentice]

Stopped reading at "our amazing midfield".

Bar Modric, poss VdV (if he's signed) and Bale (on current form), it's hardly world beating.

 

[SpurSince57]

I'm not totally adverse to this idea, but suggesting our forwards are crap is a bit harsh.

Actually, it's idiotic.

 

[michaelden]

Germany had 3 strikers though. Mueller, Podolski and Klose :wink:

Where almost wingers allowing Ozil and Kadhira to run beyond them. Klose was the hold up man but even he dropped deep.

 

[SpurSince57]

Goals from strikers 2009-10

Chelsea 46

Man U 41

Arsenal 19 (or 29 if you count Arshavin as a striker)

Spurs 37

City 50

Liverpool 36

Ours are 'terrible'? I think not.

 

[AW?]

Ooh watch out he's getting his stats out again :lol:

 

[mil1lion]

Where almost wingers allowing Ozil and Kadhira to run beyond them. Klose was the hold up man but even he dropped deep.

They were really wide attackers though. They did a lot of work for the team, but so do the wide men attakers at Barca. The point is however, they score goals. Which is the biggest floor in Dans system imo. Those 3 are instinctively strikers, so they score goals.

None of our midfielders have the instincts in front of goal that our strikers have. We have to play at least 1 of those strikers. We also have to bear in mind that the midfielders don't always do enough to unlock tight defences.

 

[mil1lion]

The good thing about our 4 strikers is, they're all as good as eachother. They just offer something different, but they're on a similar level.

So on one hand we don't have a Torres, Drogba or Rooney. On the other hand, if one or 2 of our strikers get injured, we can equally replace them. Where the others will only have 2 players at best with equal quality.

Goals from strikers 2009-10

Chelsea 46

Man U 41

Arsenal 19 (or 29 if you count Arshavin as a striker)

Spurs 37

City 50

Liverpool 36

Ours are 'terrible'? I think not.

Ha. I can't wait to see what they'll get with Mancini in charge. With Tevez on his own up front.

 

[C-oops]

Defoe - flat track bully who is only good for a 10 game spell once every two years.

Crouch - very poor hold up player considering his size and who ruins our play (not his fault but he does).

Keane - a great player once, but who has been unable to adapt to his loss of pace.

Pav - best of a bad lot but again poor hold up play for his size and inconsistent.


They are such a disappointment compared to our amazing midfield and defence and all need upgrading upon urgently. Maybe not dreadful, but mediocre none the less.

I am speachless....clueless

 

[dimiSpur]

I'd be happy with that formation if we were playing an oompah loompah select
Seriously, Defoe as a lone striker??

In response to Dan's original post, dreadful isn't quite the adjective I'd have chosen, but agree with the basic sentiment

Defoe can operate as a lone striker. Out of all our forwards he's the only one who I've seen chase down a ball in the flank, win it, hold it up, turn and give it to Lennon/Charlie/Bale whatever.

Barcelona play with Villa up front, I'd say Defoe is stronger than Villa body wise. So like stated above I cant remember by who, there are 2 types of lone strikers. When we're attacking and in possesion, with a midfield like the one we have, we dont need to lump it into the box. Intricate play will do!

 

[dimiSpur]

Actually Barca dont play with Villa up front! Its Messi they use as the lone striker nowadays! Villa operated on teh left against Racing on Sunday.

 

[mil1lion]

Actually Barca dont play with Villa up front! Its Messi they use as the lone striker nowadays! Villa operated on teh left against Racing on Sunday.

A bit early to say atm. Only 1 game into the season :grin:

They switched to Villa in the middle though, and he looked better there and scored from there.

But then there's Messi, who scores more than all our strikers. So really is as much a wide attacker as a winger now anyway. We don't have a player from midfield like that.

I expect them to line up..

Messi----Villa----Pedro

a lot this season though. All score plenty of goals. 2 are natural born strikers and Messi as I say is as good as one (scoring the same as Ronaldo's best season, last season).

 

[Coyboy]

Defoe - flat track bully who is only good for a 10 game spell once every two years.

Crouch - very poor hold up player considering his size and who ruins our play (not his fault but he does).

Keane - a great player once, but who has been unable to adapt to his loss of pace.

Pav - best of a bad lot but again poor hold up play for his size and inconsistent.


They are such a disappointment compared to our amazing midfield and defence and all need upgrading upon urgently. Maybe not dreadful, but mediocre none the less.

Wrong about Crouch and Pav. How people can still post this nonsense about Crouch is mind boggling. I guess you missed him play blinders in our two most important games of late-City away and YB.

So they aren't dreadful then? And yet we won most of games with Crouch and Defoe, the latter of whom was our top scorer and one of the league's.

And we don't automatically play bad football with Crouchy, this is fucking untrue.

I stopped reading at "dreadful set of forwards". Has Dan made any good points, or is it the usual guff?

Same, it could have been an interesting discussion.

 

[dimiSpur]

A bit early to say atm. Only 1 game into the season :grin:

They switched to Villa in the middle though, and he looked better there and scored from there.

But then there's Messi, who scores more than all our strikers. So really is as much a wide attacker as a winger now anyway. We don't have a player from midfield like that.

