How does your team play football?

[shoddycollins]

This thread is for creating a list of fans views on what each clubs' formation, first XI and style of play are... a useful place to get an idea of upcoming opponents, or see who's playing tika-taka and who's playing route-1.

If fans could answer the following questions, then I'll paste their answers into this post.​

• What formation do your team play?
• What would you say is your manager's first choice eleven?
• How do you usually approach games and in what style do you play?
• What are your team's strengths?
• What are your team's weaknesses?

Accrington Stanley

Barnet

Bristol Rovers

Cambridge United

Carlisle United
Contributors: shoddycollins ​

Formation
We've been playing a pretty consistent 3-5-2 this season, one that at times looks more like a 3-3-4, so high up the field the wing-backs push. I think maybe I've only once seen us drop to a 4-4-2 and I don't think we've started any matches in the league with anything other than 3-5-2 [SC]
First XI
We don't really have one, Keith Curle likes to employ squad rotation... and not always to detrimental effect, all but 6 players have featured in over half our games, and of those that haven't two have been due to injury, but at a guess, paying loose attention to number of starts, our first XI when everyone is fit might be:
Gillespie, Miller, Troy, Raynes, Gillesphey, Grainger, Dicker, Joyce, Hery, Asamoah, Ibehre
(Gillesphey played well at Orient apparently, and is more left-sided while Troy and Atkinson are both more right-sided which is why he gets in over the fit again Atkinson) [SC]
Approach
We play a very, very.... VERY, open game and try to pass it along the ground as much as possible; we're all about the attacking and will try to create goals from all parts of the pitch, crosses as well as through balls (not so much the set-pieces though). We often throw everyone forward in search of goals and defenders will try and play the ball out from the back. [SC]
Strengths
Scoring, we have no problem with that and it isn't even just 'pass it to Jabo' the goals are coming from all over, just Jabo has been there to score most often. We've only failed to score in one game that mattered this season (didn't score at Port Vale in the JPT but didn't really seem to want to), and that was home to Newport (!!!!!). We don't even create all that many chances, we're just extremely clinical, something that is probably a result of the confidence instilled in the players with every attacking player seemingly believing they can break 10 for the season. We're also entertaining if you could call that a strength, it gets the fans behind the team and boost morale, and fairly unpredictable, I thought with such an idiosyncratic style of football we would have been sussed out by most of our opponents by now, but that doesn't seem to have happened yet.[SC]
Weaknesses
Conceding, even by our recent standards we're conceding a ridiculous number of goals and haven't kept a clean sheet in any competition since April, and it isn't entirely down to personnel, but rather our system, when you have three centre backs but two of them have gone up to support an attack, you're going to be vulnerable to the counter. I've seen our centre backs dribble the ball to the edge of the opposition penalty area (they all fancy themselves as Laurent Koscielny), the more naturally wide players we sometimes employ at centre-back tend to drift out and we sometimes engage in some frankly suicidal passing manoeuvres as we stick determinedly to the philosophy of passing it out from the back. Fortunately Mark Gillespie in goal has started to put in some real heroic displays, or we would have conceded a lot more. [SC]

Crawley Town

Dagenham and Redbridge

Exeter City

Hartlepool United

Leyton Orient

Luton Town

Mansfield Town

Morecambe

Newport County

Northampton Town

Notts County

Oxford United

Plymouth Argyle

Portsmouth

Stevenage

Wimbledon

Wycombe Wanderers

Yeovil Town

York City​

 

[SamScfc]

Christ.

 

[shoddycollins]

Christ.

Don't you know? We're 10 games in, therefore everything about how this season will unfold is now known.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

we're not playing that as much at present Shoddy, the last few games I have seen, York, Barnet, Newport we play a more conservative approach or its not working as well as before (am not sure) at Orient sounded like it was very much smash and grab.

Sadly I think other managers sort've found out how to fox the all out 3-3-4 style.

 

[Tom_CUFC]

Badly.

 

[Murphy]

I'd like to rephrase the question.

'Does your team play football'

My answer - 'Allegedly'