Back to 4-4-2 ?

[Mala591]

The 5-4-1 lineup against Spurs was an 'interesting' experiment and the three centre backs played well together overall. However, having one man up front negated our attacking threat to near zero (despite Barnes toiling tirelessly to make it work).

Let's have a real go against Arsenal and get back to our best attacking formation 4-4-2 with Barnes and Vokes up front. If we get beaten having given Arsenal a real shock with our attacking display then I will be happy. If we get beaten having zero shots on target and defending for 90 minutes then it will have been pointless turning up.

Come on Sean, think positive and set the team up to give the fans an exciting attacking performance.

[Spijed]

The 5-4-1 lineup against Spurs was an 'interesting' experiment and the three centre backs played well together overall. However, having one man up front negated our attacking threat to near zero (despite Barnes toiling tirelessly to make it work).

Let's have a real go against Arsenal and get back to our best attacking formation 4-4-2 with Barnes and Vokes up front. If we get beaten having given Arsenal a real shock with our attacking display then I will be happy. If we get beaten having zero shots on target and defending for 90 minutes then it will have been pointless turning up.

Come on Sean, think positive and set the team up to give the fans an exciting attacking performance.

A point would have been a great result on Saturday.

[summitclaret]

352 maybe?

[FactualFrank]

I expect SD to start with the same formation again vs Arsenal, with perhaps a few tactical changes depending on what he's learned from the Spurs game.

[houseboy]

I have been as critical as anybody on here this season but the 'honourable defeat' to Liverpool, the win against Brighton and the desperately unlucky defeat at Spurs has made me feel a little more confident now. Let's take whatever comes our way at the cheating gooners then we'll see how our season starts to pan out. 3 out of 4 games at home after Arsenal. Everton won't be a stroll in the park but is winnable - West Ham and Fulham SHOULD be 6 points and away to Huddersfield with our (hopefully) new found form means that there are a potential 12 points genuinely up for grabs. 8 or 9 points from that little lot should get our season going. There are no guarantees but once the Gooners are out the way we have to start making some headway if it's not going to be a very long season.

[MT03ALG]

5-3-2 is the way forward (literally!). I agree that we should be more positive than 5-4-1.
5-3-2 can be very flexible and can easily changed to 3-5-2 when we are in possession of the ball, if ever !!

[tiger76]

I have been as critical as anybody on here this season but the 'honourable defeat' to Liverpool, the win against Brighton and the desperately unlucky defeat at Spurs has made me feel a little more confident now. Let's take whatever comes our way at the cheating gooners then we'll see how our season starts to pan out. 3 out of 4 games at home after Arsenal. Everton won't be a stroll in the park but is winnable - West Ham and Fulham SHOULD be 6 points and away to Huddersfield with our (hopefully) new found form means that there are a potential 12 points genuinely up for grabs. 8 or 9 points from that little lot should get our season going. There are no guarantees but once the Gooners are out the way we have to start making some headway if it's not going to be a very long season.

Christmas is always a vital time,but as we are likely to be in the bottom 3 come Boxing Day it's even more important we have a good festive period,the last 3 performances have lifted spirits,but as Sean admitted we need to put points on the board.

The normal rule of thumb is if you can amass circa 20 points by Auld Lang Syne you have a fair chance of survival,however this season is bizarre as a number of teams are struggling to break double figures in late December,so the total for staying up should be less than the usual requirement.

[claretspice]

I think we'll line up the same way against Arsenal. The basic principle of the team selection against Arsenal was that we concede 70% possession almost as standard against these teams these days away from home, which means we're always pinned back, so we might as well have an extra man whose speciality is defending the box. It worked - we might have theoretically missed an outball, but in practice the person who might have provided that outball is on the edge of our box anyway, so it isn't very different.

The one thing I might tweak is that whilst I'm a big fan of Westwood and thought he did very well on Saturday, I'd personally be tempted by Hendrick because his extra athleticism and ability to carry the ball could enable him to link up with Barnes more effectively and help us get out.

When we're back at home against Everton though, I'd prefer to see us adopting a more "normal" Burnley line up. That might be 4-4-2, or it might be 4-5-1, or it could even be 4-1-4-1, but we'll need the extra outball if we're to get on the front foot as we need to at home. Everton will have played less than 72 hours earlier (they're the 4pm game on Sunday), so it's important we get in their faces and exploit any fatigue, rather than sitting back and letting them have lots of easy possession (as playing a back 5 inevitably does to a great extent).