I expect them to line up..

Messi----Villa----Pedro

a lot this season though. All score plenty of goals. 2 are natural born strikers and Messi as I say is as good as one (scoring the same as Ronaldo's best season, last season).

Guillem Ballague seems to think that Messi will be their number 9 so to speak this season. If ever there was a 4-6-0, it's Barcelona who play it actually!!

However, teams that do play this formation, seem to have out and out goalscorers in their team. Either strikers reverted to the wings, or just brilliant goalscoring midfielders.

I dont think our wingers could pitch in with enough goals. I know Bale is awesome, but we cant solely rely on him for goals from midfield. Lennon scores 2-3 a PL season, a poor return really. And Luka should score more for his ability.

 

[mattstev2000]

Dreadful set of forwards was a bit of an overstatement.

But I do agree that the quality of our midfield and defense is a step up from our strikers.

The only one of our strikers who I rate highly is Keane (when he's on form he's great but Harry won't let him get any form back because of his insistence on playing Defoe and Crouch).

However saying they are dreadful is over the top.

Keane - As I say, best of the four I think but low on confidence and not being given any by the manager or fans.

Defoe - Lacks real quality but is good against the weaker opposition. Doesn't offer much other than a fox in (and around) the box. Having said that he's definitely better than his first spell with us.

Crouch - Good against teams that haven't worked him out, offers an alternative style of play, good defensive option. Shouldn't be first choice though, option from the bench.

Pav - Very hot and cold. Great one minute, absolutely f-ing dreadful the next.

 

[AW?]

This guy is clearly an attention seeking WUM.

And he's getting exactly what he wants.

 

[mil1lion]

Guillem Ballague seems to think that Messi will be their number 9 so to speak this season. If ever there was a 4-6-0, it's Barcelona who play it actually!!

However, teams that do play this formation, seem to have out and out goalscorers in their team. Either strikers reverted to the wings, or just brilliant goalscoring midfielders.

I dont think our wingers could pitch in with enough goals. I know Bale is awesome, but we cant solely rely on him for goals from midfield. Lennon scores 2-3 a PL season, a poor return really. And Luka should score more for his ability.

Stop there :grin:

He doesn't know much tbh. The 3 Barca forwards will switch positions, no doubt about that. But Messi will still play a lot from the right. He played mostly on that side last season, was the best player on the planet, scored more than anyone else at the top level. No way would they move him.

Also, as good as Villa is from the left, he is still more effective from the centre. That was his position in the Valencia team where he was consistently one of the top scorers. So more times than not, they'll surely play Villa and Messi in their best positions.

You're right about the strikers converted to wingers. Much like Walcott offering Arsenal a wide attacker option. He plays on the right, but he is an attacker and a goalscorer. Unlike Lennon who is traditionally a winger. Anelka plays as a wide attacker aswell. I reckon Balotelli will play from the left for City. I also expect Utd to play Rooney and Berbatov a lot.

So they all have more than 1 goalscorer in their teams. The only team that doesn't is Liverpool but they have Gerrard to compensate. So we should be thankful we have better options in attack than them. Plus we can't be sure on how City will use their strikers. There's always the typical Italian way to defend with them.

 

[$hoguN]

The only thing this thread has made me think is that we really do need a word limit for posts

 

[dimiSpur]

Stop there :grin:

He doesn't know much tbh. The 3 Barca forwards will switch positions, no doubt about that. But Messi will still play a lot from the right. He played mostly on that side last season, was the best player on the planet, scored more than anyone else at the top level. No way would they move him.

Also, as good as Villa is from the left, he is still more effective from the centre. That was his position in the Valencia team where he was consistently one of the top scorers. So more times than not, they'll surely play Villa and Messi in their best positions.

You're right about the strikers converted to wingers. Much like Walcott offering Arsenal a wide attacker option. He plays on the right, but he is an attacker and a goalscorer. Unlike Lennon who is traditionally a winger. Anelka plays as a wide attacker aswell. I reckon Balotelli will play from the left for City. I also expect Utd to play Rooney and Berbatov a lot.

So they all have more than 1 goalscorer in their teams. The only team that doesn't is Liverpool but they have Gerrard to compensate. So we should be thankful we have better options in attack than them. Plus we can't be sure on how City will use their strikers. There's always the typical Italian way to defend with them.

I completely agree he's best from the right, but they employed him either behind the striker, or as the striker on alot of occasions last season.

And I agree, Villa and Messi will surely eventually be played where they are best. Last season may have been a one off, what with Ibrahimovich being so shite!

I think maybe if Gio wasn't just a pre season type player, and wasnt played on right midfield of a 4-4-2 formation, he could be a goalscoring attacker from either the left or right.

 

[ethanedwards]

An interesting post from DA, as regards the article on 4-6-0, and the key point that I took from it was the need for inelligent adaptlible players who could interchange positions in a fluid manner, to make the system work.
Our forwards may be internationals, and apart from Keane, none would be in the starting 11 for their respective countries. They are all good in parts but not good enough indidually to give us that little bit extra that would elevate us to genuine contenders for the title.