As suggested by @Johnnyrotten splitting this off from the transfer chat as a place for formation nerds like me to discuss tactics.

@wanderer1984 I agree 343 is a really weird formation. Off the top of my head I can only think of 2 teams playing it successfully in the last 20ish years - Brazil 2002 and Chelsea under Conte.

Brazil 2002 had Cafu and Roberto Carlos as the wing backs.... And a front 3 that was ridiculous, so don't really work as a comparison to any other team.

However Chelsea under Conte is interesting. The 3 at the back helped to not expose David Luiz when he'd invariably wander. And the wing backs were completely different, Alonso was previously a full back, and Moses previously a winger. And Chelsea would play Azpilicueta at RCB to cover Moses.

So @Rival Son I'm not sure we need 2 primarily attacking wing backs to make it work. Schon as more attacking and Cogley more defensive could be fine.

The bit we are missing is in midfield though. Both those teams had pure enforcers in the centre. Chelsea had Matic and Kanye, and Brazil had Gilberto Silva and Kleberson (more a hard worker but not a ball player definitely). This is where we seem way off it with Thomason and Sheehan. I like both but they're not enforcers.

Did Arsenal play it out from the back on Wednesday? Yes. Did they need wing backs? No. There’s your answer then, ditch the wing back thing, play two wide men as Arsenal did with Saka and Sterling and you can still move the ball from back to front without the stupidity of starting the passing from your own 6 yard box and all the dangers that brings. That systems been found out now, everybody knows how to beat it so surely it’s time Evatt also saw it and binned it?

10 minutes ago, Whitesince63 said:

Did Arsenal play it out from the back on Wednesday? Yes. Did they need wing backs? No. There’s your answer then, ditch the wing back thing, play two wide men as Arsenal did with Saka and Sterling and you can still move the ball from back to front without the stupidity of starting the passing from your own 6 yard box and all the dangers that brings. That systems been found out now, everybody knows how to beat it so surely it’s time Evatt also saw it and binned it?

Not a chance  never in a million years will he change it ! 

1 hour ago, Rizlar said:

Not a chance  never in a million years will he change it ! 

Then he goes.

22 hours ago, Cheese said:

I'm not convinced our summer recruitment was based on the new formation. We've just got a better bench (on paper), albeit very top heavy.

It was to a degree

Evatt brought in players like Szabolcs Schön, John McAtee and Jay Matete with a view to the new system but he remains confident there will be no player who is left stranded by the formational shift.

“We try to recruit players who are multi-functional,” he said.

“Everyone we signed was with an eye to still playing a 3-5-2 when we needed to so it shouldn’t really affect too many of them. There is nobody in our squad that can’t play either system.

1 hour ago, Zico said:

It was to a degree

Evatt brought in players like Szabolcs Schön, John McAtee and Jay Matete with a view to the new system but he remains confident there will be no player who is left stranded by the formational shift.

“We try to recruit players who are multi-functional,” he said.

“Everyone we signed was with an eye to still playing a 3-5-2 when we needed to so it shouldn’t really affect too many of them. There is nobody in our squad that can’t play either system.

Most of them have proved over a few games that they couldn't play the new system

6 minutes ago, Gonk said:

Most of them have proved over a few games that they couldn't play the new system

I don't think the quality of the players was the issue. It was just a fucking shit system.

16 minutes ago, Cheese said:

I don't think the quality of the players was the issue. It was just a fucking shit system.

Yeah, we never should have changed it. It was fine, maybe 70% of the time. When it wasn't working was the issue

3 hours ago, Cheese said:

I don't think the quality of the players was the issue. It was just a fucking shit system.

Managers fault?

15 minutes ago, tomski said:

Managers fault?

Yep. One that he has admitted and is trying to rectify.

Perfect opportunity tomorrow for Evatt to bite the bullet and rip up the way he lines his team up. We all know how we will set up and how we will play even Crawley manager who has been in charge two days.

We could and should go 4/3/3 With a back four of  Cogley, Toal, Santos, and Johnston

Midfield three of Dempsey, Sheehan and Thomason .....And a three of Collins Vic and Charles up front

If Evatt starts in his usual 5 with two wingbacks we will have very little cover at the back on the bench and he wont get Collins into his starting 11

Go with 4 at the back and if one of Santos,Toal and Johnston gets injured we can still have two centre backs on the field and then can cover the full backs with either Schon or Williams

34 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Yep. 

2 minutes ago, tomski said:

37 minutes ago, Cheese said:

Yep. 

What's your point?

17 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Perfect opportunity tomorrow for Evatt to bite the bullet and rip up the way he lines his team up. We all know how we will set up and how we will play even Crawley manager who has been in charge two days.

