We’ve played with a variation of a 3-5-2 (3-4-2-1) for years now and it’s worked for us for far. Also when you look at the teams that were promoted last season Bradford, Port Vale and Wimbledon all played some variation of a 3-5-2 as well. Every formation has its strengths and weaknesses, I think the 4-4-2 covers the pitch well but you can be overrun in midfield is you face a team that plays with 3 CMs or a Box Midfield. With the 3-4-2-1 we are very solid in central areas but it demands a lot of the wide players because they almost have to do the job of two players and they sometimes get pinned in if facing a full back and a winger. I’m not overly concerned with the formation, I think it works well for how we want to play, the two attacking midfielders and two central midfielders mean we should be able to get a lot of control in the middle of the pitch and dominate. Sometimes I just wished the wing-backs played a tad higher, they were really deep under Stuart and that seems to have followed on with Martin. Maybe Luke Williams has warped my mind as to how wing-backs should play (because under him they were basically wingers!) I think the approach to how you play is probably more important to us and that is to be brave (not sit too deep) play forward and be relentless with the press to pin-teams in. We’ve done it in phases and stages this season, just in the last two matches the intent and bravery hasn’t quite been there for me but there's no reason to suggest we can't get back into a positive approach.
By
menzinho · 36 minutes ago 36 min