If last nights friendly was anything to go by I think Nuno has decided to almost go back to the formation and rotations that he used at Valencia. 4-2-3-1 that is a 3-4-3/ 4-1-4-1 hybrid.
We are looking like we will be playing with a back four that involves both full-backs advancing and one of our central midfielders withdrawing into central defence to form a back three when transitioning from defence to attack. Then stepping out once the first stages of transition has completed. That central midfielder’s main roll after that was to cover areas of space that could become dangerous left by the attacking midfielders in case of turn over.
But it wasn’t the case of one CM staying back and the other one advancing, we were also using a double pivot centrally with two midfielders remaining in deep positions to assist our central defenders with building possession and to offer cover when the full-backs move forwards. Again when it was less risk adverse to do so the, lets call him, box to box midfielder would join the attack. But the double pivot created a box of superiority centrally with the wide forward coming inwards (talked about below) and the attacking midfielder.
The team emphasis is very much on creativity in wide areas, and crosses or through balls from those same areas into the striker positioned inside the penalty area. With the width provided from our full-backs, we were encouraging the wide forwards to adopt narrower positions (I guess you could call it a number 10 roll) before working the ball wide while the striker remained advanced and central. I did notice that one of the number 10’s would contribute to their attempts to build, and the other would attack beyond the striker meaning the opposition central defenders could not step out and pulled their fullback in tighter.
So we have a lot more movement going on however because we rotated into different shapes it meant that spaces emerged that make us vulnerable, and contributed to them targeting our defensive midfielder and the box to box midfielder. That said the more work we do on the positional side and they develop the knowledge of where they need to be with and without the ball the less likely the spaces will become. I really hope Nuno sticks with the rotation even if means they lose the ball or struggle with the press to start with. What they are doing is the right idea.
We are open to counter attacks in wide areas with the full backs willingness to advance so I understand the mid to low block in place due to lack of pace in the central defence area and that our keeper is not fast enough to play as a sweeper keeper so a high line is not a good fit for us but we do need to increase the aggression levels to step forward from defence and take the ball or put pressure on the advancing players. The mid /low defensive line also causes more space to be available between them and the midfield which is something that needs addressing and it wouldn’t surprise me if the box to box midfielder becomes more defensive minded with a game plan more on positional support than an attacking body.
All in all good signs but do need Nuno to stay brave with the system as I believe it will work long term but if he loses his nerve and goes back to the way we were we will never get out of the cycle we are in.
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