We could and should go 4/3/3 With a back four of  Cogley, Toal, Santos, and Johnston

Midfield three of Dempsey, Sheehan and Thomason .....And a three of Collins Vic and Charles up front

If Evatt starts in his usual 5 with two wingbacks we will have very little cover at the back on the bench and he wont get Collins into his starting 11

Go with 4 at the back and if one of Santos,Toal and Johnston gets injured we can still have two centre backs on the field and then can cover the full backs with either Schon or Williams

What if all 11 players get injured in the first 10 minutes? THEN WHAT? 😱

19 minutes ago, Cheese said:

What's your point?

😂

55 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Perfect opportunity tomorrow for Evatt to bite the bullet and rip up the way he lines his team up. We all know how we will set up and how we will play even Crawley manager who has been in charge two days.

We could and should go 4/3/3 With a back four of  Cogley, Toal, Santos, and Johnston

Midfield three of Dempsey, Sheehan and Thomason .....And a three of Collins Vic and Charles up front

If Evatt starts in his usual 5 with two wingbacks we will have very little cover at the back on the bench and he wont get Collins into his starting 11

Go with 4 at the back and if one of Santos,Toal and Johnston gets injured we can still have two centre backs on the field and then can cover the full backs with either Schon or Williams

More chance of finding rocking horse shit.

 

36 minutes ago, Cheese said:

What if all 11 players get injured in the first 10 minutes? THEN WHAT? 😱

The game would get abandoned and you would still be sat there happy clapping !!!

11 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

The game would get abandoned and you would still be sat there happy clapping !!!

Oh god, I hope that doesn't happen! 😱 Maybe we should play the B Team so none of our first team players get injured?

But then again, they might sneeze and put their back out!! 😱 We should just pay them to sit at home wearing Bolton kits.

Edited September 27, 20241 yr by Cheese

2 hours ago, masi 51 said:

Perfect opportunity tomorrow for Evatt to bite the bullet and rip up the way he lines his team up. We all know how we will set up and how we will play even Crawley manager who has been in charge two days.

We could and should go 4/3/3 With a back four of  Cogley, Toal, Santos, and Johnston

 

He'll set up the way he did last week that got us a win

We haven't gone 433 in 4 seasons under him and I don't think Johnston is a left back

It's no wonder you're pissed off if these are your expectations

1 hour ago, Cheese said:

Oh god, I hope that doesn't happen! 😱 Maybe we should play the B Team so none of our first team players get injured?

But then again, they might sneeze and put their back out!! 😱 We should just pay them to sit at home wearing Bolton kits.

No need to play our B team......Not sure if you can separate pointless cup games from League games

And if you are not aware we do exactly that with Matherson

You will soon get a chance to see some of those B team step up to the first team bench after we get a couple of injuries next week against villa u21.

Seems there might be at least one Academy player on the bench at Crawley 

1 minute ago, masi 51 said:

No need to play our B team......Not sure if you can separate pointless cup games from League games

And if you are not aware we do exactly that with Matherson

You will soon get a chance to see some of those B team step up to the first team bench after we get a couple of injuries next week against villa u21.

Seems there might be at least one Academy player on the bench at Crawley 

Oh god, we're doomed! We should just close the entire club down in case anyone gets injured! 😱

Just now, Zico said:

 

He'll set up the way he did last week that got us a win

We haven't gone 433 in 4 seasons under him and I don't think Johnston is a left back

It's no wonder you're pissed off if these are your expectations

Of course he will.....We went 4/3/3  in his first season. Dempsey is no forward and Toal is no L/CH

His tampering has once again left us short at the back.

 

1 minute ago, masi 51 said:

Of course he will.....We went 4/3/3  in his first season. Dempsey is no forward and Toal is no L/CH

His tampering has once agaiin left us short at the back.

 

I genuinely don't remember that 

I only recall wing backs and 4-2-3-1

17 minutes ago, masi 51 said:

Of course he will.....We went 4/3/3  in his first season. Dempsey is no forward and Toal is no L/CH

His tampering has once again left us short at the back.

 

Toal can play right CB if George Johnston plays left.

And we have more forwards than we can shake a shitty stick at so what the fuck you on about Dempsey for?

26 minutes ago, Zico said:

I genuinely don't remember that 

I only recall wing backs and 4-2-3-1

It was when we were getting bummed every week in League 2 during lockdown.

23 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Toal can play right CB if George Johnston plays left.

And we have more forwards than we can shake a shitty stick at so what the fuck you on about Dempsey for?

Dempsey has played up front this season with a million pound player on the bench

Hopefully that has now gone

I never said Toal and Johnston  cannot play as a left and right