[Albion] Formation in the first half?

[Withdean11]

What on earth was going on? Players were all over the place.

Gross at CB?
Burn at CM/LM?
March at RWB?
Veltman at CB or RB?

Any idea what the plan was? I don’t think the players did.

 

[London Irish]

Looked to me LD at centre-back in a 3, Burn to his left and Veltman to the right, Cuca and March the wingbacks, Lallana the deepest midfielder, slightly behind Gross on right and Moder left, Neal up front with Trossard in a slightly free-er role there

 

[studio150]

Or was it a 4

Veltman RB, Dunk and Burn CB Cucurella LB

March RM Gross and Lallana CM Moder LM

Tossard AMC

Maupay CF

 

[amexer]

Looked to me LD at centre-back in a 3, Burn to his left and Veltman to the right, Cuca and March the wingbacks, Lallana the deepest midfielder, slightly behind Gross on right and Moder left, Neal up front with Trossard in a slightly free-er role there

Could be right. Burn is of no use against quick forwards and just hope he does not play against Salah. Dont understand why we havent put a player in Bissoma role winning ball and feeding midfielders further forward. Lalana not suited would think Moder more suited. Anyway thought Lalana came in to play 10 role closer to Maupay and chip in with a few goals. Without Bissoma we are short in both positions. Hope he is back soon

 

[scooter1]

4-3-3
Dunk and Burn were the CB’s, but moving to a flexible 3 at the back if we were in possession. Cucurella was playing higher up, but the dropping in if Veltman pushed on. However, Veltman had to keep close tabs on Grealish so his chances of pushing on we’re very limited. No sure where Gross was supposed to be playing

 

[Lethargic]

Burn was all over place and not playing as a conventional centre back, very confusing formation.

Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk

 

[Icy Gull]

Burn was all over place and not playing as a conventional centre back, very confusing formation.

Sent from my CPH2173 using Tapatalk

It left Dunk hung out to dry trying to defend against some of the most mobile and skilful players in the world with very little help as BDB and Veltman were nowhere near him too often. No idea on the thinking behind it.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Or was it a 4

Veltman RB, Dunk and Burn CB Cucurella LB

March RM Gross and Lallana CM Moder LM

Tossard AMC

Maupay CF

Looked like it was supposed to be this from WSU central. Burn was very often out of position though and the midfield were all over the place.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gabbafella]

Burn was constantly out of position and as a result it meant Dunk covering him and Größ dropping back to cover Dunk. Möder kept wandering off too which might be why Burn was pushing up more.
I'm a big Potter fan, but he got the first half totally wrong.

 

[doogie004]

Gross still the weak link


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[martin tyler]

It was a back 3. Burn swapped with Cucurella at goal kicks I think to try and offer a bit more pace if city went over the top. What city did that no one else has done this season was leave the front 3 so high and wide it left our back 3 miles apart. Foden drops off and through the gap come Silva and Gundogan. Pace of their front along with there outstanding movement was brilliant to watch and we were not Mobile enough to match them. Granted we gifted 3 of the 4 goals one way or another.
At 3-0 Gross started to fill in the gap next to Dunk more especially when we had the ball at goal kicks.
2nd half with added mobility we went man to man more win the ball much higher

 

[Hugo Rune]

Looked to me LD at centre-back in a 3, Burn to his left and Veltman to the right, Cuca and March the wingbacks, Lallana the deepest midfielder, slightly behind Gross on right and Moder left, Neal up front with Trossard in a slightly free-er role there

This was certainly the starting formation which was played all the time the score was 0-0.

It was switched to a back four at some point after they’d scored.

Groß and March struggled to have an effect in the first half with Sanchez, Dunk and Cucurella (very harsh I know) making individual errors (that led to goals) that you just can’t make against players who cost £60m+.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Gross still the weak link.

I think the weak link is playing two players to cover Bissouma in the centre of the park. If our best player was fit, we could play a forward where Welbeck would have fitted in. Instead, Moder is needed to support Lallana and Groß.

 

[Machiavelli]

It's a good question, and a difficult one to answer. I think there was somewhat of a difference depending on whether we had possession, or not. At first sights it looked like a 442, but there was nothing conventional about it. When we had the ball, it was often Gross that was our deepest player. Dunk stayed more or less central. Burn and Veltman split wide, leaving wide chasms in our central defence that City exploited.
What's clear is it didn't work, while the formation and personnel in the second half was much better.

 

[dazzer6666]

442 to start, 4312 after HT……….

Burn seemed to have a 1-1 marking job though, he was following his man all over the pitch.

 

[JBizzle]

Gross was dropping deep to receive the ball from goal kicks and from the centre backs, but at no point was he playing centre back. Gross' issue isn't him not being good enough, it's him being asked to essentially play as a defensive midfielder - a role he's clearly not comfortable with.

On Burn, it's easy to criticise being all over the place but I do think a lot of it came from Cucurella barely setting foot in his own half. I get it, he's a LWB and he's fulfilling that role, but I think that against a team like City you probably need all your defenders to defend occasionally.

That said, City are superb and all 3 goals came from sloppy mistakes that were ruthlessly punished rather than tactical issues.

 

[Charlies Shinpad]

There front three had two hugging the touchlines and one down the middle, basically stretching us from the first minute.
They packed the centre of midfield and gave all of them free roles to play and press high once out of possession.

Sent from my CPH2195 using Tapatalk

 

[amexer]

Gross was dropping deep to receive the ball from goal kicks and from the centre backs, but at no point was he playing centre back. Gross' issue isn't him not being good enough, it's him being asked to essentially play as a defensive midfielder - a role he's clearly not comfortable with.

On Burn, it's easy to criticise being all over the place but I do think a lot of it came from Cucurella barely setting foot in his own half. I get it, he's a LWB and he's fulfilling that role, but I think that against a team like City you probably need all your defenders to defend occasionally.

That said, City are superb and all 3 goals came from sloppy mistakes that were ruthlessly punished rather than tactical issues.

Agree about Cucurella. He was purchased as a LB that could also play as WB. Against city should have played as a FB and get forward when he could not other way round. I hope he plays LB against Salah

 

[amexer]

A bit harsh to criticise Cucurella for goal. A miss placed pass in opposition penalty area should not lead to a goal

 

[Brightonfan1983]

Veltman had to keep close tabs on Grealish so his chances of pushing on we’re very limited.

I read on the BBC I think that March was on the right so that when Grealish cut inside, it would be onto March's stronger side. I thought that was clever and seemed to work. However Man City were so good I would have forgiven Potter playing Sanchez as a striker, just trying anything to confuse them a bit!