Three At The Back

[Phitsanulok (Poole) Wolf]

There has been much discussion on here re us needing a central defender to play 4 at the back. Here is an interesting discussion on three at the back.

Three at the Back - Analytical Study - CrossBar

Three at the back introduced by Antonio Conte that won him his Premier League title, disected and analysed by the team at CrossBar.

crossbarhub.com

Even though there have been views that the recent football has been boring and have associated this with three at the back there could be other reasons:
The wrong personnel
Incorrect use of the system
Injuries and inadequate backup
I feel with having Connor Coady (Marques groomed as backup)
Additional pace added with Mosquera
A defense including Mosquera, Coady, Kilman, Boly (Back up Saiss) will allow us to persevere successfully with this formula.
Where we go from here depends somewhat on who leaves. There has been a massive assumption on here that because Bruno had success with 4-4-2 with Benfica, that is how we will approach things. Bruno is a student of the game, not really an ex-player. He has written a book on 4-3-3 for instance. I assume he is adaptable. The key as ever is midfield and strikers as long as the defense functions 1) as a springboard for attack 2) an adequate defense.

 

[Wagstaffe Was Magic]

Back to the future

 

[TooMutchBull]

I think the mods need to move this out of the football forum.
Im pretty sure this forum is for discussing car parking, textiles and construction.

I don't think 4 at the back fits what we have and some of our biggest assets are wing backs so they'd be shoehorned in. Three at the back feels like a much more fluid system. We just need one or two upgrades to capitalise on the core. I think Traore might need to be sold in order to do that.

 

[ProudWolf]

Might be a mix of both to start with. 442 when defending turns into 343 when on the ball as we saw in the Marbella friendlies. Semedo or Hoever bombing on down the right. Trincao moves inside. On the left Marcal/Kilman tuck in as the third centre back and Ait Nouri operates like a wing-back.
Very modern way of setting up so it wouldn’t surprise me to see us play like that for a while.

 

[we love jez moxey]

I know the last 12 months were difficult to watch with 3/5 at the back , but the 3 years previous to that were the best wolves era of most of our lives.
Prior to lockdown we had a realistic chance of making top 4!
I just think that without fans the games lacked the excitement needed for counter attacking football.

 

[Phitsanulok (Poole) Wolf]

Atletico Madrid played a 3-5-2
Chelsea under Conte 3-4-3
There are different options

 

[Direwolf]

We need to be flexible and be able to win with different formations whether it be a three/five or a four. Wins are more key than formations as wins breed confidence which is the key requisite to a successful season not the formation.

 

[oldgolded]

I think we are more suited to three at the back with the personnel that we have at the moment and I would be far more comfortable if we played that way. I don't think there is any doubt that Coady is pretty good in a back three. My main problem is that we desperately need a 'Right' sided defender. I keep seeing teams on here with Boly playing on the right but it is very clear that he is far better on the left. I quite rate Kilman and he could compete with Boly for that position or fill in for him when injured which he frequently is these days. For fear of playing the same old record 'WE HAVE NEVER REPLACED BENNETT'. We are desperately in need of a quality right sided defender and the defence would be fine imo with Samedo and Ait Nouri as wingbacks.

 

[Minimalist]

I always like the formation discussions, I do like a front 2, or a narrow 3 and not a lone striker being isolated. 3412 would work well with the current players. And the option of 442 is always good.

However the truth is always its more about the tactics within the formation rather than just what formation.

343 can be very attacking if you keep the wingbacks high, encourage the wide centre backs to push up and allow a midfielder to get forward. Keep at least one wide forward close to the striker.
But that of course is more risky from a defensive point of view.

 

[Superted]

If you look at how England played in a three or a four they have Kyle Walker with express pace to sweep behind from RB/RCB and get the team out of trouble.

Neither Maguire or Stones are particularly quick but Walker is the insurance policy.

I know Mosquera is much quicker than any of our current CBs but I'm not sure he's quick enough to perform that role although I'll reserve judgement on that for now.

I think we do need a bit more pace in defence from somewhere but (and here's where my opinion may differ to others slightly) it doesn't necessarily need to be at CB provided the right system is deployed to cover that same lack of pace in the centre.

 

[OLDGOLD]

Seems to suit our personnel better, and ironically it looks like we don't really need a centre back signing so badly if we play 3 at the back rather than 2. Although we will need options for all of Yersons yellow cards....

 

[SingYourHeartsOut]

My worry is that Lage will want to play a 4 but won't have time to drill the players into the system, as it looks as if we won't have done the necessary business before the season starts. If we play a 4 this weekend it won't tell us much as we won't have the likes of Vardy to deal with.

 

[oldgolded]

The theory about playing a back four and the expectations of Bruno's system and tactics are that we may let in a few more goals but we will be playing a more expansive and entrertaining style of football and that we will be scoring lots more goals. I am very sceptical about this therory as I am not convinced that we have the players to score lots more goals. It remains to be seen whether Jimenez gets back to anywhere near his best. Goals from central midfield are virtually non existant, although I do have hopes for MGW and the only winger who is going to get us any quantity of goals is Neto and he is injured and likely to be transfered out soon if you believe the rumours. If we had a natural predator like Ings or a midfielders who could score more then the new system could work, but until then I feel we need to keep it tight and pick up points where we can. We still have some very entertaining players to enjoy.

 

[Nige100]

I think if we play 3 at the back which I think we need to do at present as we will get overrun. Then i don’t think we will be buying another CB.

Yerson, Coady Boly Kilman Saiss Marcel are all options for a combination of a 3.

Not saying I agree but I do feel unless a couple of them are moved on we won’t be buying given finances being as seemingly tight as they are.

 

[Wolves Heathen]

Okay so we seem to agree 3 at the back seems to suit our current players better, with Yerson RCB, Coady in the middle and Boly when fit at LCB, with Saiss and Kilman as backup and Marques getting game time in Cup matches, then we have Semedo and Trincao wide right, Marcal/ RAN, Neto wide left, Raul up Top, then we come to the options do we go with two up top ? Raul, Fabio or do we go three in midfield from Joao, Ruben, Donk, MGW, Podence with our present lack of pace there i suggest three in the middle is our best option but it weakens us up top, also where does Adama fit into all of this?.
Lots of questions but no answers as yet, the Celta Viga game will i think give us some idea which way Bruno is going to go, and there may be a few clues in todays and tomorrows games where i think we will see 45 minutes of each game with a strong 11, and lots of changes in the second half these two games will be all about minutes in legs.