The new manager thread.

[sonicyouth]

I'm not disagreeing, just saying I have no idea if it will work or not. I can't imagine we will be rigid with it anyway.

won't be our choice whether we're rigid, fluid, erect, flaccid, whatever. Spurs run the show don'tcha know

[PetsWinPrizes]

Just when I thought bloody Sloop John B might be put out to pasture, it get's a new use.

"We are Swindon, we do what Spurs want"

[woolster]

Just when I thought bloody Sloop John B might be put out to pasture, it get's a new use.

"We are Swindon, we do what Spurs want"

[london_red]

I'm not disagreeing, just saying I have no idea if it will work or not. I can't imagine we will be rigid with it anyway.

Exactly, we don't know if the formation will work, if all these signings will be any good, how much autonomy the new manager will have...

There's so many unknowns at the moment it will be an interesting start to the season that's for sure.

Views seem to have become particularly polarised over the summer but we're not long from finding out the short term direction we'll be going in.

[wheretherealredsare]

Just when I thought bloody Sloop John B might be put out to pasture, it get's a new use.

"We were Swindon, now we do what Spurs want"

Fixed it for you.

[Peter Gibbons]

I was kind of joking when I posted something like this previously, but in the current climate, it does start to make some bizarre sense.  If it did materialise then I shudder to think at the flak that would be flying if it goes tits up. Could be the West Country's first insurrection since the Pitchfork Rebellion of 1685.

Digressing for a moment... my knowledge of the Pitchfork Rebellion was somewhat lacking (i.e. I'd never heard of it) so I had the obligatory look at Wikipedia.

Was amused by this paragraph on the Bloody Assizes page:

Over 1,000 rebels were in prison awaiting the trials, which started in Winchester on 26 August.[1] The first notable trial was that of an elderly gentlewoman named Dame Alice Lyle.[2] The jury reluctantly found her guilty, and, the law recognising no distinction between principals and accessories in treason, she was sentenced to be burned. This was commuted to beheading, with the sentence being carried out in Winchester market-place on 2 September 1685.[1]

[BruceChatwin]

Its one of the formations a lot of top teams use, will be waiting for the fans to see us play with 1 up top, call it negative and then blame spurs. To be expected by a lot of the morons down at the CG.

The problem with that formation (4-2-3-1) is you need a player who'll excel playing up top on his own to make it work.

Top teams can afford the sort of players (Messi, Van Persie, Suarez, Lewandowski, Aguero, Mandzukic etc.) that make it fluid and effective at the top level, but have any teams made a success of it at our level, with the sort of quality of player we can afford?

As it stands, it looks like we're heading into the new season with Williams as our first choice in that role.

Does anyone believe, based on what we saw of him in that position during the experiments with formations at the end of last season, that he's strong enough/ intelligent enough/ has a good enough first touch (key attributes in that position in my opinion) to act as the central figurehead through which we build our attacks?

In my opinion these are the 3 attributes his game is most lacking.

[TheMajorSTFC]

Haven't been keeping too much of an eye on this lately, is the favourite still someone who is/has had Spurs links?

[chalkies_shorts]

The problem with that formation (4-2-3-1) is you need a player who'll excel playing up top on his own to make it work.

Top teams can afford the sort of players (Messi, Van Persie, Suarez, Lewandowski, Aguero, Mandzukic etc.) that make it fluid and effective at the top level, but have any teams made a success of it at our level, with the sort of quality of player we can afford?

As it stands, it looks like we're heading into the new season with Williams as our first choice in that role.

Does anyone believe, based on what we saw of him in that position during the experiments with formations at the end of last season, that he's strong enough/ intelligent enough/ has a good enough first touch (key attributes in that position in my opinion) to act as the central figurehead through which we build our attacks?

In my opinion these are the 3 attributes his game is most lacking.

But misses the attribute most lacking - heart.

[woolster]

But misses the attribute most lacking - heart.

Nail hit

[DiV]

The problem with that formation (4-2-3-1) is you need a player who'll excel playing up top on his own to make it work.

Top teams can afford the sort of players (Messi, Van Persie, Suarez, Lewandowski, Aguero, Mandzukic etc.) that make it fluid and effective at the top level, but have any teams made a success of it at our level, with the sort of quality of player we can afford?

As it stands, it looks like we're heading into the new season with Williams as our first choice in that role.

Does anyone believe, based on what we saw of him in that position during the experiments with formations at the end of last season, that he's strong enough/ intelligent enough/ has a good enough first touch (key attributes in that position in my opinion) to act as the central figurehead through which we build our attacks?

In my opinion these are the 3 attributes his game is most lacking.

I think Williams would be next to useless as a lone focal point up front, if anything his game is suited better to be one of the 'wide forwards' who play off the central striker.

Now, assuming Collins is as good as gone, that leaves....

....

...

Miles Storey and Samsung kid III?

I also, dont think players this low down have the skill, technique and intelligence to play these advances formations.

On a slight tangent, these new formations have killed central midfielders. Now a days you are either an attacking central midfielder or a holding central midfielder - back in the days of a 4 man flat midfield, you had to do both....these new age midfielders havent got anything Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira who did both, box to box, year after year!!!

[Honkytonk]

I also, dont think players this low down have the skill, technique and intelligence to play these advances formations.

If me and my uni mates can play 4-2-3-1 or 3-5-2 effectively, then I'm pretty sure professional footballers can. We got to practice once a week if we weren't too hungover- they are in nearly every day. It's just a matter of knowing people's roles and how they're going to play- which you'd imagine even with the comings and goings this summer, the players would have had enough time to work out.

[mystical_goat]

these new age midfielders havent got anything Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira who did both, box to box, year after year!!!

Both are defensive midfielders really. Vieira averaged a goal every nine games for Arsenal, for instance. Keane almost one in ten. I know goalscoring doesn't tell it all, and assists and general patterns of play are important.

Gerrard, Yaya Toure, Fellaini, all fulfill the box-to-box role for me.

EDIT: just looked them up and many do count Keane as a box-to-box.

[A Gent Orange]

Come on. 4231 is just 442 with one withdrawn forward - it's been around for years, including at Arsenal with Viera, the press just wasn't interested in formations then and called everything 442. As for three at the back - that dates back to the evolution of WM with the original 'centre half'. To call this stuff 'advanced' or 'modern' is just odd.

This stuff is just notation - don't get hung up on it over the reality.

[Arriba]

The players themselves are far more Important than any formation. We should concern ourselves with our squad or lack of before thinking of settting them up right.