1st August 2009
Jeez, these tactics are hard to get right, I was thinking of a simple 4-4-2, but with Gago and Ben Arfa here I'm leaning towards a 4-4-2 Diamond, with Gosling and Jonas on the wings. Right Mid is not Dan's most natural position, but with some training, I think he can become a world class winger. Jonas on the other hand is at home on the wing, even though he plays for Argentina at Right Back, his favourite position is out on the left, but I will be playing him deeper than usual. With Ochoa coming in, I am allowing our fullbacks, Jose Enrique and Danny Simpson, to push up a lot more because I have a lot of faith in Ochoa. Campbell and Coloccini are our two Centerhalves, and they will both be sitting back a bit to hold the goal. Gago will push forward at times, but his main job is to play the ball out of defence. Ben Arfa will provide the spark of the time, bringing the ball from deep/ish and taking it up to the strikers, or playing balls wide for our wingers. We will look to get a lot of crosses onto the head of Carrol, and Lovenkrands will sweep up all the easy goals and opportunities.
On our bench we have Harper, nothing much to say. Our defensive subs are James Perch, who can push into the midfield aswell, and Tamas Kadar who can play on the left and in the center. Cheick Tiote will cover Gago, and Routledge will cover our wide positions. Nolan will also be there as backup to Ben Arfa. Nile Ranger will be backup to our strikers, and then there is an extra spot that will rotate to what I think is needed.
We will play a balanced style against most teams, but against good teams we will go on the counter, and if were desperate Gago will push up into an attacking type role, and Jonas and Gosling will play as wingers. I am looking for a right and left midfielder backup, but I am just stumped for ideas, I am looking at Kalou, but I just don't think he's available at the moment, maybe next year.
Oh well, I need to figure this out, so I'm off to the training ground for another session, another thing I'm looking at buying is some young South Americans, but I will talk about that another time.