The goal was seemingly conceded due to the central midfield failing to track Ki, so it's hard to blame that on the system.
It’s weird Ki had so much space in the middle, both goals are more a mistake from the midfielders (who left them too much space) than defenders IMO.
Doesn't work in the Premier League
Early days I think, hard to say if your fullbacks are Young and Lingard/Januzaj, and you have to play Fletcher for 90 minutes.
I really don't like it. I'd much prefer us to get the chequebook out and get the players in to play 4-3-3. We're more suited to it.
4 strikers, 3 number 10s and all that. Not going to happen for a while I’d say. Who would you play in the middle 3 by the way?
That too, and it didnt help that our fastest player, Januzaj, was on the bench. We should always have at least one of him and Welbeck on the pitch imo, otherwise we have no pace or directness and we're too easy to defend against.
I've been saying this from the very beginning. Welbeck movement will be crucial in this system. Hernandez and Rooney can't play together in this system for a number of reasons.
Jones/Smalling don't pass the ball aprticularly well for defenders nor do they look to push up with the ball enough (Jones did this better tbf 2nd half).
We've got no wingbacks just players filling it who are clearly inexperienced defensively. Currently it's really only their pace which gets them out of trouble.
And this creates a issue whereby the midfielders keep having to come deeper or are much more easily marked as the oppositions forwards don't need to be worried about our defenders on the ball. They can stand off them and help close space for the midfielders, slowing us down or forcing us long. And with the wingbacks pre januzaj coming on not being players who run at others primarily we're stuck with them passing the ball back infield to an already crowded area.
It's fair enough that injuries would hinder you but there's no denying at the least that we lack backup to come in for these injured players and play this system naturally.
Agreed. In this system 3CBs see too much of the ball, because midfielders are not making themselves available for a pass, but also because we played 2nd string wingbacks.
Biggest problem was tracking runners through midfield. We need our 2 midfielders and the number 10 to be defensively alert. If LvG is thinking the same thing, it could explain out pursuit of Di Maria.
This will be the biggest issue with our current squad, central midfielder role in this system is very energy consuming, Fletcher can’t handle this IMO, while I’m still not sure how good Herrera is defensive-wise. Who else is there to cover?
Let's not go into panic mode yet. It's going to take time to get used to the system. With shaw at left wing back and Rafael or Valencia at right wing back I'm sure we will look a lot stronger in this system. And if we can add a centre midfielder and a centre back to the squad I would be fairly confident that this system will work.
I agree completely.
I think we can play it, but I really think we need the directness of Luke Shaw and Valencia/Rafael on the wings. It's our only chance of getting behind the defence unless Welbeck is one of the strikers.
We missed a trick today as when van Persie and Welbeck are not fit, what is the reason to still play 3412? The point of the system is to get our best three players on the pitch (or Welbeck for more pace and defence stretching if one of them is out). Easy to say in hindsight, but we could have played with:
de Gea
Jones Smalling Blackett James
Fletcher Herrera
Lingard Mata Young
Rooney
That was only dropping Hernandez from today's line-up, which a lot of people were indeed calling for in this system. It's also not starting any of the supposedly unfit players (Januzaj, Fellaini, Nani) even though I do think the two wider players could have started in this system and been subbed off instead if they tired.
I do think we should persevere with 3412, but the reason LvG is playing it is to get our best players on the pitch.. Today, to do that he didn't need to play 3412. I can understand why he did (continuity, everyone getting used to the system in the Premier League etc) but he changed it at half time anyway, so maybe he should have thought about that before the game - especially with the pace Swansea had on the flanks.
Excellent post. We will be using 3-5-2 to play all of our best players at the same time, but in my opinion it was a mistake to go with 3-5-2 with Hernandez&Rooney in attack and Young&Lingard as wingbacks. Bizarre choice.
Not a fan of this system, but it can work if the defenders decide to use the midfield as well. They stroked the ball very well at the back, but then instead of looking for someone in midfield, they decide to continuously hit the long ball trying to get a striker to run behind the defense. It didn't help that Mata barely had a pulse out there today apart from the dead ball situations.
It’s like they have a default option to go wide, ignoring the midfielders. Herrera and Fletch were not great at all, but it was pretty easy to defend against us. As a result, Mata wasn’t seeing enough of the ball.
Right, now all of my thoughts put together.
Van Gaal made a mistake going with that formation today. It was stated many times that for 3-5-2 to work needs specialized wingbacks. It won’t work with those we used today (well, I’m fine with Young on the right, but our game is not fluid when he has to cut to the right foot everytime while playing on the left).
In my opinion it was a mistake to go with 3-5-2 with Young&Lingard and Rooney&Hernandez up top. I understand we are trying to accommodate all of our best players but when RVP, Welbeck and first choice wingbacks are injured then I would suggest something like Havak.
Also, for this system to work we need to play much faster football.
