Just a little something I had to get off my chest.
LvG has said from the start that his favorite formation is 4-3-3 because it suits his philosophy the best.
LvG has said that he was forced to play 3-5-2 because not only is the team unable to play his philosophy yet, but also because we were playing with only 1 fit proper defender for months at a time. So he needed the extra defender to reduce risk of conceding goals.
LvG has also said that playing with 2 strikers and 1 number 10 allowed him to try and experiment to fit in our best players in their best positions (Falcao, RvP and Rooney). He has since abandoned that idea.
LvG has said that he sees Rooney as a striker but was forced to play Rooney in midfield because he needs someone who has the discipline to play according to his philosophy, which in hindsight, was presumably a message to Herrera.
Herrera himself has admitted in recent interviews that he was kept out because he kept looking for the ball instead of staying in position. He understands the philosophy now and is therefore playing more often now.
With herrera back, Rooney has been restored as a striker.
LvG has his own reasons for doing what he does and they were reasonable at that point in time. He doesn't need some internet warrior to tell him what to do. Not to mention the fact that almost everything most internet warriors are moaning about are wrong anyway.
We are 3rd in the league. We have the third best attack and second best defence in the league. How people keep saying LvG f-ed up the defence with 3 defenders or f-ed up our attack with the wrong formation is ridiculous. We are where we are because of him. Not in spite of him. He took some time to adapt, but everything he did, was for a good reason and he even took the trouble to explain himself numerous times.
The first thing he fixed was the defence. By November, we went back to a 3 man defence and were no longer shipping goals. Next was improving our possession and control of matches. By January, we kept possession even when teams pressed us and had total control over most games, barring the odd individual errors. The last piece was penetration and scoring goals. Now that most players are back and the team can play his philosophy comfortably, he was able to switch back to a back 4. After Herrera came back, eventually he was able to use his favorite 4-3-3 (albeit a modified version, as when we lose the ball, it's more of a 4-1-4-1) to start fixing our attack. And now the goals are pouring in.
Everything he has done, can be seen with a purpose. He did not luck it on most things we have achieved this season. As the saying goes, form is temporary. Class is permanent.
