How to counter act Blackpool's 4-3-3 Saturday

Maybe put Whitts into the middle and even up the numbers and have Burke as sort of a free role hurting Blackpool. Whitts might get a lot more of the ball in the middle and be able to hurt Blackpool much in the same way Adam has done for Blackpool.

I am loathe to change the 4-4-2 that has worked for us all year but we do struggle a lot against teams who play 3 in the middle so maybe need to counter.

What a shame that we were again dominated by a 3 man midfield. Out played.

and very poor at the back as well

The 4/4/2 has worked for us this season when we've played against a 4/4/2. Whenever we come up against any variation of a 5-man midfield (we only have to think back to Peterbro in the second half; Lericester with Howard dropping off last week and Blackpool's Adam playing behind a 4-man midfield) and Jones hasn't got a clue how to neutralise it.

Clearly, at the least Whitts needed to have played in the centre to give Adam something to think about; Chopra and Burke (or McCormack) needed to go wide to stop their full-backs rampaging forward and we'd have been sortted. Jones' modus operandi a strick, inflexible 4/42.

In truth Blackpool werer a 4th Division team with a 3rd Division manager who overcame a team managed by a moribund manager devoid of tactical acumen. It's not as if Blackpool's 4/1/2/3 was difficult to combat, particularly when they've played that way for a while.

Jone's decision to play Hudson and a number of clearly injured players lost this game. We needed Gerrard and Gyepes at the back (our two best central defenders) and Blake in central midfield (Ledley's contribution for at least 2 years has been minimal at best). That Matthews was not on the bench, at least considering Blackpool's pace was just plain daft.

Marshall; Matthews Gerrard, Gyepes, McNaughton; Chopra, Blake, McPhail, Burke; Whitts; Bothroyd.

StT.

How about we finbd a manager who knows how to play against these formations.

How about we finbd a manager who knows how to play against these formations.

f**k the 4-4-2 formation! thats old news, but the ONLY news to DJ.

Lets get a new man in on less than half his wages, but knows how to play a different game.

they dominated but if we hadnt of gifted them those two goals we would have won. Not to mention hitting the post twice.

they dominated but if we hadnt of gifted them those two goals we would have won. Not to mention hitting the post twice.

Hindsight - it's a beautiful thing!

But they Dominated for a reason - because Jones didnt counteract their tactics properly.

Yeah but maybe if we adjusted we wouldnt have scored?

We gifted them the goals and no formation change was going to change that.

Yeah but maybe if we adjusted we wouldnt have scored?
HINDSIGHT AGAIN!

We gifted them the goals and no formation change was going to change that. the freekick for the first was a little harsh, but there was no way Marshall was saving that! If the Ref never blew up for the free kick - maybe we would have went on to win, but like i said, it's all hindsight, whats done is done, lets wipe ourselves down and do a PROPER job with the right players and adjustable tactics next season!

exactly we know the 4-4-2 was kind of wrong now but it so easily could have been right with just that little slice of luck going our way instead of theres.

We will never know if a formation change would have worked but IMO it wasnt the formation that lost us the game but the players and our inability to defend