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Sweeper System


TrueLou

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When my brother was a nipper he idolized Baresi, he played as a sweeper himself, never good enough to make it, but he emulated Baresi as much as he could given his lack of skill.

I was watching One Night In Turin the other night and was reminded that the great Mark Wright played as a sweeper during that tournament.

Now reading a book which has just begun to touch on the success of the sweeper system when first introduced.

So, got me thinking, if in a fit of madness Derby suddenly employed this formation, who would you play as the sweeper? How would your team look?

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True Lou may I apologise on behalf of the members who may want to engage in "grown up" discussions regarding your opening post.

These fools are dragging this fine forum down.

Please ignore them.

I thought both suggestions were spot on. Not sure how Sweep would deal with a clearance off the line though, that one befuddles me, but I'd pay to see it. Just waiting for Dick Van Dyke to pop up.....

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Interesting question.  Personally I think the sweeper is due for a return to popular use in football; as the game becomes congested in midfield a defender who can step up and join midfield at the right time to exploit space on the counter could be very useful.  Kind of like how the false 9 operates, but ghosting into midfield from the back rather than to the forward line from midfield as the F9 does.

Trouble is that is take the right player to play it, as you've intimated. Stimac was quality in that role, but I don't see anyone in the current squad who could do it really.

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Is the sweeper system really that different from the defensive midfielder system we play?

 

From my understanding of the sweeper (given that it was in fashion just before my awareness in football) we almost play the reverse sweeper if you will. 

 

We have DM shielding the two centre halves, which at times puts us 3 at the back, with the full backs as wing backs.

 

With the sweeper, the DM becomes a central mid, one of the centre backs goes to DM, but the remaining 'sweeper' centre back drops deeper, with the full backs more defensively minded.

 

Think this system would hurt us, as we rely on the width, especially from Christie and Forsyth.

 

Have I got this right?

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I reckon that George Thorn would make a superb sweeper. He's good enough defensively, shows brilliant awareness to mop up problems and has a tremendous eye for a pass. He also reminds me a little of our last legendary sweeper, Igor Stimac, as he often appears the calmest head, yet always has that touch of arrogance stemming from self belief.

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