What sort of formation would you like to see the Toon use?
Posted on March 1st, 2011 | 50 Comments |
The recent disclosure by Alan Pardew that he seems to see Leon Best as Hatem Ben Arfa’s main competition for a starting place in the team got me to thinking about formations in general.
Since Pardew has been here we’ve mainly stuck to a standard 4-4-2 formation, but is that out of necessity or choice?
Does Alan Pardew have a particular preference for 4-4-2 or is it just that he thinks it best suits our current available players?
When we have a fully fit squad, we would seem to have a lot of midfielders vying for a place: Jonas, Tiote, Barton, Nolan, Gosling, Ireland, Ben Arfa … possibly even Ryan Taylor and Danny Guthrie.
Now, if Pardew is thinking that Ben Arfa is a replacement for Best, are we looking at:
——– Striker — Ben Arfa ——–
Jonas — Nolan — Tiote — Barton
Jose — Colo — Williamson — Simpson
————— Harper —————–
That would leave Ireland and Gosling as ‘swaps’ in the midfield, either as subs or replacements if another players gets an injury or has a bad run of form.
Or could we be looking at a different formation, perhaps a 4-4-1-1 such as:
————- Striker —————-
————- Ben Arfa —————
Jonas — Nolan — Tiote — Barton
Jose — Colo — Williamson — Simpson
————— Harper —————–
Or how about a 4-2-3-1:
————- Striker —————-
Jonas —– Ben Arfa —– Barton
——– Nolan — Tiote ——–
Jose — Colo — Williamson — Simpson
————— Harper —————–
Or even a 4-3-1-2:
——– Striker — Striker ——–
————- Ben Arfa —————
Jonas — Nolan/Tiote — Barton
Jose — Colo — Williamson — Simpson
————— Harper —————–
I could go on inventing formations, which I find etremely satisfying to do for some reason, but I think you get the idea!
Obviously the ‘Striker’ above is just my place-holder for either Ameobi, Best, Lovenkrands, Ranger and whatever strikers we buy in the summer (if any). It would be spooky indeed if we bought a striker called ‘Striker’; spookier still if bought the Striker brothers and had two of them.
Of course if we buy any more midfielders that would complicate the issue further and it’s also a consideration for Pardew that most players want first-team football and it can be difficult to hang onto them if they don’t get that. There is the option of a genuine ‘squad rotation’ system too I suppose.
If I had to guess then I’d say it’s likely Pardew will stick with a 4-4-2 and play Ben Arfa up front with another striker, although I only say that because of what Pardew said about Best being Ben Arfa’s main competition for a place. Some managers do seem to strongly favour a 4-4-2 whenever possible though.
So, two questions really:
Do you think Pardew is a stickler for the 4-4-2?
How would you like to see us line up?
PS. The games for next weekend’s Prediction Competition are now up. If you haven’t entered yet there’s only been one week so far, so you still plenty time to do so and try to win £25 at the end of the season. ‘B1GSTEVE’ tops the table with 11 points, followed by ‘number5’ with 8 points. I’m last!
NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen
I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10).
Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.
I quite like the traditional 4-4-2 that Pardew is using most of the time. It gives us more bite up front than we used to have with 5 in midfield. With everyone fit I would play.
————-Harper———–
Simpson–Willo–Collo–Enrique
————Tiote————-
–Benny—Barton/Ireland-Jonas
——Best/Nolan–Shola——-