is it time for a change of formation?

[Rjk]

in all of our cup games this season we've switched to 3 at the back, and whilst not successful, the games have certainly been entertaining! i wonder if it could work for us if we had the first team players involved, and actually picked a few defenders.
What do you think the best lineup would be for either a 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2?

[Wash DC Blue]

I’ve been thinking this for a while.
Playing with two wide players is currently ineffective.

Not sure what the best formation would be though.

[Moodybluebird]

You would imagine, given how ineffective the current formation is that Bulut must be trying out other options in training. The team has shown in patches that they are capable of playing good football but whether it's the players, the formation, a lack of confidence or all those things is difficult to pinpoint. All we can do is put our faith in Bulut and his coaching staff to get it right.

[Rjk]

for me a 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 is only effective if you have genuine 2-way wingbacks, and if there's any compromise then it should be wingers who can defend a bit over defenders who don't know how to attack. As we saw at times under big Mick.

the back 3 would be McGuiness, Goutas and Ng

Lwb - Collins or Odowda
Rwb is a bit of an issue, as I don't really like our right wingers defensively or Romeo in attack.

[Undercoverinwurzelland]

Definitely need a change of some sort.

[PhyllisStant]

I mentioned this in another post that Bulut's preferred formation is 3 centre backs with wing backs.

The issue we've clearly got is that we don't have 3 centre backs or 2 wing backs! Shows how well he's been doing really with a make shift squad in a less than preferred formation.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

I don't know if this is interesting or not, but our wide forwards have 4 assists between them all season - O'Dowda and Grant have 2 each. Ralls and Wintle have 10 between them, Collins and Ng have been more assistful (is that a word?) than our wide attacking players.

[tforturton]

If Bulut wants to use the old 3-5-2, then we should have seen a couple of wingers arrived as soon as the window opened. And he's got Tanner and Bowler as it is - so why hasn't he tried it before - not defensive enough?

[Rjk]

If Bulut wants to use the old 3-5-2, then we should have seen a couple of wingers arrived as soon as the window opened. And he's got Tanner and Bowler as it is - so why hasn't he tried it before - not defensive enough?

you don't play wingers in a 3-5-2

[light up the darkness]

Currently we have 2 who could play in a back 3

3 who could play in the middle 5

And 1 who could play in a front 2

That means at least 4 new players

[life on mars]

If you play three at the back those three need to be comfortable playing high up the pitch , skilled at ball carriying , play well off both feet , fast, intelligent passers . Etc

[Rjk]

Currently we have 2 who could play in a back 3

3 who could play in the middle 5

And 1 who could play in a front 2

That means at least 4 new players

Ng McGuiness and Goutas have all played in a back 3.
and most of our strikers would probably benefit from playing in a 2, and I don't see why our midfielders are any less suitable for 352 than 4231.
a bit light at wingback but we could definitely give it a try

[Rjk]

If you play three at the back those three need to be comfortable playing high up the pitch , skilled at ball carriying , play well off both feet , fast, intelligent passers . Etc

there's more than one way to play 3 at the back

[olderblue]

there's more than one way to play 3 at the back

I’d totally revolutionise things and go with Five centre half’s at the back
Can’t see anyone trying this 🤷*♂️🤷*♂️🤷*♂️