Thetownend.com

Ling says 2 up front is the way to go. Obika hints at 4-4-2. We don't have the wingbacks to play 5-3-2.

If so, has Power given up on his 'philosophy'?

Ling said he wants to persevere with two up front whether it's 4-4-2 or 3-5-2.

4-4-2 diamond makes sense given our lack of wide players and Gladwin at the tip of the diamond would be suited to his style of play.

Here's hoping and if so, kudos to Ling.

Pragmatism better than relegation.

3-5-2 they said that on the phone in.

That was before yesterday's further tale of woe

If a 4-4-2, something like this perhaps?


Problem with a diamond is you need decent fullbacks to give you width, which we are completely bereft of at the moment. The 3-5-2 has the same problem - who's good enough to take on the wing-back roles?

If only games were played on paper.

That looks a very decent line up. No Ajose, though?

Obika and Thomas would at least give opposing defences something to think about. Ajose is basically a ghost who materializes every 180 minutes for a goal.

That a pretty good description.

With everyone fit, I'd like to see:

                     Vigeroux
           Branco  Turnbull  El Abd
Thompson                             Brophy
                Thompson Kasim
                      Gladwin
                    Ajose Obika

Again, as Audrey says above, it looks a good side. Whether or not it would win games is another thing, it also has 7 players from last seasons play off squad, so they can't have turned into bad players.

Exactly...the classic Town diamond team was Ossie's 89/90 side, the side that played something like 26 games unchanged.

There you had David Kerslake and Paul Bodin as full backs....worth noting that both began as midfielders.  When Glenn went 3-5-2 both were equally adept at that.

In Ossie's diamond the key player was Ross McClaren, they played some possession but the out ball was often a long ball from Ross out wide to the advanced full backs.

I remember that season beating Leeds at the CG in front of about 16,000 3-2, cracking game....Leeds won the league and added the Championship in 91/92, the last before the Prem breakaway.

If 3-5-2 could see something like this:

Vigouroux
Gladwin Branco El Abd Turnbull Brophy
Thompson Kasim
Robert
Ajose Obika 

A 1 in 2 striker sounds pretty good to me.

A 1 in 2 striker who can't be seen by the opposition sounds even better. We could do with '12' on the pitch.

I would play 0-0-0 if it meant Rodgers being dropped.

No Louis or Kasim Saturday so Rodgers is nailed on to start. He's by no means the worst we've got which is a real indictment of how poor we are.

To be fair, Rodgers had quite a good start to the season and deserved his place.

TBF to all of them, the whole season has been disjointed with players squeezed into positions not natural for them.

There seems to have been little or no chance to play a settled system let alone team.

The noises coming from Lingy sound good to me regarding style of play. Remains to be seen if he can get the players performing.

This is where how desperate our situation is hits home....because without the 2 called up for internationals, we don't have te personnel to play any sort of formation properly....and this in a must win game.  :(

It's a "could really bloody do with winning" game, there is no such thing as must win in November

As Mark Robins won Manager of the Month last week isn't it the law that they lose their next League game?

And it's Lings first home game, and first league game. All the signs point to a Swindon win.

3-1 Scunthorpe then...

That's actually the most encouraging thing I've heard for a while....more encouraging still would be to hear that Paddy Madden has picked up a knock or suspension or something.