I thought we really suited this shape. In the first half, Bakayoko was so isolated, and our midfield had no movement.
I’ll outline a few reasons why I liked this shape:
- Strength in depth at full back: Mason, Dabo and McCallum are all fullbacks who play like wingbacks and are good at getting forward. Getting them higher up the pitch will help out.
- The back 3: McFadzean started off badly when he came on, but I think all 3 of those are a good combination for us. Having 3 CBs should create more of a presence at set-pieces in defence and attack. Also, with 3 at the back, I think the extra central option will perhaps prevent some of lot of silly defensive mistakes we make when passing the ball around.
- Lack of wingers: back luck with injuries means we probably need to pause playing 4-3-3 for a while
- Our strikers: None of them seem to suit a lone striker role, I’d like to see Hiwula and Gooden upfront in this system to see if they can stretch teams by running into space. I thought Biamou did alright when we came on too and Baka got a goal so my first impressions is that this could work. Either way, I believe with the options we have atm, playing 2 strikers is the best way to go right now. Kastaneer could even slot in at that position too.
- Midfield: 3 CBs probably allows the CMs, particularly O’Hare, more freedom going forward
I really enjoyed last night, the first half was rubbish and Marosi kept it from being 2 or 3-0 down going into HT. Fair play to Robins for mixing it up and it worked. I was sceptical, but open minded about it and I can definitely see a future playing 5-3-2 and the most pleasing aspect of the 2nd half performance was that it appeared to me that we’ve trained using this setup too.
The leadership Kelly, and perhaps McFadzean to lesser extent, offer is invaluable to this team. I felt like we really lacked leadership and direction in that first half. For me, Kelly is that general who did simple things to keep us on the ball and to keep momentum on our side!