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Pellegrino Hints At A Change In Formation !
Friday, 29th Sep 2017 08:51

Mauricio Pellegrino has hinted that he may change his formation although he is not yet sure that it will be against Stoke City at the weekend.

Mauricio Pellegrino has already tred a change of tactics in the way he has lined up his team this season, although he has stuck to a back four in the Premier League, against Wolves in the cup he experimented with a back three using three central defenders, as he did in the final minutes of the win against Crystal Palace

This was not a success but most watching would have agreed that was more down to the players used in that game than any other reason.

In that match the manager used Stephens and Yoshida flanking debutant Jan Bednarek, but perhaps the main issue was the wing backs supporting them were McQueen and Pied and neither seemed suitable for this type of game, especially Pied who is more of a traditional style full back.

So it seems that MoPe has not abandoned the idea merely shelved it until he has the right personell available to play it and with the return of Virgil Van Dijk he may now feel that he has the quality to start a game with this set up.

Stoke City could be that game, with the Potters having an injury crisis at the back he may feel that being able to put an extra attacking option into the team might be beneficial, but is not convinced that it will completely solve the problems n front of goal.

Speaking ahead of the game he said.

"It’s something I like to do. In my past teams I play with three centre-backs,”

“It doesn’t always depend on the feeling of the manager.

“Sometimes it depends on how the players are and we’ve got centre-backs but I’m not sure we’ll improve or score more by playing three centre backs."

“But in some games I will try this formation. I used it against Wolves but I will repeat that, to be better in the final third, it’s not about playing more strikers or about putting wingers or full backs higher."

“It’s about capacity and quality to be precise.”

Pellegrino clearly feels the ssue is not in front of goal, but in the build up play, I think he has a point, in the past two games we have had plenty of possession, but in that final third we have just not had the quality of delivery to create the chances needed to score goals.

Against both Palace and United there were no real clear cup opportunities created, most of the chances were from a distance, in short we could have played Lukaku, Bale and Renaldo up front, but if they don't get the ball in front of goal they are not going to score, unless we start creating chances then we aren't going to score goals whatever formation we are playing or whoever is playing up front.

So the managers job now is having got the team playing with a strong foundation, he needs to get chances created in the final third, he needs to get that killer ball played in.

We have the players to do it, Nathan Redmond and Dusan Tadic have done so in the past and have the talent, but they arent doing it enough and need other players in the team to do so.

Going with three at the back would enable Ryan Bertrand and Cedric to push on and both can put in decent balls and this would help.

It would also enable the manager to put in an extra attacking player into the side, not neccessarily up front but in a deeper lyng position.

Sane Long has done well as the striker in that his workrate has meant we have chased balls down and kept attacks going, I think that Pellegrino will stick with the Irishman because of that, but who will take the spare place.

For my mind he has two options in the type of player he uses.

He could stick either Gabbiadini or Austin in a depper role, or he could put in James Ward Prowse sitting in front of a defensive trio of Lemina, Romeu and Davis to spray the ball around, this could suit JWP who would have more time to pick passes.

I think that this latter option could be the preffered one at least to start the game on Saturday.

Photo: Action Images



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LordDZLucan added 09:01 - Sep 29
The balance of the squad shouts 3 at the back so its only a matter of time before we adopt that formation. As for JWP playing in the middle I don't see that as sensible. JWP is a bit like David Beckham - a one trick pony who can only play wide right. I'd stick with Shane up top and play Manolo off him in the Number 10 role.
3

LordDZLucan added 09:03 - Sep 29
3 center backs that is plus 2 wing backs!
0

petedoors1 added 09:17 - Sep 29
Playing JWP only makes us weaker. To lightweight and offers nothing. He is the main reason we are not scoring. To negative. Should not be in the squad.
7

SaintPaulVW added 09:44 - Sep 29
My concern is that this formation screams out that although we talk about '3 at the back' you will set out with effectively 6 in defence including FF, 7 if you include Romeu and then look to hit people on the break.


Unless our strikers are more clinical the reduced number of chances from this formation could make things worse for us.

We are a side struggling to get shots on target and converting these into goals. This is the key issue for me and adjusting the defence doesn't solve it.
1

saintmark1976 added 09:55 - Sep 29
"This could suit J W P who would have more time to pick passes". Nick, are you serious?

In my opinion J W P has had enough game time over the last few seasons to show us his abilities.Frankly he's just not good enough to be in the team let alone changing the team to accommodate him.

My suggestion (for what it is worth) is leave the team as it was last weekend but drop Redmond and replace him with Gabbiadini. I don't expect it to happen though and suspect tomorrow it will be one forward only and the now usual Southampton Nil match score line.
4

allsaint54 added 12:36 - Sep 29
Please please no more JWP. All he does is slow the game down with backwards & sideways passes. As for being a dead ball specialist how more goals has he actually scored or created. The fact that there wasn't any interest in him during the transfer window speaks volumes.
2

SaintBrock added 13:07 - Sep 29
Three at the back is a harder shape to recover if we have to go on the defensive quickly with fast striking counter attacking teams and can lead too easily to be out numbered at the back. It depends for success on keep-ball in the final third and we are not particularly good at that.
-1

saintkev added 13:30 - Sep 29
Three at the back will never work. It's crying out for Austin and Gabbiadini up front together. Austin will hold the ball up and then we can get up the pitch, and bring everyone else forward. It's pointless being one of the best footballing teams in the first two thirds of the pitch. Who cares? It annoyed me so much last season with Puel and it annoys me this season with Pellegrino. He says 2 up front wouldn't work but he's never even tried it. Our midfielders are not goal scoring midfielders and probably never will be, so let's pick a team which plays to it's strengths.
1

thornhill1976 added 13:54 - Sep 29
JWP is dreadful. He only ever recycles the ball backwards and his scoring record is abysmal. All of that could be forgiven if he could put in a tackle. He can't. As for "dead ball specialist" - give me a break. Any pro footballer should be able to take a corner and as far as I am aware he has scored one goal from a free kick. Pathetic. The poster boy of the academy is a fraud.
2

thornhill1976 added 13:56 - Sep 29
PS Shane Long couldn't trap a bag of cement. He is the anti- Jimmy Greaves - lots of running and no goals. Redmond is poor in the last third (where it counts). Failed to score in 9 of last 12 home games. The fans deserve better. That's all.
1

LordDZLucan added 15:50 - Sep 29
petedoors1 says that 'Playing JWP only makes us weaker' and gets 5 likes; allsaint54 says that 'Please please no more JWP' and gets 1 dislike! We can't even get internal consistency within our own forum let alone agree on what needs to happen to the team!
0

SaintBrock added 17:21 - Sep 29
its not what they said it was the way they said it... perhaps? ;-)

They're consistent about one thing 'though only Reed and Nick think JWP still has hidden talent about to be unleashed by The Wizard of Argentina.
3

IanRC added 10:07 - Sep 30
Speak for your self SB
0


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