4-3-3 on Sunday / 3-5-2 on Wednesday?

[Charlie-Brown]

Think JJ deserves credit for his 4-3-3 formation yesterday at Fester Road.

 

Puting Blackie into centre midfield beside Mrowiec & Skacel helped give us a good balance and dominate large spells of the midfield battle, having an extra player in centre midfield also allowed Rudi to get forward more withouth leaving Mrowiec exposed if moves broke down. I also thought Templeton & S.Elliott did really good jobs getting up supporting Kyle but also tracking back on the flanks as needed.

 

I think 4-3-3 is the formation that suits us best and gives us the best balance for most SPL games however given Celtic are flying this season especially after their 9-0 annihilation of Aberdeen on saturday it wouldn't surprise me if JJ chooses to bolster our defence with a 3-5-2 formation against Celts on wednesday as he did when Rangers visited Tynecastle last month ?

[Guest jambomickey]

same again for me.

[bistokid]

It would be moronic to play 3-5-2. Shouldn't even be considered. Ever.

[Charlie-Brown]

It would be moronic to play 3-5-2. Shouldn't even be considered. Ever.

 

Why do you think Jim Jefferies used that formation the last time we played Rangers at Tynecastle?

[The People's Chimp]

Why do you think Jim Jefferies used that formation the last time we played Rangers at Tynecastle?

 

I'd tend to agree with you and would line up in the same way we did against Rangers.

[bistokid]

Why do you think Jim Jefferies used that formation the last time we played Rangers at Tynecastle?

 

In my opinion he made a mistake. His thoughts, I'd guess, were to contain Rangers. The problem is/was we do not have the personnel for it. Furthermore its an outdated formation. Rangers could have hit us for 4/5 but we rode our luck and what did we end up with? Nothing. It would mean sacrificing Suso or Templeton who have been our best threats going forward this season and Temps is coming off a wonder goal. Our only chance is to attack, within reason obviously. Switching to a back 3 - which basically becomes a back 5 surrenders possession and territory against the Old Firm.

Celtic may have knocked 9 passed Aberdeen but this is not a great Celtic team and we at home should be able to go toe to toe with them.

[Charlie-Brown]

In my opinion he made a mistake. His thoughts, I'd guess, were to contain Rangers. The problem is/was we do not have the personnel for it. Furthermore its an outdated formation. Rangers could have hit us for 4/5 but we rode our luck and what did we end up with? Nothing. It would mean sacrificing Suso or Templeton who have been our best threats going forward this season and Temps is coming off a wonder goal. Our only chance is to attack, within reason obviously. Switching to a back 3 - which basically becomes a back 5 surrenders possession and territory against the Old Firm.

Celtic may have knocked 9 passed Aberdeen but this is not a great Celtic team and we at home should be able to go toe to toe with them.

 

It's not a great Celtic team and neither are Rangers a great team and certainly not in comparison with previous Old Firm teams however for a variety of reasons I think both Old Firm teams are stronger this season and capable of getting better results against the rest of the teams, I generally agree we've tended to fare better when we have a go at the Old Firm however Csaba got reasonably good results against them by parking the bus and hitting them on the counter-attack .... if we go toe for toe with them then unless we raise our game and they also have an off-day then results suggest they have better players than us and would probably win, I think we have to be tactically smarter than them on wednesday and stop them attacking us in in the areas that hurt.

[bistokid]

It's not a great Celtic team and neither are Rangers a great team and certainly not in comparison with previous Old Firm teams however for a variety of reasons I think both Old Firm teams are stronger this season and capable of getting better results against the rest of the teams, I generally agree we've tended to fare better when we have a go at the Old Firm however Csaba got reasonably good results against them by parking the bus and hitting them on the counter-attack .... if we go toe for toe with them then unless we raise our game and they also have an off-day then results suggest they have better players than us and would probably win, I think we have to be tactically smarter than them on wednesday and stop them attacking us in in the areas that hurt.

 

You can be tactically smart without resorting to 3-5-2, though i think 5-3-2 is a more accurate description. Csaba for all his faults managed to get a balance in the games against the Old Firm. 3-5-2 negates any creativity and the game against Rangers was an illustration why it shouldn't be used. We have no out ball other than Kyles napper. We had two or three isolated attempts at goal but in the main we were camped in our own box, defenders smashing the ball against one another, getting in each others way etc. I am not suggesting gung ho tactics but there is somewhere between parking the bus (which only works if you have a great defence - we don't) and having a go and playing to your strengths (Such as our wingers).

