I think a 3-5-2 is our best formation.

[El Diego]

--------------------------Reina

-----------------Carra----Hyypia------Agger

Alves/Finnan----------------------------------Riise/Aurelio/Insua

-----------------Alonso----------Sissoko/Mascherano

-------------------------Gerrard

-------------------Kuyt----------Bellamy/Crouch

This is the team for next year by the way. Although last night I couldn't help feeling we lacked width.

[Guest]

No, I prefer 4-4-2 or variances of it such as 4-1-3-2 / 4-2-2-2 etc... as opposed to playing with a back three.

[bazza76]

I think if Mascherano settles into our playing style we could see him and Xabi starting together quite a bit infront of the back 4 or 3, Rafa had similar players in them positions at Valencia.

[The_weatherman]

I think if Mascherano settles into our playing style we could see him and Xabi starting together quite a bit infront of the back 4 or 3, Rafa had similar players in them positions at Valencia.

I agree, Gerrard can do damage on the right and we´ll retain the ball better and XA and JM can spray it around. Momo will have a battle on his hands now to regain his spot.

[Morse]

I think Mascherano is a loan signing.
I cannot see a permanent transfer to be honest. He would cost too much.

Momo will be back next season.

[The_weatherman]

I think Mascherano is a loan signing.
I cannot see a permanent transfer to be honest. He would cost too much.

Momo will be back next season.

It´s an 18 month deal isn´t it?

[bazza76]

I think Mascherano is a loan signing.
I cannot see a permanent transfer to be honest. He would cost too much.

Momo will be back next season.

How long is he under contract with these agents?

[redlancer]

It´s an 18 month deal isn´t it?

that's what i heard but i thought you could only have 12month loans deals.

as for 3-5-2 great apart from when does Rafa stick to the same team.

[dww]

I think last night showed a lot of the frailties of a wingback bases system. As soon as West Ham attacked the wide players are sucked back. It results in an incredibly narrow team, with few outlets for attack. I'm not convinced that having 3CMs would counter this, escpecially against opposition of any quality.

If you dominate a game the formation gives you a lot of possession but at the expense of have more ceative players in wide areas. I can't see it ever being a tactic of choice for us in many games. It is however useful against teams that have a poor defence where possession will eventually lead to chances (see the Wigan game this season or Newcastle last).

[Howard_lfc]

I'd use it on Saturday. No problem.

[Gordy Boy]

I'd use it on Saturday. No problem.

Same here.

Everton will seriously struggle to break us down and we're more than good enough to take the game to them as opposed to worrying about having our wide players sat in our own half all the time.

[Maestro]

I think Mascherano is a loan signing.
I cannot see a permanent transfer to be honest. He would cost too much.

Momo will be back next season.

It's an 18month deal. If it works out, you're right - he'll probably cost in the region of 20Million quid.

Who knows what our spending policy will be like in 18 months time? If he plays a huge role for us leading to some trophies, and we're bankrolled by DIC (or Gilett), you never know... all ifs and buts at the moment though.

[Morph]

I don't think 3-5-2 is our best formation, it's a formation we can use if need be but I don't think it's really any better than 442. For what it's worth, I didn't think the 3-4-3 worked well yesterday, was almost a case of too many cooks, up front, while leaving us vulnerable down the flanks.

[cobain]

I think the best is 3-4-3

[Red Chilli]

This is a recurring thread, as we all know, Rafa changes his formation to best combat the opposition.