17 Sep 2017 09:52:52
To all those who are having a pop at Bilic for playing Hernandez on the left, whilst I do understand your frustrations, what starting XI and formation would you play? I've mulled this over myself for weeks now and, unless I'm missing something, there's no way of fitting chicarito, Carroll, arnautovic, lanzini, zabaleta and Antonio in the same team without having Antonio play RWB or having a very open defence. And before anyone says drop Carroll - look at our record before he came back vs. Now! No issues with what you're saying but rather than just whinging maybe come up with a solution?

1.) 17 Sep 2017
17 Sep 2017 11:52:39
Gk hart
Rb zabeleta
Lb cresswell
Cb reid
Cb fonte/ collins/ ogbonna
Dm kouyate/ obiang
Rm antonio
Lm arnaoutovic
Cam lanzini
F Carroll
F chicharito.

2.) 17 Sep 2017
17 Sep 2017 11:55:39
I think the issue stems from our transfer business being all over without any clear plan or direction. We've looked vulnerable defensively when we play 4 at the back perhaps due to not bringing in a quality CB and failing to bring in Carvalho.

Getting them all in you would have to play 442 with lanzini and obiang in the middle obiang would have to be extremely disciplined and lanzini will have to drop in at times to provide an outlet. Arnautovic isn't very defensive either but realistically how long is Carroll going to be available for anyway. Also not sure on who our best cb pairing is either? Would like to see rice given a shot there perhaps in the cup after it's supposed to be his natural position he's tidy in possesion and may actually play some decent stuff out from the back without having to pass it across the back line multiple times like our current lot have been doing. Ultimately we should definitely go 442 against Bolton maybe sakho and Hernandez up top.

3.) 17 Sep 2017
17 Sep 2017 12:39:29
Spot on al.

4.) 17 Sep 2017
17 Sep 2017 14:13:15
End of the day I don't get paid to make those decisions, however I would suggest playing Carroll behind chicharito with arnautovic and Antonio out wide. Whatever happens chicharito needs to be the main striker.

5.) 17 Sep 2017
17 Sep 2017 18:08:55
Carroll and chicharito up top together would cause a lot of problems for defenders I think they both would be able to hold up the ball long enough to take abit of pressure off and give plenty time for Antonio arnautovic and lanzini to join in. Very attacking hopefully defence is gaining some confidence back.

6.) 17 Sep 2017
17 Sep 2017 21:54:06
I personally do not think Arnautovic makes our strongest 11, he is a massive liability, he is lazy and, much like Ayew and Snodgrass he appears to be a wide player with no speed.

7.) 18 Sep 2017
18 Sep 2017 00:26:33
All valid points and like I said don't disagree that Hernandez shouldn't be playing out wide. Should have said in my original post that they can all fit in, but only if we play 4 at the back. We've had a lot more success at the back end of last season and this year when we have played 3 at back.
After much continued mulling over, my personal opinion is the following for our strongest XI:

GK - Hart
CB - Reid
CB - Rice
CB - Collins
DM - Kouyate
CM - Obiang
CM - Lanzini
RW - Antonio
LW - Arnautovic
ST (deep) - Carroll
ST (up top) - Hernandez

However, this means no Zaba or Cresswell - two of my favourite players. IMO, Hart's a better choice than Adrian. I'd like to see Rice start in a back 3 - don't particularly rate Ogbonna and Fonte is utter BS despite playing OK recently. Rice is a gifted player and we need to play him if we're going to keep him. With Ginge and Reid next to him, he will learn quickly too. DM position is key for me with a back 3. Shame about Carvalho as would have been great but Kouyate is solid. Obiang would have strict instructions to boss the middle, allowing Lanzini to float and support the front 4. Antonio and Arnautovic self explanatory in terms of their positions and i'd play Carroll slightly deeper than Chicarito. Carroll winning the balls in the air and Chicarito feeding off of him would be something dangerous. I'd even consider swapping Cresswell for Arnautovic to deliver some deadly balls in to Carroll.

Like someone said earlier, it doesn't seem like the signings have been made with any particular formation in mind though. All for strength in depth but surely that has to be based on 1 or 2 formations? Not having a go just intreagued to hear what others think. Hoping for another clean sheet against Bolton!

8.) 18 Sep 2017
18 Sep 2017 08:43:23
Wow just listen to yourselves. some of these points are good but most are shocking and I beg to differ if you have actually watched any games over the last season.

9.) 18 Sep 2017
18 Sep 2017 11:26:07
i agree with a few posts on here that Bilic is concentrating on shoreing up the defence for the time being, but keeping hernandez on the field as his quality, determination, and ultimately fitness will shine through at points in games, especially while Arnautovic has been suspended I think playing him left wing/ mid has been ok.

My preference would be to keep the back 3 as we do look more solid there, and stick with the 4-2-3-1. I would play Carroll up top when fit with hernandez behind for the knock downs. This would then leave Arnautovic and Lanzini either side, as when Carroll is fit I don't feel like Lanzini needs to be too central as a fair bit of our play will be going over his head direct into Carroll. But keeping him in that attacking 3 gives him hopefully some space to pick up 2nd balls and create something. I would push Antonio to RWB as his pace in my opinion offers more options there than Zaba. Maybe a bit harsh on Zaba but I think he could also drop into the back 3 if needed, and obviously could be called into RWB if we want to push Antonio forward.

10.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 10:21:50
It's clear that as things stand we need to play 3 at the back.

Also, I don't buy the return of Carroll has being the thing that changed our fortunes. he's been largely ineffective in the two games he's played and it's far too simplistic to say Carroll is back and results have improved.

The biggest change has been the removal of Noble, Fernandes and Ayew from midfield which everyone could see was painfully bad.

As for team setup, I'd be looking at (current setup given injuries) :

-----------Hart

---Fonte---Reid---Ogbonna

Zaba---Obiang--Kouyate--Cresswell

--Antonio--Hernandez--Arnautovic


When Lanzini is back there are a couple of options. Either Antonio drops to wing back, and Zabaleta takes Fonte's place in the back 3 (it's useful having someone who knows the fullback position on the side of the 3 central defenders as Azpilecueta has shown at Chelsea), or he replaces Arnautovic in a straight swap.

Long term if we could get a powerhouse upgrade in CDM, I'd like to see Lanzini paired with a dominant CDM a bit like Modric plays, so he can influence the game from deep.

Lastly Carroll has to be plan B. No one wants the 'boot it at Carroll' football, his goals to games ratio is not that great and means he should never be put in front of Hernandez, and his injury record speaks for itself.

11.) 21 Sep 2017
21 Sep 2017 20:59:43
you can play two up top without one playing out wide you just have to play with wingbacks it's just billic has never been comfortable doing it you just play 3-5-2 and Antonio doesn't have to play RWB zaba is guide comfortable doing it and probably better defensively than him that's the system that we look comfortable doing. COYI.