541

[Posh Ram]

Bielik will be key to making this formation work imo. I like Davies as a battler but he's not good enough on the ball to play Cocu's preferred style. If we replaced him with Bielik, then the debate about back 3/back 4/back 5 becomes redundant as we could switch between any of those systems, with Bielik at either CB and CDM.

[jimbo jones]

While I like the idea of eventually getting to a 433, I think if we do it soon we’d start shipping goals again.

I don’t see a solid CB pair, Byrne & Buchanan are both better as wing backs. And a fully fit and in form Bielik is the only player we have who can be the lone DM in my opinion.

If we play it like the 343 last night, we stay solid, but can carry a real threat as well. I’d also ease Bielik back in, in the back 3.

[Ramarena]

1 hour ago, brady1993 said:

I think you certainly can be punished, especially if you have issues elsewhere or if you've not really ironed out how you play. For example the peak 13/14 midfield of Thorne, Hughes and Bryson didn't really have that player. Albeit all 3 you can argue had overlapping attributes with Shinnie and that for me is the real key.

I'm not sure whether it will ultimately be Bielik that replaces him to be honest I have a sneaky feeling that when they are ready for it our best midfield will be Bird, Sibley and Knight.

Shinnie is for sure a good player to have in the squad though and rightfully deserves his place at the moment.

Yeah I’d love to see the bird, Sibbo, knight and how it fares.

I’d be concerned about the obvious lack of experience and added pressure on knight to be the destroyer which would take away from his overall game. 

But as you say the upside is a good mix of talent and it would offer more attack wise than the Shinnie, knight combo.

Maybe the trio for home games to give us more in attack and the duo with Shinnie in for away and tough home games 

One things for sure Knight is key for us  in CM amazing really for such a young player!

[RamNut]

7 minutes ago, Posh Ram said:

Bielik will be key to making this formation work imo. I like Davies as a battler but he's not good enough on the ball to play Cocu's preferred style. If we replaced him with Bielik, then the debate about back 3/back 4/back 5 becomes redundant as we could switch between any of those systems, with Bielik at either CB and CDM.

Possibly.
And as Bielik matures he will become an even better player, but I’m not sure whether to trust him just yet. 
It would help if we can find two rocks at centre back. 
 

[brady1993]

1 hour ago, Ramarena said:

Yeah I’d love to see the bird, Sibbo, knight and how it fares.

I’d be concerned about the obvious lack of experience and added pressure on knight to be the destroyer which would take away from his overall game. 

But as you say the upside is a good mix of talent and it would offer more attack wise than the Shinnie, knight combo.

Maybe the trio for home games to give us more in attack and the duo with Shinnie in for away and tough home games 

One things for sure Knight is key for us  in CM amazing really for such a young player!

I think the three have the right blend of attributes to be successful that a dedicated destroyer wouldn't be as necessary. Knight and Sibley are energetic, feisty, both capable of scoring  and carrying the ball. Bird is technically superb and his positioning is excellent. I think it would be a nice balance.

You are right about experience though and pressure, its why I said originally said "when they are ready for it". We need to stabilise first and then look at next steps.

[Thierry Ennui]

Can't understand people wanting Davies replaced with Bielik. Bielik, as talented as he is, is rash. Davies has been immense in his role and he leads the defence excellently. Bielik should play in midfield alongside Knight or Bird.

[Ramarena]

27 minutes ago, brady1993 said:

I think the three have the right blend of attributes to be successful that a dedicated destroyer wouldn't be as necessary. Knight and Sibley are energetic, feisty, both capable of scoring  and carrying the ball. Bird is technically superb and his positioning is excellent. I think it would be a nice balance.

You are right about experience though and pressure, its why I said originally said "when they are ready for it". We need to stabilise first and then look at next steps.

Certainly worth a look at when we’ve stabilised and got more points on the board!

Shame we are out of the league cup as that would’ve been an excellent testing ground!

[Ramarena]

28 minutes ago, Penelope Pendrex said:

Can't understand people wanting Davies replaced with Bielik. Bielik, as talented as he is, is rash. Davies has been immense in his role and he leads the defence excellently. Bielik should play in midfield alongside Knight or Bird.

Agreed. 

People have been tearing their hair out at our defending, rightly so.....So we stabilise it by adding a body at the back, bringing back the best out and out defender in the club who’s done a great job organising, leading and shoring the defence.

Now some want to swap him out for a player who is very talented but we can’t work out if he’s a defender or midfielder and before his injury was a bit of a loose cannon positionally and temperament-wise.

Sure Davies passing is limited, but he is easily the our best defender, let him do the job he does well and stop worrying about his passing. I bet if we take Davies out within a game or two we’ll have people moaning about leaking goals and Sunday league defending!

[G-Ram]

Davies is our best defender by a long way. Always in the right place at the right time & that's because he reads the game so well. Fantastic player. Only Downside is he isn't 10 years younger because id love him to play there for many years. Wins everything in the air. Good experienced pro & proper captain. 

