crispnclean wrote:
The 352 suggested to me that we wanted to match the Swans strongest section which is there midfield. Carroll, like Nolan, appears to be capable of going full pelt for 70 mins but after that they are fucked.

I've always said the PL is about strength and pace, we have that in Sakho and partly in Valencia, in Carroll we have strength and that is it.

We need another Sakho and I suspect with Carlton on his way out after this season, Sam is scouring the French and possibly lower Belgian leagues for up and coming 15 goal strikers in the mould of Sakho. I really do think Caroll gives us a one dimension in our attacking play, Nolan as a foil to him is shot, Caroll can play in the 'new' West Ham but I think if he gets less goals than Valencia this season, his place in the starting XI could be in jeopardy.

Although we drew at Swansea I think they are a very good team at home, so getting and respecting the point should be accepted. I reckon our next 2 games will show how much we have improved, I think we will do Everton easily and Hull too.
Doesn't 442 diamond give us 3 if not 4 in the centre of midfield?  That is the beauty of it.  You can play a back 4 and a front 2, whilst also dominating the centre of the park.  But it relies on exceptionally fit and athletic full backs and strikers who have similar athleticism and spend plenty of time wide.  So yeah, no Sahko and away at a very good swansea side, means 352 makes sense.  Individually I have no problem with yesterday - my problem with it is a slight sense that it is symptomatic of what some feared - that we'd go backwards with nolan and carroll back fit.

I'd like to see BFS really go for it in the cup and likewise in the league with attacking, adventurous formations.  I can see the former (maybe) but not the latter.  There's no point trying to be clever and sneak into europe.  Don't get me wrong, I want it.  But it'll fuck us net year so why not just go out like CL football is our divine right and properly give every game a go.  Tiny chance it pays off and it costs us europe then is that such a bad thing?  Better to aim for it in a couple of years with a bigger and better squad and stadium.