This post is literally a quick question. What do you think of Lambert’s twist on the old 4-3-3 /4-5-1 when defending?
Obviously, Villa have been traditionally blessed with some great wingers over the years – Tony Morley, Tony Daley, Ashley Young, Franz Carr…ok, forget about Carr and Nigel Callaghan, for that matter. So Lambert’s 4-2-3-1 is to accommodate the fact that Villa currently don’t have a reliable go-to guy on the wing.
Martin O’Neil actually played the old version when Agbonlahor was played as a lone striker with Young and Downing on the flanks when Villa were third in January and clear of Arsenal. Obviously, the focus of that formation was the speedy counter-attacker with wide men. A decent formation for away games, but counter-productive when it came down to trying to break down teams that came to Villa Park to ‘park the bus’ and defend.
Lambert’s 4-2-3-1 perhaps offers a bit more diversity and providing a platform to both play the football to break teams down and also to hit them on the break. The two deep-sitting midfielders are also meant to protect the back four and also get the play going from the back. Playing two hard-working strikers on the wings instead of out-and-out wingers potentially gives Villa a bigger goal threat and flexibility, but does it leave the team too narrow with no natural crossers in the team?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.
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