[claretspice]

5-3-2 is the way forward (literally!). I agree that we should be more positive than 5-4-1.
5-3-2 can be very flexible and can easily changed to 3-5-2 when we are in possession of the ball, if ever !!

That's the trouble, though. The fact we tend to concede possession means that - especially with Bardsley and Taylor as full backs, who aren't lightening quick- it will always be more a back 5 than back 3.

[Mala591]

5-3-2 is the way forward (literally!). I agree that we should be more positive than 5-4-1.
5-3-2 can be very flexible and can easily changed to 3-5-2 when we are in possession of the ball, if ever !!

I think the time to try 5-3-2 / 3-5-2 will come some time in the future but imo at the moment our current squad isn't capable of making it work successfully.

I am genuinely concerned that SD has suddenly decided to experiment with a new system/formation just at the moment when our '4-4-2 performances' were definitely improving.

[FactualFrank]

I am genuinely concerned that SD has suddenly decided to experiment with a new system/formation just at the moment when our '4-4-2 performances' were definitely improving.

If you take into account it was away to Spurs, I'm not sure why you're concerned. We were seconds away from it being a master stroke but I wouldn't at all expect us to line up like that at home or away to lower placed teams. Away to Arsenal, however, I wouldn't be surprised if we do the same again. You need to take the opposition into consideration.

[Giftonsnoidea]

We never looked like having a shot on target at spurs in that formation as it was attack against defence for very long periods.

We’ll prob get murdered if we try that at arsenal, Dyche needs to trust the players again like the start of last season and not shackle them against playing forwards with short fast passes.

We need a massive change in style to stay up this season, weve gone back to negative tactics and long ball mainly and its not working....

[Spijed]

We’ll prob get murdered if we try that at arsenal

Why? Currently Spurs have a striker who is far better than anything Arsenal have at the moment and we kept him very quiet.

[HunterST_BFC]

Considering Arsenal conceded 3 headers last game...
Barnes and Vokes both start imho

[Giftonsnoidea]

Why? Currently Spurs have a striker who is far better than anything Arsenal have at the moment and we kept him very quiet.

Aubameyang is awesome and on a par with Kane.

Spurs missed 2-3 nearly open goals and our good defending, we were lucky to not lose Two to three nil.

I don’t fancy us if our only ambition is defending for 90 minutes...

[DCWat]

If a 5-4-1 or a variant of is the way forward, our shopping list needs a tweak. Being able to adapt between styles would be great but I think we are some way off from a personnel perspective.

[JohnMac]

The answer may lay somewhere in between as we have had 3 strikers on the pitch at times and still failed to score. It's finding the right ball and without doubt pumping it forward John Beck style isn't right.

Pace and width brings rewards but players who can provide it are not in our ranks and it's proving to be our achilles heel now the rigid framework has all but deserted us.

Unless there is some sort of revolutionary miracle we seem almost certain to be around the bottom 3 come the final month and honestly, I think the dream has run it's course.

As always, I hope Dyche can find a hat with a rabbit...

[Top Claret]

451 for me at Arsenal. Playing a 442 against the top 6 away from home is suicidal. We need to keep the score down and try and pinch one from a set piece or on the break

[Quickenthetempo]

532 is perfect for Burnley but I would bring Gibson in for Long if fit enough.

Arsenal attack through the middle and having 3 CHs and 3 CMS is perfect.

2 up front always gives you a chance to score. So get pumping them long balls up and don't be afraid to do it. But make sure we're contesting the high balls around their box instead of the halfway line.

[aggi]

The tactic worked fine for defending on Saturday but if we'd conceded then that would have been game over. It's realistically a back 5, neither fullback has the pace to play as a wing-back so it takes a man away from our attacking threat. Arsenal are, objectively, a better attacking team than Spurs so far this season (they've scored 20% more goals) and keeping a clean sheet will be that bit harder.

On the other hand they're a team that are much worse defensively and suffering from a lack of experienced defenders (they had Xhaka at centre half on Sunday). The obvious way to exploit this is with a couple of strong players up front. That will probably necessitate some kind of change in midfield though, although they played so narrow for large parts of Satuday that losing a winger shouldn't be an issue. The midfield is realistically there to spoil and pick up second balls.

[ClaretRock]

We need to learn how to use wing backs to play 5-4-1. I would be happy to play this formation if it looks like we are trying to move the ball forward with purpose. If Dyche can figure out the system with the players at his disposal, I feel it could move us up the leauge.