New formation

[DeeTheDog]

I am surprised that people could have reservations with our new formation. At a basic level, our record speaks for it self. Played 7, Won 7:

Inter Milan H 2-0
Middlesbrough H 3-2
Bolton Wanderers A Y 3-1
West Ham United H 4-0
Newcastle United H 3-0
Inter Milan A 1-0
Reading H 2-1

It could be argued that most of those we are expected to win; however, these types of games have been our downfall for many a season.

It offers great flexibility, which is highlighted in the two games against Inter. In one hand, it can be a very attacking formation, with four interchangeable attackers; alternately, it can easily switch to more defensive, 5-man midfield.

It also appears to be bringing the best out in our players, with Gerrard, Mascherano and Torres particularly reveling in the role. If we could add more potent attacking full backs, this could be a title winning formation.

The Reading game was our least effective using this formation; however, after losing the early goal to nicely worked set piece (similar to United's goal at Anfield earlier this season, exposing zonal marking) we completely dominated the first half and the start of the second. We did lose our way in the second, inexplicably launching it long too often; however, tiredness from Tuesday's exertion may have contributed to this.

The big tests lay ahead over the next few weeks; hopefully the formation will pass the test with flying colours.

[Skillz]

We are now seeing how effective this formation can be, however it can be a lot better. A whole lot better, IMO. Give Rafa 2 attacking fullbacks and a high class right sided attacking option and we will start to dictate terms to every team in Europe.

I have not been drinking (much) and I truly believe what I have said above.

[TartanTerror]

If you define a match winner as someone who scores game winning goals, then yes, Rooney is match winner. I started this thread after performing some research to see how dependent we really were on Torres to win games. Taken from my prior post:

here are other players who have won a game for us this year (EPL only)

Gerrard(3)
Sissoko(1)
Alonso(1)
Benyoun(1)
Kuyt(1)
Torres(3)
Hyppia(1)
Own Goal(1)
Crouch(1)
Babel(1)

I compared this to Arsenal, who so far have 10 different match winners with Adebayor(4), Fabregas(3), and Eduardo(3) leading the way. ManU's struggles in the early season are no surprise after learning that only 7 different match winners have scored and two of their three most prolific match winners were injured at the start of the season Ronaldo(7 !!!), Teves(5), Rooney (4).