Formation against Villa??

[Rangers77]

Play the same winning team with two up, or five in the middle with Remy by himself, Derry in front of the back four, with Bobby on the bench to change things in the second half? I'm for playing the same winning team as yesterday. I don't favour bringing Adel back in whichever way we play.

[lymehoop]

same side apart from Bobby, unless he is 100% fit

[QPR1234]

villa play a counter attacking game so i'd be more inclined to take bobby out and rest him for next game. bring bothroyd in maybe. tell mbia and park to sit. let townsend, hoilett, remy do the attacking play.

[Geng]

If Villa are still playing three at the back, then I think we will have to change.

Their back three will look after our front two, and they'll dominate in midfield.

This would be an idea game for us to return to the 433 we played against Southampton. Hoilett and Remy/Townsend wide, pinning back their wingbacks so we can compete 3 v 3 in midfield, and drawing their CBs out of shape.

Going to be hard to drop any of the front four from this weekend though. Its a tough one. We were very, very open through the middle though, and I fear Villa will be able to exploit this.

[Shepherds Mush]

Tough game but Id hope we do what we did at Southampton. Remy will be the difference in a close game.

[Factamondo]

the zulus always favour the 'pincer' formation at villa!!!

[Del]

Play same formation, style and team if possible from Saturday. GO at them and let them worry about us. We don't want to pay them too much respect and change our system to deal with them or be more defensive for them..... They are not Utd, City etc, they are a poor side up for beating... we should pressurise them.

[DouDou_87]

I'd go with 4-3-2-1- similar to Southampton away. I think we'd be too open with the 4-4-2 we played on Saturday. Plus i'd like to keep it as tight as possible so that the home fans get on their backs a bit.

----------Green--------

Bos----Samba---Hill----Fabio

-------------M'Bia------------

---------Park---Granero-------

Townsend--------------Hoilett

--------------Remy-------------

[madara]

Playing the same side could be risky, but it could be a risk worth taking as long as we create chances and score. Then it wont matter if they score. I think HR would probably opt for a more defensive side though. Very hard to decide. I think backline should stay the same. Mbia, Townsend and Remy should start. That leaves Park, Hoilet and Zamora. Jenas probably has good confidence, as well as Park. And we still don't know the status of Taarabt and Traore.

If tarbie and traore are not in the picture, perhaps we should drop Zamora and play Jenas. AMC/DM duties shared by Jenas and Park? Could work for away games.

Ohh forgot about Granero. Maybe Granero instead of Park or Hoilet (Park out wide as defensive winger). Then maybe we could dominate midfield and possession.

[Rangers77]

I'd go with 4-3-2-1- similar to Southampton away. I think we'd be too open with the 4-4-2 we played on Saturday. Plus i'd like to keep it as tight as possible so that the home fans get on their backs a bit.

----------Green--------

Bos----Samba---Hill----Fabio

-------------M'Bia------------

---------Park---Granero-------

Townsend--------------Hoilett

--------------Remy-------------

I'm warming to this. Plus BZ could play second half enabling us to shift to 442 (or retain that shape having Remy drop back on the right)

[zeberdee]

If Villa are still playing three at the back, then I think we will have to change.

Their back three will look after our front two, and they'll dominate in midfield.

This would be an idea game for us to return to the 433 we played against Southampton. Hoilett and Remy/Townsend wide, pinning back their wingbacks so we can compete 3 v 3 in midfield, and drawing their CBs out of shape.

Going to be hard to drop any of the front four from this weekend though. Its a tough one. We were very, very open through the middle though, and I fear Villa will be able to exploit this.

Yeah I think 433 is the obvious choice:

Green
Bos Samba Hill Traore
Park Mbia Jenas
Remy JayBob Townsend

Which is about the same as Southampton away - Andros just ahead of Hoilett as he is fitter and scored and Jenas ahead of Granero because he can pass and score.
Obviously JayBob is either BZ or JB.
But Harry's 4 wins have come from 4 big changes (Adel#10/Adel#9/433/442) so maybe he has another surprise up his sleeve.

What formation do Villa play?

[Rangers77]

I think it's hard after Saturday to drop either Holliet or Townsend...

[MattyRangers]

I think it's hard after Saturday to drop either Holliet or Townsend...

Have to play both IMO - we looked superb on the attack Saturday with these 2 down the flanks. I'd keep the team the same tbh.

[Del]

Their weakness is their defence so we need to be at them from the off and they won't know what hit them. They have 2 defenders who've directly costed goals agaisnt in their last 2 games and will be edgy as a result. With the likes of Bobby bullying, Remy's pace and movement and Townsend and Hoilett running at pace and with a trick they will be spinning.

As long as we can win the midfield battle and supply these 4 i think we can certainly win.

Their strength is up front with one excellent striker in Benteke and a decent attacking support cast with Weimann, Nzogbia and Agbonlohor so we would be stupid to sit back and effectively invite them to attack us. If we attack them pressure their defence, they may buckle and if not start panicking and hitting long, rather than playing out as they want to, and then Samba can eat Benteke for breakfast.

Lets ****** go for it.

[Geng]

Their weakness is their defence so we need to be at them from the off and they won't know what hit them. They have 2 defenders who've directly costed goals agaisnt in their last 2 games and will be edgy as a result. With the likes of Bobby bullying, Remy's pace and movement and Townsend and Hoilett running at pace and with a trick they will be spinning.

As long as we can win the midfield battle and supply these 4 i think we can certainly win.

Their strength is up front with one excellent striker in Benteke and a decent attacking support cast with Weimann, Nzogbia and Agbonlohor so we would be stupid to sit back and effectively invite them to attack us. If we attack them pressure their defence, they may buckle and if not start panicking and hitting long, rather than playing out as they want to, and then Samba can eat Benteke for breakfast.

Lets ****** go for it.

I'm sort of with you. The two dodgy defenders will be nervy, that's a good point. But the problem with playing the same 44/424 and pressuring them in their own half is that we end up either:

- playing a really high line, and who wants to see Hill vs Agbonlahor or Benteke in a race?

or

- having a massive space between the CBs and our strikers, which would be covered only by our two CMs, vs Villa's 3+

I don't mind having a very attacking mindset, but I think we would have to play 433 to do this. Not sure which of the front four I would drop though..