But Bruno didn't play as high against Spurs as he does usually (so he could have been asked to stop doing that in a 4-2-3-1 (which has been done in the 2nd half against Atalanta, you know the outcome) already. A trio like that can definitely work against anybody. You only need a plan for the whole team.I don't think the Cavani-Ronaldo-Bruno trio could work against a team that is not this Spurs. Cavani and Ronaldo can't be expected to drop deep and do the work while Bruno plays too forward these days. So I'd say we should try and play Sancho or Rashford behind Ronaldo. Let's see how it goes.
I agree with all of your post except for these two paragraphs:Given the hole we were in, playing this formation made good sense, and it worked. But does it really offer a way forward?
Historically we've used this formation against the strongest teams, where we've been content to cede dominance of the game and rely primarily on counterattacks. Even yesterday, against a Spurs team that played badly enough to make the board consider Santos' position, we had barely 40% possession. Not that possession is the goal in itself, but it speaks clearly about how this formation makes us an essentially reactive team. And if Spurs managed nearly 60%, what's it going to be against Chelsea, or even Brighton? Is that a sound basis for progressing towards being a top team? And where is Paul Pogba going to fit into it?
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AFAICS, that will leave us with no other option than to chop and change, formation-wise. 4231 remains the only formation that allows us to make optimal use of the player material of the squad, and we really need to find a way to make that work - at the very least against some opponents. If we have 2 or 3 different variants that we can use effectively, and OGS is bold and imaginative in the use of the squad, that might work. However, that seems to run counter to the established patterns of his management, which is to stick with largely the same lineup and formation once he's found something that has overcome a crisis. And if we do that with the 3412 we will hit the wall eventually, and have half the squad deeply unhappy even while it goes well.
1) You put what you've seen solely on the formation and while I agree with your observations, the conclusion to put it on the formation is wrong. Add to that that we didn't even really play 3-5-2 or did you have the feeling that our fullbacks played very different than usually? I don't think they did, the average position was only a fraction higher than in the game against Liverpool. So both played as fullbacks, defenders. In front of two defensive minded midfielders and Bruno. Exchange the AWB with someone like Hakimi, play a midfield like Chelsea with Jorginho and Kovacic (both their strenghts aren't defensive but ball progression) than your team looks totally different despite being in the same formation.
2) The formation shouldn't be the first thing to change because a formation change usually comes with a few "presets". Obviously you can change these defaults but this takes some time. Right now, we don't have to step away from 4-2-3-1 to stop the biggest rot:
- Add Varane to whoever performs better next to him out of Maguire and Lindelof
- instruct the fullbacks to join the builtup
- instruct Bruno to play as a midfielder first and formost (something like against Spurs Bruno slightly in front of Fred, slightly in front of McTominay)
- adjust the builtup speed - a) stop going Hollywood all the time but only if it is really promising b) whole team supports the builtup (especially the wing players)
- adjust the wingplayer instructions, they get defensive responsibility, they have to communicate so that only one attacks space while the other stays "reserved"
Do all these things and bam, I sure we look solid again. Not as entertaining anymore but goals like against Spurs are still easily possible. If the match asks for it, take a way one or two restriction temporarily to force the issue.
The most wrong thing we can do now is still trying to shoehorn any formation into something that is able to carry all our "best player of the team". It isn't working, we made errors in recruitment, we have to live with the consequences.
Which is why it is important to separate formation from appoach. Even though in this instance our so called 3-5-2 was in my eyes more a 4-2-1-2 with an additional CB, a 5-2-1-2 or 5-1-2-2 if you will depending on where you've seen Fernandes.This is a good point. A 343/352 is not necessarily a formation you use for defensive football. Chelsea is a case in point - they dominate games, score goals and often have more than 60% posession. But, they do that by playing a very high line, always keeping a tight shape, and pressing intensively and well all over the pitch. If you play it the way we do - line not that high, posture not that compact, dropping relatively low when without the ball - that is definitely not a formation for control, never mind for attacking football. That is much more a reactive formation. Which suits us in many ways, but it's not a way of playing if you're even contesting dominance of the game. And if you're playing an opponent who is equally happy to be reactive.....
No trainer will be able to turn us into possession monsters in the middle of the season. Same goes for pressing, high line whatsoever. But we don't need to be masters of everything to have a successful season. We just have to decide on a plan and execute it. Accepting that this plan will have winners and losers and that the losers might want be unhappy for a while.