Best Team

[dingles staying down 4ever]

I still dont see the Armstrong wide left as an option. It never worked. How many goals did we concede when Armstrong did not backtrack leaving our full back exposed especially if the opposition plays an attacking right back.

Armstrong looks better in the middle, as does Dack. If we had a good target man Id say play them inside left and right feeding off the No.9 but we don't have one

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

I still dont see the Armstrong wide left as an option. It never worked. How many goals did we concede when Armstrong did not backtrack leaving our full back exposed especially if the opposition plays an attacking right back.

Armstrong looks better in the middle, as does Dack. If we had a good target man Id say play them inside left and right feeding off the No.9 but we don't have one

I definitely would prefer Armstrong central and I think the best formation would be a 4-2-3-1 just so that him and Dack can both be central and essentially have the team built around them. With Elliott signing we hopefully have a bit more quality out wide where I dont think we are stocked with quality.

If we persist with the 4-3-3 though, I dont see much alternative but to go with Armstrong to the left. With a third central midfielder, it does massively reduce the defensive responsibility for the wide men in theory and because that Dack would not constantly stay right up front, it would potentially leave space to run in behind. Armstrong has also struggled to get involved on his own down the middle in the last 2 games because he becomes more reliant on those around him.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

14 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I definitely would prefer Armstrong central and I think the best formation would be a 4-2-3-1 just so that him and Dack can both be central and essentially have the team built around them. With Elliott signing we hopefully have a bit more quality out wide where I dont think we are stocked with quality.

If we persist with the 4-3-3 though, I dont see much alternative but to go with Armstrong to the left. With a third central midfielder, it does massively reduce the defensive responsibility for the wide men in theory and because that Dack would not constantly stay right up front, it would potentially leave space to run in behind. Armstrong has also struggled to get involved on his own down the middle in the last 2 games because he becomes more reliant on those around him.

I agree with you in principle about 4-2-3-1  but I think 4-3-3 will be this season's formation. I agree that an additional midfielder should reduce the amount of defensive work that the wide attacker should need to do but the width will depend on the fitness of the fullbacks to get up the field and back when defending. The central midfielders do need to cover the full backs but if a team attacks with overlapping full backs then the wide attackers would need to get back.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

I agree with you in principle about 4-2-3-1  but I think 4-3-3 will be this season's formation. I agree that an additional midfielder should reduce the amount of defensive work that the wide attacker should need to do but the width will depend on the fitness of the fullbacks to get up the field and back when defending. The central midfielders do need to cover the full backs but if a team attacks with overlapping full backs then the wide attackers would need to get back.

What normally happens is a manager comes in, decides on a way of playing, and the gradually signs the players that will make the managers chosen plan work. I've never had that feeling with Mowbray. That's why we're all scratching our heads as too how to fit Armstrong, Brereton and Gallagher into a coherent attack. That's unless Mowbray thought what we really need is a 6ft 4 in right winger who can't beat a man with a ball at his feet.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

5 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

What normally happens is a manager comes in, decides on a way of playing, and the gradually signs the players that will make the managers chosen plan work. I've never had that feeling with Mowbray. That's why we're all scratching our heads as too how to fit Armstrong, Brereton and Gallagher into a coherent attack. That's unless Mowbray thought what we really need is a 6ft 4 in right winger who can't beat a man with a ball at his feet.

Exactly, it is like Bowyer who had a liking of signing a load of players for the same position and then could not fit them all in so you had the likes Cairney playing wide.

The difference between Bowyer and Mowbray is that Mowbray has spent big on players which he does not know how to get a tune out of hence why Brereton and Gallagher out wide. Logic says you play the big guy down the middle but when your big guy actually gets bullied by centre halves then you are in trouble and try moving him out wide to try his luck with a smaller fullback. What Mowbray still hasn't worked out is that without anybody close to him the ball is lost anyway or at best goes backwards to where we started.

[Oldgregg86]

5 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

What normally happens is a manager comes in, decides on a way of playing, and the gradually signs the players that will make the managers chosen plan work. I've never had that feeling with Mowbray. That's why we're all scratching our heads as too how to fit Armstrong, Brereton and Gallagher into a coherent attack. That's unless Mowbray thought what we really need is a 6ft 4 in right winger who can't beat a man with a ball at his feet.

Spot on. That’s where this slow build talk falls short. I have no idea what he’s building. Don’t get me wrong we have some good players and exciting kids . Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, often for long periods that costs us badly but even I have no idea what the best 11 was before we signed half a team last week. He needs to have a plan and sign players to make that plan happen and also develop a plan b incase it isn’t working . Maybe he has and I’m wrong but i can’t see what he’s trying to do other than amass as many players as he can within his budget and hope something clicks