Kiwivillan Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 (edited) Can't believe Tuanzebe started after Wolves game. There was no need or point to play 352 vs Arsenal Edited October 22, 2021 by Kiwivillan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachboys1 Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 extra center half has effected mings and konza form Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 (edited) If he goes back to his tried and tested 4-3-3 and has the balls to keep Ings or Watkins on the bench, then we’ll recover from this. Edited October 22, 2021 by ferguson1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 7 minutes ago, El Zen said: He needs to play the formation and style he truly believes in. Not trying to shoehorn players into an unfamiliar shape and compromising on the fundamentals of his own philosophy. We haven’t looked remotely like a Dean Smith team lately. What he's trying to do is not shoe horn players in to a familiar shape! The 4-3-3 will come back when the wingers come back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 Just now, villa4europe said: What he's trying to do is not shoe horn players in to a familiar shape! The 4-3-3 will come back when the wingers come back We have the players available to make 4-3-3 work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 Just now, El Zen said: We have the players available to make 4-3-3 work. Do we? Who? The best I can see with 4-3-3 starting tonight and last week is el ghazi - ings - Buendia and Buendia isn't an out and out RW and is playing poorly, could move Watkins out left but he isn't a LW, could play young left but he is no longer a LW could play el ghazi RW but he's been poor there last couple of times Injuries are driving the formation, nothing more 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 (edited) Awful tonight, although better once we switched to 4-3-3. Hopefully Bailey is indeed now fully fit and we can revert to type. Need to play Ings over Watkins as well. Ollie needs a break, his confidence is shot and his workrate doesn't seem anywhere near what it was last season. Ings looks well up for it, though. Edit: Though I suppose Watkins could play wide left, fine if that happens. Would still rather Bailey left and someone else right. Edited October 22, 2021 by bobzy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_avfc Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 2 minutes ago, villa4europe said: Do we? Who? The best I can see with 4-3-3 starting tonight and last week is el ghazi - ings - Buendia and Buendia isn't an out and out RW and is playing poorly, could move Watkins out left but he isn't a LW, could play young left but he is no longer a LW could play el ghazi RW but he's been poor there last couple of times Injuries are driving the formation, nothing more Agree with this. I would say that I still think a 4-3-3 would suit us more than this system that hasn’t worked for a few weeks now. However you can guarantee that had players like El Ghazi started and we’d lost Smith would be getting stick for playing him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommo_b Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 I can’t defend the formation anymore, that was truly awful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 Just now, Tommo_b said: I can’t defend the formation anymore, that was truly awful! The thing is, we should be able to play in a 5-3-2/3-5-2 whichever you want to call it. It worked nicely against Chelsea and Man Utd, but awfully against Spurs (from memory?) and Arsenal. Variation is a good thing to have and I do think Smith was hampered by not having fit wingers, so he was "forced" to play in a tighter way. Hopefully he's big enough to pick one striker over another, though. We can't just continue to shoehorn them both in for the sake of it. Against Man Utd, they both pressed brilliantly and it really helped us. Now, Watkins seems to be off form. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 (edited) Not sure how he fixes things, we can’t pin all hope on Bailey Edited October 22, 2021 by VillanousOne 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 1 minute ago, villa4europe said: Do we? Who? The best I can see with 4-3-3 starting tonight and last week is el ghazi - ings - Buendia and Buendia isn't an out and out RW and is playing poorly, could move Watkins out left but he isn't a LW, could play young left but he is no longer a LW could play el ghazi RW but he's been poor there last couple of times Injuries are driving the formation, nothing more I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t think it’s the right move. I’d argue Buendia would look better wide right anyway, and I’d rather play Ollie wide left or Anwar/Jaden/anyone, than play 3-5-2 again any time soon. We, over time, look better as a team in 4-3-3. The players look more comfortable and confident, and for me it’s an objectively better formation than 3-5-2. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 I'd say that's certainly the end of the back 3 now as well 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post hippo Posted October 22, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 22, 2021 2 minutes ago, MrSmirch said: This formation is killing all progress made over the last 3 years. If he can’t drop see that and drop one of Watkins or Ings then he needs a serious word in his ear about his future at the club. He probably can see it. But Watkins did well last season and Ings cost £30m. Its created a problem we didn't need. Suspect recruitment IMO 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 With a 45 minute runout for Bailey, I'm hoping we see us back to our wingers system next week and the season gets back on track. It's been a shite few games, and tonight was particularly poor, but people wanting him sacked when we're 9 games in and haven't had the fit players to actually field our best 11 or preferred foremation yet will hopefully look very silly indeed in the coming months. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 1 minute ago, hippo said: He probably can see it. But Watkins did well last season and Ings cost £30m. Its created a problem we didn't need. Suspect recruitment IMO So true. The Ings signing has completely derailed us. It didn’t need to happen at all. And before anyone says we needed a second striker, I agree, we did, but did we need one for 25m on 120k a week? 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 Poor tonight, but he's got more than enough credit in the bank to be given a lot more time. I'm nowhere near in the Smith out camp at all - thats just reactionary rubbish. He does need to sack off the 5 at the back. Get back to 4-3-3 and what made us dangerous in the first place. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said: He’s persisted with Ings and Watkins when it hasn’t worked for 10 weeks or so. Whether you love him/hate him, he is not seeing the obvious things in front of him. Who knows what happens with Smith over the next few weeks and although I’ve defended him a lot, f*** me, stop being so f****** blind with the changes we need to make. There are so many things he could do differently but doesn’t. Thats what’s so frustrating about it all. Genuinely think it's down to Bailey's (and Traore's) fitness rather than a complete love of shoehorning in both Ings and Watkins. Next game will be telling if, as I said before, Bailey is indeed fit. Smith has played 4-3-3 for basically as long as I can remember. Having an alternate formation to fall back on is a good thing, but I'm fairly sure he'll want to revert to type ASAP. Could be wrong, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 Hopefully that'll prove to him that the 3 at the back formation with Ings and Watkins just doesn't work and we'll be back to the warm bosom of 4-3-3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted October 22, 2021 Share Posted October 22, 2021 Watkins looked fine as a wide forward although much better leading the line. Still what’s his problem in playing him there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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