[Charlie-Brown]

You can be tactically smart without resorting to 3-5-2, though i think 5-3-2 is a more accurate description. Csaba for all his faults managed to get a balance in the games against the Old Firm. 3-5-2 negates any creativity and the game against Rangers was an illustration why it shouldn't be used. We have no out ball other than Kyles napper. We had two or three isolated attempts at goal but in the main we were camped in our own box, defenders smashing the ball against one another, getting in each others way etc. I am not suggesting gung ho tactics but there is somewhere between parking the bus (which only works if you have a great defence - we don't) and having a go and playing to your strengths (Such as our wingers).

 

It wouldn't surprise me if JJ made just 1 line up change from sunday and puts Craig Thomson in at right wing back instead of Templeton, keeping Eggert at the back beside Bouzid and Zaliukas and pushing Thommo and Palazeulos forward as wing backs and supporting the midfield 3 of Black, Mrowiec and Skacel with Kyle and S.Elliot up front. If we need to change it then Temps & Suso would be available from the bench.

[bistokid]

It wouldn't surprise me if JJ made just 1 line up change from sunday and puts Craig Thomson in at right wing back instead of Templeton, keeping Eggert at the back beside Bouzid and Zaliukas and pushing Thommo and Palazeulos forward as wing backs and supporting the midfield 3 of Black, Mrowiec and Skacel with Kyle and S.Elliot up front. If we need to change it then Temps & Suso would be available from the bench.

 

I hope he keeps it much the same, otherwise we'll barely get out our half. Elliott/Suso & Temps with more defensive duties but it can easily be a 451 which would allow us more attacking intent and still stay compact.

[Charlie-Brown]

I hope he keeps it much the same, otherwise we'll barely get out our half. Elliott/Suso & Temps with more defensive duties but it can easily be a 451 which would allow us more attacking intent and still stay compact.

 

I think the main problem against Rangers and biggest mistake was that we sat off them and camped along our own 18 yard line after we'd scored and tried to hang onto what we had - certainly Billy Brown made that complaint post-match, I think we need to push much further up the pitch and close them down and pressurise them in their half if possible but certainly keeping them as far away from Kello as possible.

[bistokid]

I think the main problem against Rangers and biggest mistake was that we sat off them and camped along our own 18 yard line after we'd scored and tried to hang onto what we had - certainly Billy Brown made that complaint post-match, I think we need to push much further up the pitch and close them down and pressurise them in their half if possible but certainly keeping them as far away from Kello as possible.

 

The reason being we had nothing going forward. We couldn't keep the ball, construct decent attacks, hence us constantly under pressure, hence us sitting deep. As I said, we have no out ball without our wingers, other than Kyle which results in hoofball and all round crapness. 4-5-1 with Temps, Skacel, Elliott/Suso all given licence to support Kyle is how I hope we line up.

[Charlie-Brown]

The reason being we had nothing going forward. We couldn't keep the ball, construct decent attacks, hence us constantly under pressure, hence us sitting deep. As I said, we have no out ball without our wingers, other than Kyle which results in hoofball and all round crapness. 4-5-1 with Temps, Skacel, Elliott/Suso all given licence to support Kyle is how I hope we line up.

 

Another option might be keeping the 4-3-3 but put Eggert back into centre midfield beside Black and Mrowiec and push Skacel further forward so we have S.Elliott & Rudi right and left supporting Kyle and puting either Barr or one of the Thomson's in at right back to mark Shaun Maloney or Paddy McCourt. In no way do I think Templeton deserves to be dropped but he took a few heavy challenges yesterday and it wouldn't surprise me too much if he started wednesday on the bench.

[rudi]

My only problem about yesterday was that we had very little down our right hand side,on a couple of occasions we had a player in the middle of the park looking for someone to pass to on the right but had to turn back into trouble to play a ball to someone on the left or right next to them in the middle.

[benny]

My only problem about yesterday was that we had very little down our right hand side,on a couple of occasions we had a player in the middle of the park looking for someone to pass to on the right but had to turn back into trouble to play a ball to someone on the left or right next to them in the middle.

 

I thought we were okay on the right.The main problem for me was Jonssons passing and crossing was terrible until the Bouzid miss.He was good after that and our attacking play improved from the right as a result.

I enjoyed yesterday but we will have to play a lot better if we want to get a result on Wednesday.