Billy the Fish
Technocrat
There was a minor debate on the Seville match thread about Hughton playing a 4-4-2 formation this season, which I think deserves it's own thread.
I've seen many comments recently about 4-4-2 being a step backwards and I really don't see what the fuss is about. As I said on the other thread I think that football fans pay far too much attention to formation when it's the players on the pitch (and specifically their capabilities) who make the biggest impact on how a team can play.
4-4-2 seems to be viewed as a rigid way to play, but I think that's because it's how were taught to play as kids and amateurs. It can't play like that in the modern game where players have much more freedom and are much more fluid in the areas they occupy on the pitch.
By it's nature this is very subjective so it would be good to concentrate on what it means specifically for us this season compared to the last few years.
The big difference IMHO will be how the 2nd forward plays because it will affect the rest of the midfield. We have been essentially having wingers who come inside and an attacking CM who has freedom to move around. I find that ACM can get a bit lost in the game depending on who's in midfield and how much the wide player is coming inside, this seemed to happen a lot to Colunga who never saw much of the ball in that role.
If we're playing Hamed and Baldock up front against a team that has an extra midfielder then someone will have to drop into that space if Kayal and Stephens get overrun and we can't get the ball back. Mabye it'll be one of the wide players, especially if we only have one out-and-out winger and it's a bit more lopsided.
I haven't seen any of the friendlies so looking forward to seeing how this pans out.
If you think it's a throwback to the 80's I'd like to know why.
I've seen many comments recently about 4-4-2 being a step backwards and I really don't see what the fuss is about. As I said on the other thread I think that football fans pay far too much attention to formation when it's the players on the pitch (and specifically their capabilities) who make the biggest impact on how a team can play.
4-4-2 seems to be viewed as a rigid way to play, but I think that's because it's how were taught to play as kids and amateurs. It can't play like that in the modern game where players have much more freedom and are much more fluid in the areas they occupy on the pitch.
By it's nature this is very subjective so it would be good to concentrate on what it means specifically for us this season compared to the last few years.
The big difference IMHO will be how the 2nd forward plays because it will affect the rest of the midfield. We have been essentially having wingers who come inside and an attacking CM who has freedom to move around. I find that ACM can get a bit lost in the game depending on who's in midfield and how much the wide player is coming inside, this seemed to happen a lot to Colunga who never saw much of the ball in that role.
If we're playing Hamed and Baldock up front against a team that has an extra midfielder then someone will have to drop into that space if Kayal and Stephens get overrun and we can't get the ball back. Mabye it'll be one of the wide players, especially if we only have one out-and-out winger and it's a bit more lopsided.
I haven't seen any of the friendlies so looking forward to seeing how this pans out.
If you think it's a throwback to the 80's I'd like to know why.