Metro Stars should play 3-4-3

Then who would we bring off the bench for an offensive boost late in the game? Faria will get his chance to start. Mathis and Diallo have both talked about leaving in the reasonably near future. Until that time, Faria should learn to live with being a supersub and starter when one of the other two are injured (more than enough minutes). With a 3-4-3, who would our midfield be? Davis Williams are set, but who plays out of Moore and Paule? Who plays out right? With our players, the 3-5-2 is easily the best formation:


Howard

Petke Jolley Akwari (or Addo)

Moore Paule

Ramos (Ziadie for now) Williams Davis

Mathis Diallo



That leaves us with talent at every spot on the field, a more balanced line-up on defense, and it deepens our bench (Faria, Ziadie, Addo, Chrono). It's a no brainer to me, which shows what I think of OZ and his lopsided, no-right-winger formation.

JMac

 

Playing with only 3 defenders requires a team to have 2-way wing mids. In your lineup, which is (I think):

Petke Addo Chrono

Jolley Paule Williams Moore

Faria Diallo Mathis


you end up leaving some of our more talented players on the bench in favor of some of our lesser players. To start, Jolley is not a midfielder. Right now, he's been our only semi-consistant defender. Chrono has been our worst defender, because he's a converted left winger. He has enough trouble playing D out wide, I shudder to think what he would do with more defensive responsibility. Addo has been a bench player all year. Playing him centrally gives him a leadership role he may not be ready for. Aside from Jolley, the rest of the midfield is a mess as well. Paule, Williams and Moore are all central mids. That leaves the flanks totally open for any team to attack through, and it clutters up our midfield. Up front, again, after those three, we have no depth. Alvarez has been so poor that his own players won't pass the ball to him when he's wide open. Klinger has a combination of Damarcus Beasley's size and Rusty Pierce's offensive talent. He's hopeless. The only player we could sub in on offense if we start those three is Mark Lisi, an unproven commodity if there ever was one. We just don't have the personnel to play a 3-4-3, and even if we did, it's generally not a tactically sound formation.

JMac

 

yes this is what it should be.

 

I think that we saw pretty clearly the first half of the game Sunday what happens when you go with 3 forwards. Things were completely clogged up. When we subbed out Diallo, things opened up for Williams to create.

I agree with those that are saying Faria off the bench this year, then as a starter next year when one or both of our starters leave.

 

Yes, and the question still remains . . . How come we can all see this and our wacko coach can't?

 

How about this?

Howard

Akwari ... Petke ... Addo/Chrono
Zaidie/Balboa ... Jolley/Moore
Tab/Paule ... Williams ... Davis/Chrono
Mathis/Faria ... Diallo/Faria


I like putting Zaidie farther up front, but I think attacking mid is too far, I'd rather see Paule try to create. Ever since Jolley scored a goal, he's been pushing up every chance he gets (like how Rey Ordonez swings for the fences for a month after he hits a rare HR). He played midfield for LA, I think he could be a good d-mid.

 

it should be big moma and faria up front with mathis, davis and williams in midfield. until or if ramos comes back. then mathis up front with ramos in the midfield. our biggest problem isn't defense or offense it is in the midfield. when davis is on the bench all we have in the midfield that is any good is williams. and they surround him. he is the only one that can make a play and hold the ball. Davis needs to be in there with him, because he can pass very well and hold the ball. we give away too many balls in midfield. it makes our defenders work twice as hard and its too easy for the openents to get right into the attack. williams needs help and davis needs to be in there the whole game. and we saw last game how crowded it was up front with mathis, faria and big moma up there. mathis needs to either play completely forward or completely midfield, non of this inbetween stuff. faria needs to go to the bench and mathis and big mama up front. then faria off the bench for who ever looks tired. But we need to keep davis in the starting line-up. williams needs some help. if ramos comes back then he will be a major help to williams. but right now its davis. our back four is fine the way it is. our forwards are great, we need midfield help. so davis and williams in the midfield with pauli and some one else. I say mathis.

