Forgot the 3rd word. But this thread is to keep track if what were actually lining up as, and other discussion. My first point is our 442 diamond watch. First game of the season it showed everything that was wrong with the formation. Either an isolated D mid, or an attacking midfielder who can't influence the offense because he's busy defending 3 other guys with Kitchen. The LCM and RCM are conflicted. They dont know they are not actually wingers. It strikes me as a formation that you need to actually have highly talented players to make it work. Unlike how Ben luckily got a good run out of our sorry bunch that made it to the ECF's, with a solid formation. Also is Silva good enough, well keep an eye on that as the season goes on. Will we have an identity before the all star break.
4-2-3-1 matches our personnel. Arnaud and Kitchen can protect our central defenders, and as a PAIR, they're competent passing the ball. They might be able to control the midfield. In front of them you put Silva, Pontius, and Espindola. Espy on the left will like to cut in and play like a forward, which leaves space down the left wing for the fullback. EJ might excel in this role if the idea is NOT for him to check back and hold the ball up all of the time, but for him to one-time balls from the 3 AMs into the net.
You are right a diamond midfield can work but you need an AM that is truly a two way player and two wide midfielders who can defend but can also support the attack from inside left and right channels. They all should be willing to run a lot. The width then has to come from true modern fullbacks who can cover all the width from byline to byline. So in other words you need a talented bunch to properly make it work. We don't really have that kind of squad. I will let others pick apart the failings of our current group.
I don't think it's the defenders so much as our midfielders that don't allow a diamond-mid to work. Both Franklin and Cristian can get up and down the wings, but Arnaud & DeLeon don't play wide, at all. DeLeon gave hints that he was a 2-way player his rookie season, but not in the last 2 years. Arnaud, in this stage of his career, is just not a 2-way player anymore. I don't know about Cristian, but Franklin was used to having midfield cover when he would go forward, out in LA. IIRC, they played mostly a 4-4-2. For whatever reason, wide midfield play is just not happening here at DC, now.
That's because we don't have a strong central midfield that commands a defensive assignment and opens up space on the wings. We also don't have wingers, or wing speed. James
I think with our personnel the best stragety might be the old Christmas Tree 4-3-2-1 ----------------EJ--------------- -------Espy--------Silva-------- -----Arnaud--Perry--Jeffries-- Christian-BB--Parke-Franklin It would be ugly, counter-attacking football but that is how we are built.
My question is how are we going to get the ball forward fast enough to spring Johnson? If we are all about holding the ball until the fullbacks get forward, does this play to Johnson's strengths? I don't know because I did not watch the Flounders last year and Johnson has been out on the left wing for the US National Team.
Yes, that's it!!! I like. Would help clog midfield, anf also cover the space left behind by the fullbacks.
I think if all 3 of these are in a game together - we either lose it by 1 or 2 goals, or we are protecting a big lead ----- possibly both
a sly attempt to play two players where we'd normally have just one? Simple cloning, it's allowed per the MLS bylaws
Conversation I had a few months ago: Other Guy: "Yeah, we got a fail on that fire hydrant over there, so we need to get to work on that. And blah item failed, and we have to fix the other blah, and that other blah." Me: "What was the fail on the fire hydrant?" Other Guy: "Well they ran the pressure test and the results were blah, and there was some kind of problem with the valve..." Other Guy 2: "So, what, the water comes out, or no?" Other Guy 1: "Well, no, that's the problem." Me: "But other than that it works fine?" Other Guy 1: "Yeah."
------------ EJ --------------------Espindola ----------------Arnaud --------Jeffrey---------DeLeon ----------------Kitchen Chrisian - Boswell -Parke - Franklin I'd have gone with an empty bucket, Jeffrey and Kitchen in the middle, Arnaud/DeLeon on the "wings", but we need someone in Bradley's shorts the entire game and Arnaud is the sacrificial pawn - not to be confused in that position with an AM that actually creates offense...
I think that to get the best out of EJ he needs to be on the run towards goal when the ball reaches him. Playing him up top, where his first duty is to receive a ball from midfield or the back line, hold up play, and then make the killer move doesn't play to his greatest strength, IMO. Play him back a bit as a withdrawn forward or wing (as Klinsi does) and let him run onto the ball.
Okay so I'll throw this out. It's probably nothing new, but what the hell. I might have even thought of it a month ago and forgotten already. I've been ready to embrace the 433, even if our team hasn't. It's not perfect, but -------------------Hamid------------- Franklin-----Thing1-Thing2-------Christian ----^-------------Kitchen-----------------^ ----^-----DeLeon----------Silva---------^ ----^------------------X-------------------^ ---------<<<<Espy-------EJ>>>>>------- ----------------------Doyle----------------- Where: FB's overlap, Delo and Silva make crossing runs (X) and get wide in transition, back to the center in posession, Espy and EJ take turns getting wide or cutting to goal opposite the ball You can swap Jeffrey or Martin, or maybe even Arnaud for the Delo/Silva line, and Pontius, Porter and Seaton for the Espy/EJ line, and EJ for Doyle if necc. I'd like to pick up someone else for that Doyle role, but oh well. I can't even remember all the guys on the team off the top of my head right now, but with the people I've mentioned I think this accentuates what most of them are good at, while trying to minimize what they aren't. It gives the AM role to two players who aren't up to the job in the hopes that between the two of them they could do it. I think it would give up goals, but I think it's got a MUCH better chance of scoring some.
While I could see how that would work, I would expect at DC United we would end up with four attackers in a five yard space, marked out of the game by one d-mid. Meanwhile the opposition runs rampant on the space out wide...