TC Tactics A-Z

Agree With this. Love Brown, but he offers zero going forward and is on the wane defensively. His experience and drive will keep him in though. The phasing in of Soro is important. After preseason would also be happy for Connell also. Fit, mobile, brad, strong in the challenge and good range of passing.

Another factor is our lack of physicality. Again, the two centre backs are bullied too easily, and our regular midfield 3 are all wee guys/not physical.

Early days for them but from what I’ve seen of Soro and Connell, they look like they’d be a good option to play in the Brown role. They have mobility, seem to play a lot of forward passes and they look robust in the challenge.[/QUOTE

 

I am unconvinced that our squad is well-suited to playing a 3-5-2, to be honest, despite the success that we had with it last season.

First of all, we have two 'good' centre-halves, but even those two have demonstrated significant shortcomings from time to time.

On the right, Forrest and Frimpong are two of our most creative players, but only one of them can start in a 3-5-2.

On the left, neither Taylor, nor Elyounoussi are well-suited to the wing-back role.

If Elyounoussi starts in the hole, we are essentially reduced to a two-man central midfield, with at least half a dozen first-team players vying for those two positions. Who partners McGregor in that scenario? Brown? Christie? Connell? Ntcham? Soro? Are any of those pairings well-balanced? (Let's be honest, Lennon won't drop Brown.)

We certainly look more dangerous when we play with two strikers, but I think that we are putting square pegs in round holes to some extent when we set up with three at the back.

 

It’s very difficult to gradually phase out Broonie, we need his leadership qualities at times and with so much at stake this season he will play most games..

Want to see more of Soro tho.

We have so many quality midfielders at the moment it’s impossible to keep them all happy..

4-2-3-1 is easy to set up against and the Huns for one deal with it easily, 3-5-2 has to be the way forward for most domestic games and with Elhamed behind Frimpong we’re very strong on that side, we need to sign a more natural LWB tho, I like Taylor but he can’t go past a man.. That’s the weakness in the system imo.

As @Jeremie Frimpong says tho, it means there’s no real place for Forrest and Elyonoussi, Forrest can play RWB tho better than Elyonoussi can play LWB I feel.. even MJ unless we play him as a 10 then he doesn’t fit a 3-5-2 either.. so it leaves Christie, Ntcham, Rogic, MJ and possibly Elyonoussi and Forrest all vying for the 10 in a 3-5-2.

We will go 4-2-3-1 in Europe but must go 3-5-2 domestically as we are far more potent, it just means there will be a substantial amount quality players not getting the game time they need..

It’s a headache and challenge for Lenny, but it’s good to have quality options.

 

Frimpong on the right and forrest on the left would be our best wing backs to play currently

 

Agreed, we need a multitude of game plans and formations. Lennon in fairness is normally good at getting his teams to play different formations and being fluid during games.

 

Lads, I think that the answer might be staring us in the face. Remember Lennon's lopsided 4-4-2 from his first spell?

Forster
Cha Wilson Mulgrew Izaguirre
Brown Ki Ledley
....:.::::::::...........Commons
Hooper Stokes​

What about something like that?

Barkas
Frimpong Jullien Centre-half Taylor
Soro Ntcham McGregor
................................Elyounoussi
Ajeti Édouard

Bain
Elhamed Ajer Centre-half Left-back*
Brown Christie Connell
Forrest....................................,,,,
Griffiths Klimala​

*preferably an attack-minded left-back

Edit: I think that the idea is to have defensive cover on the exposed wing, so I have moved Soro and Connell to those positions.

 

mc gregor and christie have to be two cm in whatever formation there is nobody can match them for energy and passing ,brown and ntcham soro used to rest them

 

I hate playing Forrest on the left. I’d sooner forgive Boli than make that a thing.

 

Barkas/bain

Elhamed/?
Ajer/bitton
Jullien/young Bhoy from preseason

Frimpong/?
Elyounoussi/Taylor

McGregor/brown
Christie/ntcham

Forrest/?

Klimala/Johnstone
Eddie/Griffiths

Three CB, two WB, two CM, one AM, one SS and one CF

I honestly think wee James is wasted in the side because 1) he played a few games throught the middle when he was young and looked great and looks more than comfortable coming in to the middle in attacking play 2) we are desperate for a real take, turn and create no10 which he can do with ease 3) it gets all the best players we currently have on the park at one time and plays to their strengths 4) our two and a half home grown Bhoys are more than enough an engine and with Frimpong and Ely tucking in ajer can step forward and dominate the area Infront of defense in place of brown if need be or drop back and crowd out any big forwards of teams that sit in and punt it up to the big man 5) it can be adapted for liberal attacking against spl (3412) or conservative attacking styles for Europe (5311) or a lopsided mix

Still need reinforcements in the shape of a CB, a 10 or two and a right sided player.

