Conte's 3-5-2

[tototoner]

Bringing in Bissouma gives Betancur and Hojbjerg a bit more freedom to move up the pitch - either to break play up, or, in the case of Betancur, add a touch more creativity.

which is exactly what happened against Everton and why we need to have 3 in midfield

 

[thekneaf]

Doesn't look like the answer with that midfield

 

[Japhet]

Doesn't look like the answer with that midfield

Not playing like that. It looked like they'd been specifically instructed to not keep the ball, or if they got hold of it, give it back as soon as possible. I know this is how Conte likes to play, but that was a bit extreme.

 

[bubble07]

Playing 3-5-2 with Perisic on the left and Doherty on the right, with Kane and Son up front, should absolutely run United ragged tomorrow based on what I’ve seen of them recently.

If only

 

[bubble07]

Felt front 2 were too isolated. Wingbacks didn't have the pace/desire to join them. Same goes for the midfielders

 

[Haddock]

Personally I don't believe our down fall last night was solely on formation. My biggest problem this season, and that's regardless of formation, has been our tendency to fall back and give up possession. Now I understand the pragmatic side of this, I don't mind us falling back and playing cautiosuly against the big six, but as we've seen last night against United, and against Chelsea, and Arsenal, and even the first leg against Frankfurt, we are just way too passive in our pressing and not aggressive enough. You can't let your opponent shoot 28 shots against goal, eventually they'll have a lucky deflection. It's just common sense. How can Conte watch us defend like that and be satisfied?

For example: When Atletico Madrid play defensively they do so with a high intensity, defending their line, fouling, pressing ferociously etc. Which in turn means they actually break up play more often which leads to counter attacking opportunities.

But instead we look completely knackered after 30 minutes. PEH, Benta and Bissouma, despite being three central midfielders couldn't press effectively. And why is that? Because the first two mentioned have been completely ran in to the ground playing virtually every game, never being subbed.

 

[austinfh]

Doesn't look like the answer with that midfield

Bissouma's passing is way too limited for him to play at the base of the midfield 3. I said it in another thread, but for all his weaknesses Winks was quite good for us at the base of a 3 man midfield in the 352. Conte had Brozovic at Inter and we need a similar sort of progressive player/someone who can calmly keep things ticking if we want to dominate playing 352

 

[felmani26]

Simply put, regardless of formation if you have players in possession of the football (particularly Dier and Romero) literally at walking pace or even at a standstill with static movement in front you are making it incredibly easy for opposition to counter this.

 

[Trix]

Doesn't look like the answer with that midfield

It's not the answer. As I keep saying we do not have the players to play Conte's version of 3-5-2.


It's all quite simple really, he's been here less than a year and we've had one Summer window. We were never going to get a rounded squad in that time, so Conte has bought to give us options in a 3-4-3 because with what we already had that was playing to our strengths. Lets be honest here we really miss Kulu because it's the one position where we don't have a natural replacement. He's tried Richalison there, but it is nowhere near as good a fit. We really wanted Zaniolo so it's very clear Conte see's a need to bring another RWF in.


I'll point again to 2 things Conte has been saying in almost every press conference since the season started........


We were never going to solve our issues in one window, this is a project that will take time.

We need to spend the money wisely because big money mistakes will cost us in the long term, so if we can't get the players we want, we wait until we can get one that we do want.

 

[dontcallme]

Personally I don't believe our down fall last night was solely on formation. My biggest problem this season, and that's regardless of formation, has been our tendency to fall back and give up possession. Now I understand the pragmatic side of this, I don't mind us falling back and playing cautiosuly against the big six, but as we've seen last night against United, and against Chelsea, and Arsenal, and even the first leg against Frankfurt, we are just way too passive in our pressing and not aggressive enough. You can't let your opponent shoot 28 shots against goal, eventually they'll have a lucky deflection. It's just common sense. How can Conte watch us defend like that and be satisfied?

For example: When Atletico Madrid play defensively they do so with a high intensity, defending their line, fouling, pressing ferociously etc. Which in turn means they actually break up play more often which leads to counter attacking opportunities.

But instead we look completely knackered after 30 minutes. PEH, Benta and Bissouma, despite being three central midfielders couldn't press effectively. And why is that? Because the first two mentioned have been completely ran in to the ground playing virtually every game, never being subbed.

I agree. No formation has all the answers.

Yesterday we played 3 players in midfield who can all play and work but we completely failed to dictate play.

