Could it be three.....

...at the back? Assuming no Jamey Osborne or Sean McAllister, I went with:
      
                           McKeown
           Clarke     Collins   K.Osborne
                  Mills              Rose
Bolarinwa    Dembele   S.Jones    Kelly
                               Vernon


Not that it matters - I imagine we'll play 442 unless there's a major shift in the cosmic axis.

Everything in pre-season so far suggests you have at least three players playing out of position (Mills, Dembele and Jones).

Not sure why Slade would change from 4-4-2 and go with something as untested and risky as that.

We don't have players who are suited to playing as wing-backs so, no, I don't think we'll be seeing three at the back.

I think that Rose looked to be right-footed last night. Best not to confuse him with his brother and assume he's a left-back!

Why would you only have three senior centre backs in your squad if you were planning on 3 at the back? One injury or suspension and you're screwed.

It seemed like 4231 last night with Berrett and Rose playing slightly deeper and one of them joining the 3 when we went forward. Rose seems a more athletic option than anything we had last year and I expect Dembele Jones and Kelly to switch around behind the striker. Nothing in preseason suggests 3 at the back though!

Bolarinwa and Vernon.  Jesus. Mid table all over.

Quoted from MuddyWaters

It seemed like 4231 last night with Berrett and Rose playing slightly deeper and one of them joining the 3 when we went forward. Rose seems a more athletic option than anything we had last year and I expect Dembele Jones and Kelly to switch around behind the striker. Nothing in preseason suggests 3 at the back though!

Watching from the Upper Findus it definitely seemed to be a 4-1-4-1 as Rose was notably further forward than Berrett and was playing next to Jones who was out on the right. I was actually quite impressed at times how well the midfield four were moving up and down in a line when the opposition were in possession. It certainly looked as though they were well-drilled and had been working at it.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I reckon this was a practice for when we play the better teams away from home. If so, I reckon we're going to be aiming for lots of clean sheets away from home, though might perhaps end up with too many draws.

Quoted from Maringer

Watching from the Upper Findus it definitely seemed to be a 4-1-4-1 as Rose was notably further forward than Berrett and was playing next to Jones who was out on the right. I was actually quite impressed at times how well the midfield four were moving up and down in a line when the opposition were in possession. It certainly looked as though they were well-drilled and had been working at it.

As I mentioned elsewhere, I reckon this was a practice for when we play the better teams away from home. If so, I reckon we're going to be aiming for lots of clean sheets away from home, though might perhaps end up with too many draws.

If you re-read, I said it looked like 4231 with one of the 2 joining the 3 when we were going forward ie 4141! Rose appears to have the energy to do this although Berrett looks fitter than he did last season.

Sorry, I just didn't think that Rose made any attempt to drop back into a 2 alongside Berrett which indicates to me that wasn't the plan. If anything, Rose played further forward than Jones and Dembele for much of the first half!

I initially thought we'd be playing 4-2-3-1 but it didn't seem to me that this is the formation that was actually used. Strange, as you'd have thought that Rose would have been better suited to play the role shielding the back 4 with Berrett further forward and Berrett certainly played in a much more advanced role later in the game following the substitutions.

Regardless, Slade's comments indicate that he was happy with the way the team performed though I think we should have done much better when in attacking possession and gave away the ball very sloppily at times (as did they, for that matter).

Quoted from Laddy89

Bolarinwa and Vernon.  Jesus. Mid table all over.

Sorry to disagree but with Jesus in the side miracles will happen.

Jones and dembele were playing out of position last night and to be quite honest it showed jones needs to be further upfield he was wasted were he was playing and dembele is a winger with rapid pace and skills and he was more centre mid as all I could hear was wilko telling him to drop back In most of the time, slade is trying different things with it being pre-season and quite rightly and although I don't usually single players out I just wasn't impressed with berrett in there and vernon never had a kick second half yussuff has looked lively and stronger and has been scoring most games I've seen him this pre-season so that's a plus but I don't think we as fans really know what the striker situation is or goin to be for the first game of the season and I would think they are still on the lookout as the rumoured number 9 shirt is still available,all in all I think what most fans have seen they have been happy with the main thing is we are playing some decent football going forward with pace and it's good to see that, looking forward to seeing bogle Saturday but then the real stuff starts the week after UTM COME ON TOWN

Quoted from Mendonca1995

Jones and dembele were playing out of position last night and to be quite honest it showed jones needs to be further upfield he was wasted were he was playing and dembele is a winger with rapid pace and skills and he was more centre mid as all I could hear was wilko telling him to drop back In most of the time, slade is trying different things with it being pre-season and quite rightly and although I don't usually single players out I just wasn't impressed with berrett in there and vernon never had a kick second half yussuff has looked lively and stronger and has been scoring most games I've seen him this pre-season so that's a plus but I don't think we as fans really know what the striker situation is or goin to be for the first game of the season and I would think they are still on the lookout as the rumoured number 9 shirt is still available,all in all I think what most fans have seen they have been happy with the main thing is we are playing some decent football going forward with pace and it's good to see that, looking forward to seeing bogle Saturday but then the real stuff starts the week after UTM COME ON TOWN

Rumour has it the number 9 shirt is the number 6 shirt upside down

So with the new lad signing what will be our starting defence for Aug 5th??