Stick to five at the back or go back to four?

I think Artell has a big decision to make in the coming weeks, but especially for this week, on whether we stick to five at the back or be braver with four.

Five has served us well but we never look like scoring more than a goal, if that, which makes winning hard. The stats back this up too. Since the Donny debacle that forced us into a back five, we've played 9 games, and haven't scored more than one goal in any of them. I don't think we'll lose many of our last six games with it, but I also can't see were the wins come from, and a bunch of draws probably won't be enough to stay up.

Or do we switch back to four at the back, at least for the Newport and Swindon games. These stand out as the most winnable and could define our season. Going to a back four would give us room to accommodate more creativity and get Vernam back in the team. We could put Clifton out on one of the wings for extra defensive cover too - which is where he has always played his best football - and go for a 4-2-3-1 type thing, with two more defensive holding mids and one attacking.

I guess it would be a risk, but winning those two games is critical to our survival. What would you do?

I think we need to stick with 3 central defenders.  I think Tharme is absolutely fine but I wouldn't be confident with Rodgers as part of a two, nor do I think Mullarkey can do that either.  Both are ok in a three though, definitely more so Mullarkey.

But I do think we need to start imposing ourselves more on teams and trying to take the games to them.  Clifton down the right hand side brings a different animal to Smith, who is much, much more defensive minded and on Monday rarely ventured forward.  Was definitely playing more full-back than wing-back.  Ideally on the left we need to replicate what Clifton brings on the right.  Gets up and down, protects his wing well but does also venture forward a bit to help the attack.  Hume is out so it's up in the air as to who we go with.  Looks like Glennon isn't available for selection so it's down to Khouri, who personally I think is probably the best fit for that cloning of Clifton on the other side.  

Having two lads at wing-back who can operate inside arguably gives that option of overloading in the middle too, which also would potentially free up a bit a freedom to go with someone a bit more attack minded at the top of a midfield 3 as opposed to 3 workers.  

The other option is really going for it with a proper 3-4-3 and having two wingers and two wing-backs, something like:

Mullarkey Tharme Rodgers
Clifton Thompson Andrews Khouri
       Eisa Rose Vernam

My only concern with that is that unless either/both Vernam and Eisa drift inside, there's a huge gap centrally between the two midfielders and Rose.  

Either way, I don't think we can afford to just sit and hope a back 5 will produce enough to get the points on the board.  In these supposed 'easier' games we definitely need to be on the front foot.

2-0-8

Attack attack attack

As I said in another post, if you can fit Ainly, Khouri & Vernham into the team then you've got 3 players who aren't lazy/ shrinking violets but have got tecnical and offensive ability. Plus all 3 of them have a point to prove. It's the equivalent of 3 new signings

I think if we go gung-ho now we get relegated .

The next 3 games we probably need 3 or 4 points however which way . Grind as many points as we can before the Swindon game and if we need to 'go for it ' then so be it  they are terrible so should be a decent chance of 3 points (even though we always say that ) .

Quoted from forza ivano

As I said in another post, if you can fit Ainly, Khouri & Vernham into the team then you've got 3 players who aren't lazy/ shrinking violets but have got tecnical and offensive ability. Plus all 3 of them have a point to prove. It's the equivalent of 3 new signings

Completely agree and would love to see all 3 in the starting line-up.  Just think fitness might be an issue with those.  Can help one, maybe two, in the starting line-up but perhaps not all 3.  I think there's something in maybe switching Vernam and Ainley in/out to get the best out of them both.

Conundrum of the century we have a league one wing back who was signed as a no.9 who should surely bring that attacking intent to the formation.

Can't for the life of me understand why we haven't tried Pyke as a wing back.

I'd stick with the back 5 purely because we can't trust Glennon, Mullarkey or Rodgers in a back four and partly because Eastwood has barely played for months so is likely rusty and we need to minimise crosses in to the box. The current midfield three aren't supporting the strikers so I'd put Vernam central just behind the front two. Both Rose and Wilson have shown they can hold it up, if there's two options to play to and Vernam has the ability to run at the opposition it might give us more of an outlet than we had yesterday. Two holding midfielders could allow Glennon and Clifton to get forward a bit more without exposing us.

                Eastwood
Clifton Mullarkey Tharme Rodgers Glennon
           Thompson   Andrews
                        Vernam
               Rose      Wilson

Think people are forgetting how dreadful we were in a 4 at the back with teams pissing all over us by half time. Rodgers cant be part of a 2, nor mullarkey, plus our full backs need the extra cover it seems.

We need to stick with tough to beat for the time being and see how we are in a couple more games, maybe push players forward in the closing stages like vernham.

Quoted from Swansea_Mariner

Conundrum of the century we have a league one wing back who was signed as a no.9 who should surely bring that attacking intent to the formation.

Can't for the life of me understand why we haven't tried Pyke as a wing back.

That only occurred to me the other day, as well. He's got more athleticism than our other defensive players so perhaps worth a try if he's fit enough? On the other hand, if he hasn't been training to play as part of a defence, he might be a bit ring-rusty in that role, though you shouldn't really forget how to do the defensive basics.