There isn’t really a debate to be had here about what formation to use.
Robins has mainly played 4-4-2 in the league, and has only really played 4-2-3-1 if we have unavailabilities i.e. Portsmouth. At the start of the season we were trying to figure things out and results have generally improved since we’ve found our best team, which is in a 4-4-2 system.
There isn’t anything wrong with experimenting in Cup games as he’s clearly done in the last two games. As we don’t really have an alternative if JCH or Chaplin get injured. The Walsall game offered some food for thought; Shipley played well behind JCH and made a lot of positive runs forward, for example. Our defence simply let us down on that occasion which was more individual errors as opposed to system failure.
What alternatives do we have if one of JCH or Chaplin gets injured? Hiwula is playing his best football on the left at this moment. Leaving Bakayoko, who certainly has a few question marks around him.
With Biamou out of the picture for the season, we may have to delve back into the market for a back target man — but let me make it clear that I’m satisfied with our options.