Our plan B

[DangerousSausage]

I've read a few comments now about our lack of a plan B and our reliance on long balls. At the same time, the squad rotation this season has shown that we do have a number of interesting options this season.

From watching fourth division football in Germany I've become a bit of a fan of the 4-2-3-1 system. At that time the manager knew that was how he wanted to play and picked the players to suit it. I think Notts have the players to fit it too.

In the centre you have two holding midfielders protecting the defence and another one behind the striker. This gives you an extra man in the centre and helps you dominate midfield. So for the holding position you could have two of Hewitt, Milsom and Yates, or one of them alongside Walker or Thompson. Plenty of options there and can be adapted according to the opposition. Grant or Noble would be ideal for the number 10 role as they could link up the attack and get into shooting positions.

But what you really need for this formation are two wide players who can cut in and support the striker up front when you're on the ball and cover the full backs when you're not. Rather than just playing down the byline like traditional wingers they'd look to cut inside and link up with the striker rather than just crossing to him. For that you need two players who are good on the ball, creative but who also cover a lot of ground and are willing to muck in defensively. I could see Alessandro and Hawkridge doing this. I don't rate Forte as a winger but I'd rate him in this role. Then of course there's Grant if Noble are playing as number 10.

Finally you need a striker who can play with his back to goal and bring others into the game. That's Stead's speciality. And with Grant, Alessandro and Hawkridge supporting him he'd have more options too.

It's a good system for playing football. With two conventional strikers your second striker spends most of the game chasing flick-ons and scraps and has little impact on the game. It makes more sense to utilise that man in midfield instead to help us control the game more, especially when we have so many options in that area.

Possible team:

Fitzsimmons

Tootle - Brisley - Duffy - Jones

         Milsom - Thompson

Alessandro - Grant - Hawkridge

                 Stead

What do you think?

[Chris]

Firstly, we need to work on the partnerships across the field but more importantly the pairing which starts up front.

That formation may suite the 'route one' tactics somewhat, however the ball would simply return back to the sender. I don't think one striker up top really works for us, or so much within the lower tiers.

We need to strive for consistency, and have a formation which allows us to hold the ball up top and keep the attacking free-flowing. I think something more along the lines of 2-1-3-4 would work (if we ensure the defence act as wing backs and one midfielder drop back to cover in defence if a counter attack against us seems likely). It's kind of a guessing game to know what could work, yet Stead isn't the striker to lead the line and Milsom/Thompson wouldn't be much cover for the defence.

January will allow Kevin Nolan to access the weaknesses of the squad and to form other tactics which could bid us further with our campaign to gain promotion.

Liam Noble is looking like his on-field skill set could largely help us, yet I am still mindful of the drama off the pitch he can cause.

Yet again, hard work got us where we are and as such it seems easier to fix then people think. I honestly feel we would see a massive difference keeping focused on attacking - with the ball played along the floor and partnerships supporting each other across the field. Nolan spoke before about us moving as a line, I'd like to see this return because it gave us space and players wanted the ball as a result of it.

[DangerousSausage]

The formation I suggested would be a dead loss with the long ball game, it's more about holding the ball and dominating midfield.

There's this dogma that one up front is negative, but in possession we'd effectively be playing with three up front, with two of them dropping back into midfield when we're defending. Some of the best attacking football I've seen live has been with this formation - as well as Stead we'd have Grant, Hawkridge and Alessandro piling into the box, and that's hard to defend against. We have Grant and Noble, who both like a shot from distance, Ameobi and Stead who are less than clinical themselves but are good at bringing others into the game, and in Alessandro in particular we have a wide player who covers a lot of ground and has a knack for scoring important goals. I think Grant would influence games more in the middle, but I'm not sure he has enough physical presence to play in the centre in a 442. Not a problem with the extra man in a 4231. We've got some good footballers and it'd be a shame not to use them to maximum effect.

I don't expect KN to make a change like this to be honest, especially in view of the good start we've made, but it's always a good idea to have something different up your sleeve.

[TheSkipper]

We need wider players to make those important runs, so I don't agree that those tactics would work for Notts.

There's a reason why Nolan has reverted to two up top, but if we can get someone like Grant behind the strikers he should have more time. We held the ball up quite well until this month, perhaps it is simple as a loss of focus and pressure mounting?