 

[mil1lion]

I would stick with it on Sunday as feel we will do better at home anyway. Hopefully Kulusevski is fit but I think even if he is he's likely to start on the bench.

At the moment it's difficult to see the ideal 3 for 352 at times. We don't have an Eriksen to play in there. If we had that type then we have a good alternative when Kulusevski is out.

 

[YB123]

It's not the answer. As I keep saying we do not have the players to play Conte's version of 3-5-2.


It's all quite simple really, he's been here less than a year and we've had one Summer window. We were never going to get a rounded squad in that time, so Conte has bought to give us options in a 3-4-3 because with what we already had that was playing to our strengths. Lets be honest here we really miss Kulu because it's the one position where we don't have a natural replacement. He's tried Richalison there, but it is nowhere near as good a fit. We really wanted Zaniolo so it's very clear Conte see's a need to bring another RWF in.


I'll point again to 2 things Conte has been saying in almost every press conference since the season started........


We were never going to solve our issues in one window, this is a project that will take time.

We need to spend the money wisely because big money mistakes will cost us in the long term, so if we can't get the players we want, we wait until we can get one that we do want.

Spot on. For Conte 3-5-2 we need a deep lying playmaker. He's had Pirlo, Brozovic even Fabregas to an extent.

Bissouma, Bentancur, PEH and Skipp all work as the two workers in front of the deep lying playmaker.

People moan how defensive and boring it was and rightly so but are you exactly massively shocked?!

 

[chas vs dave]

It isn't purely about the formation. We sit too deep. Which in turn allows the opposition to smother us.

I guess the scuba kit is quite apt for this type of performance.

 

[gavspur]

It wasn’t really a 3-5-2 yesterday tho. It was mainly a 5-3-2. The fullbacks were very deep, giving us little to no outlet out wide. Which would work if the midfield are told to sit and hold. But it seemed the midfield we’re playing 3-5-2, but the wingbacks 5-3-2. It was very disjointed all round.

 

[Ghostie]

Many were crying out for Conte to play with three in midfield last night and I'm surprised he did I thought he would have played Moura as the right of a three up front.
As it turned out we got overrun with the three so we might as well have played two with Moura & Sonny wide up front at least it would have kept their full backs occupied and not let them have the freedom of the flanks.
I've always been of the mind that playing five at the back is a defensive philosophy but we seem to be letting in two goals in a game far too often so what's the point.
We shouldn't have to sit back and defend to get a result we're a better and bigger club than that.
If Conte is here for the long term then hopefully with the revenue now coming into the club what with the NFL and the boxing in time Conte will be able to buy the type of players he wants to play the way he does and not have players including the keeper that give the ball away to cheaply

 

[skiba]

I was certainly one that would have been happy to see us move to 3-5-2 particularly in the bigger games but it's limitations really were exposed on Wednesday. I guess we all wanted to see us control games better but if your overall philosophy and game plan is to sit deep and counter then the 3-4-3 is the superior formation for me. As Conte and others have said, you can defend in a 5-4-1 rather than a 3-5-2 and you offer a superior threat going forward with an extra attacker.

Conte has talked about being a balanced side and I think the 3-5-2 just doesn't give us enough going forward. If his idea is to attack with 5 then we are basically asking our wingbacks and one of PEH and Bentancur to be the ones supporting Kane and Son which I just don't believe is threatening enough. Kane and Son are fine players but it felt like that's literally all United had to worry about during the week and with Casemiro dropping in to shield their CBs Kane and Son were snuffed out pretty easily. With one more attacker or genuine threat on the pitch in Richarlison or Kulusevski we would at the very least given them another problem to deal with.

We all thought the extra midfielder would help Bentancur and PEH from being overrun and whilst that maybe the case what we then require from them is an additional workload in other areas. I've already mentioned that we need them joining the attack but they also need to fill in wide areas (Utd from minute one switched play constantly to move them about so were clearly prepared for this formation) and join the press. It becomes a much more multi faceted role in a three and still requires a lot of work rate and actually maybe the more simpler role of adopting a shape, winning the ball and feeding the front players is a better utilisation of their strengths. I feel for them at times in there as a two but they go about their work admirably and know their roles whereas I thought they looked lost midweek.

 

[DannyNZ]

Doesn’t matter what formation you play if your key players can’t control the ball or find passes when being pressed. Add on top when your opposition play with much greater commitment, regardless what formation you play you’re going to struggle.