Also , this season I'd take about three established international players; attack, midfield and defence on loan for just for 10.

 

It is and it isn't. Given the standard of opposition we face up here, 9 times out of 10, there's no reason Soro or Connell can't start most games for us.

The games against Hamilton, St Mirren, Ross County, Dundee Utd etc. We should be resting/dropping Brown for those types of games and if Connell/Soro are impressive in their showings, start playing them in our tougher games to see how they cope.

Brown has been immense for us, but he's getting slower and slower, to the point where it'll start to cause more problems for us. More mobility and a player with a greater influence on our attack would be ideal in that role.

We all know about his leadership and intangible qualities, but that won't count for much if the footballing ability and energy drain.

 

Why do we never try the old school, 442?

 

If we could get a left back option that had the legs to get forward and back and could provide the width on the left that Frimpong could on the right and a natural defensive mid powerhouse that could cover the ground and slot back in to defence, then we would be better technically set up as 4-4-2 diamond or 4-3-3 and playing either Ely or Forrest as one of the front three with Eddy and Ajeti or as the AM of the diamond. Eddy tends to drop off to the left anyway and if Ajeti plays more within the box/Centrally then having Forrest or Ely occupying the right hand side of the attack could be an option. You would then have CalMac, Christie, Ntcham and for tougher fixtures Brown competing for the CM slots.

——————-Barkas/Bain———————
Frimpong/- Julien/—-New CB/—New LB/
El Hamed—-Ajer——Bitton/new—-Taylor

——————-New CDM/Soro——————
——-Christie/Ntcham—-CalMac/Brown—-

Forrest/Ely—Ajeti/new ST/—Eddy/Griff
————————Klimala————————-

 

Not what i seen at all, Forrest was in his worst spell of form at Wing back last season. Would avoid playing him there at all costs.
Frimpong all day long if we are playing a 3-5-2.

 

I think Killie reaffirmed an issue that became apparent last season and that is when a team sits in, like Livi do against us, we struggle to break them down. I think these teams know that we dont have an aerial threat in the box in open play and so they are happy to limit us to crosses from deep and shots from distance.

 

I think we can all agree that we only need 1 sitting midfielder, there is no need whatsoever for 2 of them to be hugging the half way line at times.

3-5-2 with one holding midfielder and we really really could do with getting a proper bomber of a LWB

 

Going forward this season, we really need to be more attack minded.

Look at the players we have compared to the likes of Dundee Utd and Killie. The gulf between us and them is similar to the gulf between us and Barcelona.

We should be going gung-ho against these teams. Stop playing with 2 holding midfielders, stop playing players out of position to shoehorn others in and start playing with 2 strikers every game.

The midfield dynamic needs to improve big team. There was too many times today we won’t long because no one in midfield were making an angle. Would like to see Soro get more of a chance.

Seen enough of Taylor now to confirm he isn’t good enough to be first choice. He’s far too limited.

My preferred side would be:

Barkas

Elhamed
Jullien
Ajer/New CB

Frimpong
Christie
McGregor
Ntcham
New LWB

Edouard
Ajeti

 

Yes, agree with you.

 

No matter the layout of any of the formations or teams in here the one area that there is always compromises or of genuine concern is the defence, there is question marks against every player in it (too early to comment on Barkas). We need to address it or we will suffer when it matters.

Frimpong- superb going forward but yet to totally convince defensively and his height will be targeted.

Jullien - switches off too easily and can be bullied.

Ajer - not been at it for a while, not a natural CB.

Bitton - fills in but again not a natural CB

El Hamed - injured more than he plays.

Taylor - his deficiencies have been well highlighted.

Not to mention the numbers. That's 6 players that can be classed as defenders in our main squad, vying for a minimum of 4 or possibly 5 positions, it's not enough. If you consider 2 are converted midfielders and one is a sick note then we are severely lacking, even a couple of injuries and we are up against it.

We're crying out for a new CB (possibly 2) and quality LB.

For me our most solid backline goes

El Hamed...Jullien...CB(Duffy?)...LB

 

Barkas
Frimpong Duffy Jullien Taylor
Christie McGregor Ntcham
Edouard Ajeti Elyonoussi ​