 

PLEASE watch games if you are going to condemn a formation. We can't have been losing due to the 3-5-2 because we haven't been PLAYING a 3-5-2 for the majority of the season. We've been playing a lopsided 4-4-2, that looks like this:

Ziadie Petke Jolley Chrono

Paule Moore
Williams Davis
Faria Diallo



The DC game, we used a 4-3-3, and it was a disaster. It wasn't until Diallo was subbed out that we looked decent. The 3-5-2 (you know, that formation that actually worked well for us in 2000 and 2001) is the best formation for this roster. Ziadie is great for a wing spot in a 3-5-2 because he has some defensive ability. He's a good 2-way mid (but he is NOT a d-mid, nor is Jolley). The 3-5-2 with Petke Jolley and Addo (or Akwari) in the back, Paule and Moore as d-mids, Ziadie Williams and Davis as RW, AM, and LW respectively and Diallo and Mathis up front is the best way to go. It gets our best talent on the field at the same time. For the guy who keeps pimping the 4-3-3, one question you never answered is this:

With Faria, Diallo and Mathis all starting up front, who do we sub in for offense?


JMac

 

JMac....I think the secret is not for OZ to bring in an offensive player late in the game. The secret is to score two or three quick goals early in the match, keep LA back on their heels and then play good tight defense in the 2nd half. He can then bring in a defender, or two, and then play very defensive soccer in the second half. We need to be looking to bring home at least a point on the road.

The Rose Bowl is a pretty wide field, and guys like Faria and Diallo should be able to work the flanks. I think they can turn an Alexi Lalas into a shirt dragging, tackle from behind, defender who can send Big Mama to the penalty spot if Diallo makes the right moves. Mathis and Williams should work in tandem and control the offensive midfield and let the other two work the flanks.

I also think Ross should revert back to a more defensive midfield role, and keep an aging Cienfuegos from providing any quality service to Ruiz, who should have someone like Ziadie man marking him like he is Ruiz's shadow. It's a tough job for a rookie, but I've seen this kid man mark his opponent really well in a couple of matches early on in the season.

Lastly.... Let's hope that tonight we have a refferee who won't cave in to the home town crowd when Diallo gets roughed up in the penalty area. Just because he's big and tough, doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve a PK whe the Galaxy defenders pull him down. Unlike the antic's of Cobbi Jones, Cienfuegos and Ruiz who drop like flies and dive at the slightest touch, Diallo gets hammered more than any other player in the League and a lot of the MLS ref's/ linesmen let too many fouls go uncalled on this guy because of his past reputation and history of red cards. We need this win tonight, but I'd settle for a point on the road...adios and good luck Metro's!

 

I think that Mathis, Faria and Diallo are all strikers and shouldn't be tried in other positions. The biggest mistake a coach can make is trying to make the players fit the formation rather than the other way around. It never works when you try and force a square peg into a round hole. Look at the areas where we have tried to do that. Early in the season, OZ tried Paule as a right wing mid. Paule sucked, because he is a central mid and was playing out of position. When did our defense start to collapse? When we started playing Ziadie and Chrono, two midfielders, as our outside backs. Why has Mathis not played as well this season? Because he's a striker and OZ wants him to be the attacking mid. The 3-5-2 puts all of our best players on the field and has them playing in their natural positions.

As to ABMSN on his points: Yes, the DC game was a disaster. They are the worst team in the league and we looked woefully inept against them. Yeah, we got a PK, but Rimando saved it. If we want to play the almost but not quite game, Pope almost had a sure goal, but Timmy saved it. That ball goes in and the game is completely different. Bottom line, we didn't score or play remotely well until OZ took out one of the strikers and put in a midfielder. Thus the 3 forwards concept is proven to be innefectual.
Secondly, again, watch the games if you are going to go on at length. JOLLEY HAS NEVER PLAYED MIDFIELD FOR THIS TEAM. Jolley is a defender, and he has played central defense all season. He was part of a 3-man backline the previous two seasons. He is not a midfielder.

JMac