By Matt Doughty
September 15 2005

Matt Doughty gives us his thoughts on formations and player positions and why things just haven’t been right for Town on the pitch.

As everyone on here knows, we are very much in a transitional stage having lost four major players and with a mounting injury list.

 
In my opinion, the problems lie with the tactics, rather than the players, I think we should play a 4-1-4-1 formation, the wingers would join up with the attack when going forward, and the anchorman would drop back to defend when taking pressure, effectively we'd be 5-4-1 defending and 4-3-3 attacking.

GK: Lewis Price
Lewis price is an excellent 'keeper, as he has proven on a number of occasions, but his kicks are like something out of a horror movie, they are also anti-constructive, I would want him to play a pass to one of the defenders in order to maintain the passing game.

DL: Jay McEveley
Showed his shine today, and is definitely high quality, however, I would not want him as far up the field as he was because his pace is nothing special, so I'd want him to hold his position at the back and pass into the anchorman.

DCL: Richard Naylor
A fast offensive-minded centre-back, you'd want him closing down, and going forward on some attacks and for corners. Naylor could also be drafted forward as an attacking option if we're desperate.

DCR: Jason De Vos
Jason would be the last man back in almost all cases, he's a solid defender and a good player all around, I would also want him to take our penalties, since he used to do it for Wigan, and Currie's was very unconvincing. Jason would stand off rather than closing down until closer to the area, and would stay back whenever possible.

DR: Castro Sito
Sito would act as a winger from defence, due to his pace and good crossing ability. The rest of the defence would drift right while he was forward to keep the right side shored up.

ANC: Jim Magilton
The core engine of the team, the anchorman would be the extra midfielder, and the extra passing option. Because Jim has very little pace, it makes sense to have him play a more defensive minded role, and to concentrate on playing through-balls instead of overhead lobs. His passing ability at this level is second to none, and thus he could pick out the best pass from his options at any given point. His replacement when he retires would be Owen Garvan, who could play a similar role.

ML: Dean Bowditch
Bowditch could utilize his technique and small physique to nip past defenders and either shoot or play a pass to the striker, preferably on the floor because his crosses are a bit dodgy. His ability to come in as another striker makes him a great pick.

MCL: Darren Currie
Currie would be our more attacking midfielder, playing through-balls and attacking with the striker wherever possible, this would give us a possible four up field options, including the two wingers, and should overwhelm most defences.

MCR: Kevin Horlock
Horlock would be our holding midfielder, his job would be to transmit the ball to the Anchorman or to the Strikers, as well as to take on the attackers of the opposing teams when they attacked.

MR: Jaime Peters
Peters is a fast and technically sound youngster, but he needs to learn when to play a pass or shot, at the moment he is more interested in taking on every last defender than creating chances. His role would be to get to the edge of the box and either pass or shoot.

SC: Sam Parkin
Parkin's work rate makes him the striker he is. We have not seen the best of him, because we have been playing the long ball, with a tactic like this that relies on playing on the ground, and a short-passing, fast-tempo game, he would excel as a lone striker.

This tactical setup relies on playing on the ground, we don't want Lewis hoofing the ball into a one-on-one aerial challenge for Parkin to lose possession and give the opponents another chance to score, yet this is what we have done in successive games against Preston and Sheffield United.

I believe in the system we played before we started grinding last year, the system that saw us beat Sheffield United 5-1, beat Crewe 5-1 and beat Nottingham Forest 6-0. It is not the quality of players that we lack, it is our ability to use our players' qualities correctly.

 

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