3-5-2

[boo]

----------------------gomes---------------------

--------- kaboul --- dawson --- king ----------

walker--------------sandro-----------------bale

-----------huddlestone-------modric-----------

---------------------rafael----------------------

-----------------pavlyuchenko-----------------

[Dustin]

Possible, it definitely fits walker and bale - aside from King. He doesn't fit as 1. he will probably be injured and isn't going to fit to link with bale the way BAE, but BAE may be too small to cope in this formation and 2. I see Modric dropping into a central role as he plays now and this, with king behind bale, would leave bale pretty isolated. This formation would also see Sandro tied very deep, practically as a CB. Pav wouldn't work as he would need to lead the line, and he doesn't do that, but who knows what new striker we may have.

Also if anyone got hurt we would have to totally change our formation, which would set us back.

Anyway, would be interesting to see how it would work though... not sure if a 3 man back line is in Harry's brain anywhere, but if we had say Ancelotti instead, I could see him giving this a go. Interesting post boo.

[boo]

sandro and huddlestone could perhaps rotate to give both the opportunity to get forward. modric would run the middle of the park as he does now. no change there. bale and walker would both be flying up and down the wings knowing that cover would be there from either sandro, kaboul, huddlestone or king. at 21 they should be able to do that.

i reckon that pavlyuchenko would be replaced with 'the marquee signing' but at the moment, he is the best we have.

lennon for sandro and walker for rose would switch us back to 4-4-1-1

----------------------gomes---------------------

kaboul ------ dawson --- king ---------- rose

lennon----huddlestone-------modric-----bale

-------------------- rafael ---------------------

-----------------pavlyuchenko-----------------

[Dustin]

I can't wait to see what it looks like next year. I really want lennon to come good, but I would love to see us get an inverted winger for the right side and have walker overlapping!

Why put rose over BAE? Especially behind a wide wing like bale I would be beyond surprised if Harry even considered rose over BAE as a consistent starter. I rate BAE's offensive play very highly, he sets up a ton of our attack even if he isn't on the end of it.

Also you know corluka plays CB for his national team, not sure why we have never considered him up to the challenge. Some of our croatians may be able to answer that one. He has the size.

[mrtncooke]

I think we need to be innovative and this is the kind of thing I'd like to see us try at home to the teams that come to the lane and play 4-5-1. I would have Gallas instead of Dawson though and hopefully a new striker up front. Dustin, I like BAE but he doesn't get forward enough for my liking against the likes of Wigan, Wolves, Stoke etc.

[Musashi]

Playing 3 defenders is gonna concede a shit load of goals. The new Inter manager Gasperini likes to use 3-4-3. You can see how it works next season.

[boo]

ekotto played the most games of anybody this year i think? 4-4-2/1-1 i'm sure he will play there for many more games too. same with gallas, corluka, lennon, crouch e.t.c. all will play a big part in the squad. but that system doesn't account for 'out and out' full backs. kaboul over corluka because of his speed. king over anyone because he is the best we have at the club. dawson is our captain.

just trying to get them all in the same team. sandro huddlestone and modric is a midfield made from the gods of football lol. creativity, precision and feist covering the entire centre of the park.

as opposed to rafael, dos santos, pienaar, krancjar, defoe

[boo]

Playing 3 defenders is gonna concede a shit load of goals.

yeah good point, and could be what redknapp is thinking too. no pressure on the full backs could leave us open to spaces for the back three. dunno just trying to get the three of them in the same team lol

[mrtncooke]

I think the point is that we could play like this against the teams that come to defend, set up like this away to Chelsea then you're going to get hammered, home to Stoke is a different matter.