Lafferty our new No 9

[Guest Northampton_loyalist]

4-3-3 with no onus on the wingers to track back. That is playing Russian roulette.

Any 4-3-3 has to break into a 4-5-1 when defending for it to work.

 

Agreed completely. The other trouble with having one guy up front in a 433/451 is that later in the game if the wingers are pegged back you can get left with a striker on his own and nobody near him, meaning long aimless punts up the park. One of the midfield 3 needs to be almost a dedicated 'hole' man to lend some support, which is the role I think Naisy is best suited to, just off a front man in the middle.

[chilledbear 16]

It will be 433/451 in Europe, certain WS will play this formation, interesting to see if Lafferty can play up on his own.

[Guest Flying Hippo]

In a proper 4-3-3 the onus is on the 2 holding midfielders to defend, not the wingers

[Guest Flying Hippo]

And as i've said before, despite both these line ups having the exact same personnel, i believe the second one would prove much, much more effective:

 

 

McGregor

Whittaker Bougherra Webster Papac

Davis Edu Thomson Naismith

Lafferty Miller

 

 

vs

 

 

McGregor

Whittaker Bougherra Webster Papac

Edu Thomson

Naismith Davis Lafferty

Miller

 

 

Always makes me think back to the opening day of the 06/07 season at Fir Park. The interchanging between Sionko and Adam was beautiful to watch, and Buffel playing between midfield and attack had about 4 one on ones (though he fluffed them all) because Motherwell had no idea how to pick him up

[rbr 1,247]

In a proper 4-3-3 the onus is on the 2 holding midfielders to defend, not the wingers

 

In a true 4-3-3 how can you have 2 holding midfielders , take England as an example Barry holds and Gerrard and Lampard push on , if you have two holding you end up with a 4-2-3-1 which is totally different

[Zappa 0]

Kenny Miller should get the No.9 jersey.

[Gribz 743]

 

 

McGregor

Whittaker Bougherra Webster Papac

Edu Thomson

Naismith Davis Lafferty

Miller

 

 

Always makes me think back to the opening day of the 06/07 season at Fir Park. The interchanging between Sionko and Adam was beautiful to watch, and Buffel playing between midfield and attack had about 4 one on ones (though he fluffed them all) because Motherwell had no idea how to pick him up

 

That team for me is fine except Fleck in for naismith.

 

And Buffel - he was one who got away! People will say where has he went now but i think it was bad luck. He was a cracking player on his day. He was fighting to get back in the team by playing in the reserves on cold winter nights yet still didnt get a recall to the first team. A lot of foreigners get slated for not making an effort.

 

As for Lafferty and Miller up front in a 4-4-2, I dont mind that at all, I think they would work well. But I agree a 4 man midfield with no wingers lacks creativity.

 

A 4-1-3-2 or 4-3-1-2 may work better with no wingers.

 

____________________McGregor_________________

 

Whittaker____ Bougherra_____Webster_______Papac

 

_______Davis_________Thomson_______Edu_______

 

______________________Fleck__________________

 

_______________Lafferty______Miller_____________

 

With that you can have Davis and Edu pushing forward also when possible.

[Guest Flying Hippo]

Yes it's a double edged sword for me as i want Lafferty to play up front but i would also rather we played the 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 formation

 

Simply, i can't stick another season of 4-4-2 with 2 holding midfielders and Davis as a makeshift winger

 

I do feel that the only reason we've played 4-4-2 over the last 2 seasons was to accomodate Boyd and play to his strengths. In the 06/07 and 07/08 seasons, we only played 4-4-2 when Boyd was in the lineup, which was only around half the time

Edited June 7, 2010 by Flying Hippo

[ascender 352]

At times we've effectively played with variations of what's being suggested and both Lafferty & Naismith playing out wider have looked pretty impotent. But is that down to the system WS is playing or is it the players we're using in those roles? i.e. are they just lacking the knowledge and discipline to play in the positions and they just start to wander as the game goes on?

 

I think we're all agreed that a straight 4-4-2 is almost out-dated these days and not for us, but either we need to look at something different in terms of the 4-3-3, or sign players more suited to the system.

[Guest Flying Hippo]

In almost every game towards the end of the season where Lafferty played in place of Boyd, we played for around 45 minutes with Lafferty wide left, Naismith wide right, and Davis playing off Miller. It was most noticable in the second half at Celtic Park where Davis had so much space and Miller had so many chances

 

I still don't think that was ideal though as i don't want Naismith and Lafferty playing as traditional wingers