Defenders job is to defend. He does that very well. He can pass a ten yard ball. Its not like he can't kick a football. Im not bothered about him playing out from the back. The wing backs can play out & as a unit we're probably better with a ball playing CB & a ball winning CB. 

I think he's being underrated by some 

[Rampage]

7 hours ago, Jimbo Ram said:

54321........feel a song coming on....

Quality input JR. We are bottom three, we are bottom three. Eight points off the play offs. We should now go on a 39 match unbeaten run to clinch the title.

[Rampage]

23 minutes ago, G-Ram said:

Davies is our best defender by a long way. Always in the right place at the right time & that's because he reads the game so well. Fantastic player. Only Downside is he isn't 10 years younger because id love him to play there for many years. Wins everything in the air. Good experienced pro & proper captain. 

Defenders job is to defend. He does that very well. He can pass a ten yard ball. Its not like he can't kick a football. Im not bothered about him playing out from the back. The wing backs can play out & as a unit we're probably better with a ball playing CB & a ball winning CB. 

I think he's being underrated by some 

No need to play out from the back. Lawrence has never been as fast. Ibe was faster than Sterling. Jozwiak has brains and pace. A few goals between them but Waghorn needs to knock a lot in. 

[Rampage]

1 minute ago, Rampage said:

No need to play out from the back. Lawrence has never been as fast. Ibe was faster than Sterling. Jozwiak has brains and pace. A few goals between them but Waghorn needs to knock a lot in. 

I just expect Marshall to make a couple of cracking saves each game. Brilliant signing.

[Rampage]

4 hours ago, Millenniumram said:

The trouble with switching formation mid way through the season is that you’ve recruited all summer long for a different system. Can leave you with an unbalanced squad. That said, while I dislike 541 with two CDM’s more than any other formation in football, I actually quite like a 343, which is more what we played last night with Shinnie and Knight as more offensive CM’s. Got no problem if we want to stick with that long term. My assessment of squad depth FWIW:

GK - Marshall is a quality first choice. Roos is a good backup. There’s a potential concern in that we don’t have a senior third choice. Might be worth signing a cheap older goalkeeper just in case.

RB - Problem area for me. Byrne is ok, but I’m a little unconvinced by him defensively. Wisdom the opposite, strong defensively, but a bit slow to play the wing back role. I’d look to rebuild this position totally.

CB - Te Weirik, Bielik and Clarke would be a top class unit imo when all fit and firing. Davies is good backup. Wisdom is also ok cover. But with playing three players there now, we need more options. Need to sign more cover here.

LB - Buchanan is a quality first choice. Forsyth is good experienced cover. We’re ok here now that Buchanan has proven himself.

CM - Plenty of quality options here. Bird is top drawer, so is Shinnie. Knight is another good option, Rooney still has a bit of magic sometimes, and Sibley has massive potential. Got Evans as further cover too. More than well stocked here.

LW - We know the quality Lawrence brings when he’s available. Just hope he cuts out the stupid suspensions. Jozwiak also looks alright on this side as well. Plenty of good options here.

RW - Ibe will be a class above when fit imo. Holmes is decent cover. Happy here as well.

ST - Lacking a good first choice. Both Waghorn and CKR are good options, but neither have that extra bit of quality go replace Martin. Remains the key position for a new signing.

So in January we need:

First choice ST, another RB option, CB cover, and maybe one extra emergency goalkeeper.

How can Jozwiack, Lawrence and Waghorn be a 1. Clearly a 3. Do some lightning attacking front three even if you get the ball direct from our own penalty area. Those three and Knight or Sibley is a major force to deal with coming from their corners.

[Rampage]

9 minutes ago, Rampage said:

How can Jozwiack, Lawrence and Waghorn be a 1. Clearly a 3. Do some lightning attacking front three even if you get the ball direct from our own penalty area. Those three and Knight or Sibley is a major force to deal with coming from their corners.

Why have Luton got 12 points.

[brady1993]

1 hour ago, G-Ram said:

Davies is our best defender by a long way. Always in the right place at the right time & that's because he reads the game so well. Fantastic player. Only Downside is he isn't 10 years younger because id love him to play there for many years. Wins everything in the air. Good experienced pro & proper captain. 

Defenders job is to defend. He does that very well. He can pass a ten yard ball. Its not like he can't kick a football. Im not bothered about him playing out from the back. The wing backs can play out & as a unit we're probably better with a ball playing CB & a ball winning CB. 

I think he's being underrated by some 

I'm think Davies is necessary for now but I do think we have to look to move past him in the medium term. 

Whilst he's been good he does have deficiencies, namely being slow and being not great in possession. These issues are mitigated quite a bit playing in the centre of a 3 because he doesn't get dragged out wide and he has more players closer to him to shift the ball on to. But in a 2 they would become more obvious again like they did in the winter last season.

Personally I think we want to shift to a back 4 again mostly because I think we have too much in other position with everyone fit to play a back 3. I also think that extra solidity we've seen recently is only partially because of playing Davies/a back 3 and a big part is having more energy and higher defensive work rate throughout the team. I think we can carry that latter part and afford to be a touch more expansive in set up.