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Hope it's not bad.
Come back soon Raylor.

Seconded. We need him in the squad. Seems like he's important in the dressing room & for spirit. Hope he's back quickly.

Good news about Raylor but Best apparently out for about 6 weeks with a damaged medial ligament. (Chronicle)

Ouch. Guess we did need that forward.

Also glad we held onto Loven now.

Anyone else think that the opportunity might be taken to give one of the kids more chances up front (should either Demba or Demba be ruled out of a game)?

Doubt it, honestly. Who's most likely? Vuckic? I can't make sense of how he's been handled but there have been opportunities to at least have him on the bench and AP prefers Loven & Shola. I don't think Ranger will be ready to play before the end of the season and if he is he'll probably be loaned anyway.

we are pretty light on strikers in the reserves who are near ready to make the step up!

Note that AP mentioned Shola, Lovenkrands and HBA by name in his post-match interview.

Gotta hope we don't need more than 4-5 forwards to cover half a season.

With Raylor likely out at least against Spurs, I'm assuming Obertan gets the start; however, with Demba² back, the 4-2-3-1 might actually work now. Guthrie and Perch holding, Jonas or HBA roaming (the other on the right), and Ba on the left (Where he was effective with WHam).

Honestly, with Guthrie's form the last few weeks, 4-3-3 (or 4-2-3-1) is looking more and more appealing. It allows us to get Cabaye, Tiote, and Guthrie all on the pitch as well as Ba, Cisse, and Jonas. HBA can come in as the CAM or the RF.

Waffles-you're tactically astute so I'm sure you're aware that a lot of the best sides (Barca, German national team) play a flexible formation, switching between 4-3-3 and some form of 4-5-1 depending on the situation.

I completely agree with you about Ba. He looked like a younger, more physical version of Anelka in that system.

This is probably the best formation for maximizing our talent on the field. In the long run, though, HBA would probably have to take Jonas' job to get. Seems like a tall order with the very direct and defense-minded AP making the decision. But competition is good no?

Barca's 4-3-3 is drastically different than Germany's though. It's a far more attack minded set-up, as only Mascherano sits deep. Xavi and Iniesta have defensive duties as well, but not to the same degree. What makes Barca's attack so flexible is their free-form, "Total Football" mentality that's been there since the days of Johann Cruyff. The front five are constantly swapping positions, which removes the ability to man mark effectively. Throw in that Abidal and Alves are essentially just Wide midfielders, and it's fair to say that the players don't have "positions"



Germany on the other hand keep both Schweinsteiger and Kheidera deep, while Ozil is responsible for the attack. Their wingers play on their strong side, so that they can stay wide (unlike Messi and Pedro who are both wrong-footed). Germany's 4-2-3-1 is fluid because the Wingers are half-way between where Barca's are, and where a traditional 4-4-2 wingers sit. Ozil is the third midfielder, but he's really playing in the hole.


The 4-2-3-1 as Germany plays it, is just a more aggressive 4-4-1-1, and that formation fits with Cabaye or HBA in the hole. Barca's 4-3-3 requires that we have far more athletic and talented players than we do.

True-it's also important that Xavi, Mascherano and Iniesta are all more mobile than the German midfielders, especially Schweinsteiger. Ours are more like Germany's but that' s true of everyone, thus Barca's dominance. The play up top is similar though. Mueller and Podolski start wide enough to support the fullbacks but in attack, they get up the field and play off of Gomez in a compact 3-pronged attack. Those two have 53 in 120 caps playing in "midfield." You see that from Messi and Pedrito but as you say they get around the field more than anyone in Germany's squad in any case except maybe Ozil.

The German system might suit our squad in that it has a role for HBA-the Ozil role. (Though I have to say HBA's never shown Ozil's athleticism.) Downside: Cabaye is consigned to holding.