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Formation away in Europe

What formation should we use away in Europe?

  • 4-4-2

    Votes: 5 8.2%
  • 4-5-1

    Votes: 49 80.3%
  • 1-1-8

    Votes: 7 11.5%

  • Total voters
    61

LukaMotion

WHL 1899-2017
May 17, 2010
2,883
5,926
To my mind, the main reason we conceded 3 goals in 30 minutes last night has to go down to the formation we set out in and what i would call a tactical error by Redknapp. I thought we looked crowded out of the midfield, especially as i didn't think Gio came in enough off the wing and left us with effectively 2 in midfield when Bale got forward.

Gomes
Charlie Daws Bassong Benny
Gio Wilson Luka Bale
Defoe Pav​


To his credit, Harry realised the mistake and brought Hudd on for Benny, which really left us with a 5 man midfield as bale got forward, and from then on i thought we looked much more asserted and composed. That may be testament to Hudd's performance but i think it is more due to the change of formation and the amount of possesion we had after that point. Even when Bale and Gio got forward it left us with 3 in the middle to stop counter attacks and when we were pinned back Hudd dropped back into defence.

Gomes
Charlie Daws Bassong
Gio Wilson Hudd Luka Bale
Defoe Pav​

I think that we should be playing a five man midfield in all the away european games personally otherwise we will continue to be over run in midfield.
 

Timberwolf

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2008
10,328
50,217
I totally agree that we were tactically naive last night. We were completely over-run in midfield due to our formation- Modric and Palacios were continually pressured off the ball, and because neither wide player came inside to support, and neither striker tracked back or held-up the ball, we gave Young Boys a free run at us for half an hour. I'd be surprised if we strung more than 5 or 6 passes together in that whole period of the match, so ill-judged was our formation.

In previous games these tactics have worked for us, and the line-up wasn't drastically different to that which absolutely mullered Man City last Saturday, but given the occasion I think Harry should've set us up with more of a midfield presence.

The combination of the pitch, it being away from home, the importance of the match, and Wilson being in for Palacios all worked in Young Boys favor. We seemed to underestimate them and they set themselves up in the perfect way to counter our attacking formation, once Tommy came on we looked a completely different team.

I don't think we'll play with one up top at all unless we sign a new striker, but if we play away from home , we desperately need more presence in midfield. Theres a thin line between genius and idiocy when playing with 2 out and out wingers and 2 strikers, and we were treading on the wrong side of it last night.
 

Kendall

Well-Known Member
Feb 8, 2007
38,502
11,933
I just find it daft that you would have a pre-conceived formation for an away european game, regardless of who its against.

We've beaten top teams with 4-4-2 away from home and we will again.
 

brett.spurs

Banned
May 22, 2007
7,388
2
Oh, sorry, I thought you said top teams. My mistake.

What is our away record against the 'big 4' again?

0 wins from 67 isn't it :shrug:
 

Dan Ashcroft

Manstack vs The Gay Chimney
Jan 6, 2008
6,404
1,147
Definitely 4-5-1 but we have to buy a forward who can play in that lone role before the end of this window.
 

chrissivad

Staff
May 20, 2005
51,646
58,072
I just find it daft that you would have a pre-conceived formation for an away european game, regardless of who its against.

We've beaten top teams with 4-4-2 away from home and we will again.

This. You set up your formation and players depending on who you play.
 

Kendall

Well-Known Member
Feb 8, 2007
38,502
11,933
Oh, sorry, I thought you said top teams. My mistake.

What is our away record against the 'big 4' again?

0 wins from 67 isn't it :shrug:

I'm willing to bet many of the teams we play including YB aren't on a level with City.

I just don't see how we can say "right, away from home in europe we have to play like this" Its all about who you're playing and what players you have at your disposal.

Home or away.
 

Black

Well-Known Member
May 21, 2007
4,807
4,872
4-4-2

With the right players, i never want to see luka and wilson in the middle again they have never looked good.

Gio on the right was also poor, just like that last european game we played. Cant expect to win a a game when 3 of your midfielders aint playing well.

If anything 4-2-3-1 would be nice

Gomes
Kaboul Dawson Bassong BAE
Wilson Hudd

Lennon Gio/Luka Bale

Crouch

-----------------------

Gomes
Kaboul Dawson Bassong BAE
Wilson Sandro

Hudd
Lennon---------------Bale

Crouch


 

Spurs_Q8

Well-Known Member
May 21, 2005
3,161
139
i thought we were also poor in this system in EPL, vs Sunderland .. but how we won vs City 0-1 don't know

i think 4-4-2 away from home, don't work unless Modric on left.
 

EastLondonYid

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2010
7,837
16,145
systems are obviously a major factor ,and i got stick last week daring to suggest we play 4-5-1 away in our FIRST ever champs league game,kind of like feeling the water.
but to be fair,the way our boys performed individually the other nite, wouldnt have made much difference what formation we played.
i think it showed our squad is good,but not as good as we are all led to believe.
our first eleven is great,but when you look after that....
 

stevenqoz

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2006
2,776
553
To his credit, Harry realised the mistake and brought Hudd on for Benny, which really left us with a 5 man midfield as bale got forward, and from then on i thought we looked much more asserted and composed. That may be testament to Hudd's performance but i think it is more due to the change of formation and the amount of possesion we had after that point. Even when Bale and Gio got forward it left us with 3 in the middle to stop counter attacks and when we were pinned back Hudd dropped back into defence.

Gomes
Charlie Daws Bassong
Gio Wilson Hudd Luka Bale
Defoe Pav​

Wash your mouth out young man you are describing a 3 5 2 what can you be thinking?
 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
48,764
The "Bale is a winger" brigade will only see the true beauty of him at LB if we get into the group stages and can line up with 3 in midfield and still have him as an attacking option on the left.
 

van_Pommel

Well-Known Member
May 10, 2004
3,061
971
Gomes

Corluka__Dawson__King/Kaboul__BAE

Huddlestone___Modric

Lennon_________Kranjcar_________Bale

Someone good​
 

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
42,341
77,594
It wasn't the formation that was the problem. We didn't play anywhere near our best. But we still got it together and had better possession than Young Boys. It was nerves on the big stage that got the better of us, not the formation.
Oh, sorry, I thought you said top teams. My mistake.

What is our away record against the 'big 4' again?

0 wins from 67 isn't it :shrug:
We changed formation away to Chelsea and Arsenal last season and lost both games 3-0
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
Couldn't agree more with the final summation. I alluded to it in my ratings, as did others such as Steve. What pisses me off is that Redknapp talks the talk, but rarely walks the tactical walk. This summer we heard him eulogising about the necessity to go 451 in europe and tough away games - first and most important game what does he do - 442 with two of the least effective at dropping or holding the ball strikers. Throughout the first half there was this massive distance between the strikers and the midfield. Redknapp did clearly give Defoe an almighty bollocking (they showed on TV) and Defoe then did actually start closing their defenders down, but Pav was like a fucking stewed prune in a moulinex hairdryer all fucking night.

Last summer we had the "we must press the ball like Barcelona" quote - which again, with the exception of Palacios for most of the time nobody seem to have been told. We did it in a couple of games but too many we didn't.

Of course, some of the problem is coaching players to do this - which requires extensive fitness work as well as discipline - the other is that players like Corluka, Huddlestone, Dawson are not quick and are easily spun. Ekotto likes to have at least the length of bus between him and the man he is marking.

Too often our default - as we saw in the second half against ManC saturday (as well as the end of last season) - is just to to sit very deep and hope to absorb and break. We saw Redknapp use these tactics at Portsmouth.
 
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