Break glass in case of emergency?

[Dark Savante]

http://ninamehta.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/benturnbullnew.png

Seems we have to be behind in a game going into the last 35 minutes of a game before all 4 are unleashed.

Oh well, it's a start, but I do wish we'd try it from the beginning of a game. I think we're unplayable at times when all 4 are on the pitch. The movement and synergy is just too much to track and they all 'get' each other perfectly.

No doubt at all we'll use this if we so happen to be a goal down with 30 to play in Rome.

How I'd love for us to go at Arsenal with all 4 of them from the first whistle. I think we'd end up tonking them by multiple goals.

[nimma]

I think the reason why we play so well with all Fab 4 together is because of the fact that since the opposition tracks all four of them it leaves just a bit of extra time for our midfield to pick passes and play the ball around...i think thats the reason for a lot of success with the fab 4 on.....

[pgr17]

at first i thought this thread was about Saha :p

if Carlos is signed this summer, then i definitely think you see the Manager play all four more often from the start. with Berbatov getting here late and trying to fit into the squad's plan for the year it took a while before they were all meshing together.

i think now you can see the seeds of what we may be doing next season. Fergie has gone away more often in these latter games of playing Ronaldo so far out wide and going back to more of a forward/striker/free role. that has helped. if all four are next year i think we definitely start out that way for a big part of games.

also i don't know if Berbatov coming in with 35 minutes or Ronaldo would have the same impact that Tevez has. Ronaldo just seems to try and take over the game (if he ever finds himself in that position coming off the bench) and Berbatov... well i'm not sure what kind of instant impact he has. but with Tevez it is like a bolt of electricity shot through everyone -the players and fans- and they feed off of it. pretty remarkable.

and yes, i too would love to see all four on the pitch to start on Saturday afternoon.

[Invincible]

You gotta admit, it's not a bad Plan B to have. :p

[SyedZada]

The problem is we want it to be plan A.

[Achtung]

"For God so loved United that he gave the one and only The Four, that whoever believes in them shall not perish but have eternal life in any football match."

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/2655/45357422utdstrikers416.jpg (http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=45357422utdstrikers416.jpg)

[sdotsom]

It would be great, but let's see if it can ever be a reality with Tevez seemingly headed to the door. As an impact guy off the bench, the best is Tevez, who's changed games in a big way a few times this season.

[johno]

I think the reason why we play so well with all Fab 4 together is because of the fact that since the opposition tracks all four of them it leaves just a bit of extra time for our midfield to pick passes and play the ball around...i think thats the reason for a lot of success with the fab 4 on.....

I started to post something like this in the Berba thread yesterday. What it does is stretch the defence and midfield thin and allows each of the fab four more time on the ball because you simply can't double mark Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez and Berba. Any of those players with the ball at their feet, facing just one defender, is going to be licking his chops. The fall out from that is that as you said, other players get even more room to operate in.

I think our fab four really came alive when Giggs came on though. That to me was because we lacked width. Giggsy didn't provide width at all, but he did penetrate from midfield. That caused all kinds of confusion and it worked so well that Carrick started to do it more often as well.

The 4 will be able to more routinely shred teams (especially ones with attacking ambition) when they have better chemistry, but until then - they are dependent on mistakes (runs not tracked) confusion and good work from our 2nd and 3rd waves of the attack.

The time O'Shea had on the ball to cross for Carrick was ungodly. Even the ball was poorly hit, but because the 4 had Wigan in full out panic, O'Shea and then Carrick were able to capitalize.

[Harry Boulton]

It would be a shame if Ronaldo left this summer before we see all four on from the start.

I say we start all four against Barcelona and go 4-0 up inside the first 20 minutes before they've had a chance to breathe.............

[jeff070]

The perfect lineup that I see us playing and socring more than any team in the history of football is this:

VDS

Rafael
Rio
Vida
Evra

Carrick
Giggs

Ronaldo
Berbatov
Rooney

Tevez

This is UNSTOPPABLE!

[Dark Savante]

It's certainly become our plan B, yes. I mean, Fergie is rolling that particular dice at the most crucial times of all - when we need something big with very little time left on the clock. The Spurs match being the zenith, to date.

I wonder what his deeper thoughts on this are by now, he must surely know that if it works during crunch time where the margins for error are less, it can work as a starting system.

[United Forever]

Maybe he wants the Tevez situations resolved before he fully integrates all 4 in a starting lineup. Could be plausible because it would make no sense to try to intergrate it at this time and one of the 4 leaving at season's end I guess. :confused:

[Vermont Red]

I wonder if the one thing holding Fergie back is the thought that if using the four from the start doesn't work then what is the next best option? In the unlikely event that we don't pin the other team back and score some goals with the four, then where do you go?

[sdotsom]

Tosic.

[bestbecks]

I wonder if the one thing holding Fergie back is the thought that if using the four from the start doesn't work then what is the next best option? In the unlikely event that we don't pin the other team back and score some goals with the four, then where do you go?
That's a good point. We wouldn't suffer from the Barcelona syndrome would we? My guess would be switching to the 4-3-3 with Rooney and Ronaldo out "wide" and Berbs or Tevez up front. However, you would figure, naturally, that if we can't score with the four on the pitch then how would we be able to with 3.

[johno]

It is a very good question. Nani when on provides something different to those guys and in place of Berba or Tevez, would allow a different scheme.

[bestbecks]

It is a very good question. Nani when on provides something different to those guys and in place of Berba or Tevez, would allow a different scheme.
Nani does offer something different to those two, but can we trust him (his form) enough to be a difference maker in a different plan?

This would be my guess with Nani coming in:

Carrick/Fletcher---Anderson/Scholes
Ronaldo-------Berbatov-------Nani
----------------Rooney----------------

[Dark Savante]

Plenty of options should it not work: Macheda & Nani and a spread to work with much more width come to mind. Or more power or energy in midfield with Berba coming off.


I think it's extremely flexible in that sense.

[bestbecks]

If Fletcher continues his form through the middle as the runner of the team, and should the 4-2-3-1 not function to it's capacity, we could always think of putting Hargreaves (remember him?) on the right wing, switching Ronaldo to the middle with Rooney continuing to play on the left. I know that we don't have the prototypical forward required to play with a winger, but when he's been deployed in that position (wide right) he's done well (2nd leg vs. Roma last year comes to mind).

[sdotsom]

Nani can be the option off the bench if he recaptures last year's form. Welbeck has also shown promise cutting in off the wing.