Do you think 4-2-3-1 has 1 forward and 4-3-3 has 3? That’s not the way it works. Rashford, like Martial, is in contention for two roles, both when we played 4-3-3 last season, and now, when we play 4-2-3-1. That is the striker role, and the wide left role. They both prefer the striker role.
You probably didn’t see those interviews with Solskjær in preseason after Rashford played on the left, about the tactic being that McTominay was helping Shaw a bit on the left, because Rasford had a more protruded role and less defensive responsibility in his LW position than Lingard or James had in their RW position. It’s quite common to skew formations like that, dependent on the qualities of the players you have.
In the 4-2-3-1 we have played since July, Pereira is a natural candidate in the RW position - particularily when we have a faster, more direct option like Rashford, Martial or even James on the left, as he has played similar roles at United, Granada and Valencia before. He even had an assist in that role against Chelsea. That doesn’t mean he plays the same way as Rashford does when he is a LW, so that would be a silly comparison to make.
Greenwood is ‘the replacement’ for Lukaku as a central attacker, he is third after Martial and Rashford in that regard. As the wide roles go, we have many more alternatives: Martial, Rashford, Lingard, James, Pereira, Mata, Greenwood, Gomes and Chong for two places.
You probably expected to see Greenwood, who has mainly played centrally and played very little adults football, to start this season as a regular on the right side of a 4-3-3. I’m quite sure, though, that most people, including Solskjær himself, was rather expecting him to get minutes from the bench in a 4-2-3-1 as either a striker or a RW.
So when, as we did against Wolves and Palace, and probably would have against Saints it James was fit - we line up with Rashford, Martial and James, what sort of formation is that?
You say ‘Pereira is a natural option for RW (Pereira can never be a ‘natural option’ as a winger) because we have more ‘direct options’ like Rashford, Martial and James for the left’. Well our first choice lineup suggests that we favour the ‘direct option’ of both Rashford AND James on the wings. Given Rashford and James are our first choice out wide, and Martial through the middle, how do you replace one of these with Pereira over Mason? They are forwards. Rashford is a forward on the left, Martial previously played as a forward on the left, Mané plays as a forward on the left, Son plays as a forward on the left etc. None of these are midfielders.
The difference between 4231 and 433 is the use of the 10. In a 433, we would play with 3 actual central midfielders. In a 231, we use a 10. Last season in a 433, we didn’t use a 10 under Jose, we went with 3 midfielders. You say we are playing a 4231 not a 433 - however, in a 433, we would line up with the exact same front men in Rashford, Martial and James.
You say our formation is ‘skewed to the left’ which in itself shows we are not playing a 4231. If Rashford and Martial both share the same attacking line, then we obviously don’t have one up front. Just as Barcelona with Henry on the left did not play one up front. With a Dan James on the other side, we clearly have 3 up front. We had the opportunity to continue with 3 up front yesterday despite Martial’s injury, because we have other forwards available. We instead put Pereira there, who obviously wasn’t doing the same job Dan James was doing there in the previous two games, because he’s a different profile of player. Greenwood might have done though, but he’s 17, so Ole retreated and played an older, less suited, and less talented player.
For all the talk of him giving young players a chance, Lampard is showing him what that ACTUALLY looks like down at Chelsea. He’s given Greenwood scraps, even when chasing a goal, and he’s left Gomes out of every squad despite the more senior options being totally and utterly hopeless. Yesterday Lampard started Tomori, Mount and Abraham. Abraham ahead of the ‘experienced’ (but rubbish) Giroud, and Mount ahead of a number of senior options. Ole is a charlatan, or simply a coward. His banging on about giving kids a chance is rubbish if what he simply means is he’ll play them in dead rubbers. He’s done nothing Jose wouldn’t have so far.
And I was not ‘expecting Greenwood who has played most of his football centrally to start as a regular on the RW’. And I’m aware he’s no winger, just as Rashford is no winger. I expected him to be a substitute for the front three positions and play in case of injury. I expected Pereira to be a substitute for the middle three positions. That would be a more natural order of things. Ole played it safe by playing Pereira ahead of Greenwood in the position Dan James has been occupying, despite being a lot further away from James than Greenwood is. He’s not an attacker. He offers little goal threat. James had already scored 2 this season.
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Thats hilarious. Kind of a poisonous view to have too, imo.
