Monty

[Centre Hawf]

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I’ve yet to see a set up proposed that would have mitigated some of the fundamental issues in the team we had pre January.

What formation would have mitigated our only right sided options for a month being Whittaker & Tavares? With no subs able to replace them other than out the frying pan and into the fire options like Stevenson at RB in the Motherwell game.

Or a midfield 3 of Levit, Newell & Jeggo. With Delfierre & Rudi the options to change it.

433 would have given an extra body in the midfield, would have allowed Youan to play wide left and Vente up top. That’s fair in terms of the positives. However it wouldn’t have mitigated things like any basic cross into the box and you have a good chance of scoring. Whittaker our only option at RB. Or the fact that if teams double up on Youan as our only threat then Vente will be isolated. He doesn’t look suited to creating his own chances. He’s then relying on a midfield 3 of Jeggo, Levitt & Newell as well as Tavares on the right to create for him.

I don’t see any real fundamental formational changes accounting for our upturn in performances and form. Pushing the two wide men higher and Emiliano doing a similar role to the role that existed before he joined in the 442 is more of a minor tweak than a radical change IMO. Half the first team changing in Rocky, Miller, Moriah-Welsh, Emiliano, Maolida & Boyle. As well as not having a bench full of kids is the real game changer IMO.

Up until the St Johnstone game, where our performances got progressively worse culminating in that St Mirren Performance, we were 4th or 5th and realistically expecting to go above Hearts that weekend. 442 was far from perfect but up to that point it was doing ok. We then ended up having no options but to play Whittaker & Tavares every week with a bench padded out by kids. It’s no coincidence IMO that our limited options also coincided with the drop off in performances and fall down the league. Which was halted when we were able to change 6 players in our starting 11.

In my opinion it was as clear as day that the midfield two of Levitt and Newell was never going to work, anyone who has watched Levitt for 5 minutes at United knew he wasn't a flat/deeper CM but a more attacking midfielder that needed support behind him.

Jeggo wasn't everyone's cup of tea and it was clear now he wasn't the managers favourite either. But our best chance to win a majority of the games we squandered between start of December until the St Mirren game was by having Jeggo and Newell behind Levitt/Campbell until we got to the window to improve our options. Instead we persisted with Levitt and Newell as a duo with Vente playing everywhere but in the box and as a result we completely lost the middle of the park on a weekly basis.

Having even an extra sitter in midfield like Jeggo would have potentially allowed for him to drift out wide or into the back line to allow support for Whittaker, instead we chose to use the barest of systems to leave him isolated 1v1 unless Jair decided to come back.

I do agree that our players coming back from international duty + new signings have helped massively, but we already lost to St Johnstone and Hearts before we even lost Rocky, Miller and Boyle. We just weren't protecting the back 4 properly nor playing Boyle in his strongest position. Whatever way you want to cut it the system/set up/formation we deployed for a chunk of this season was nothing short of chronic and I'm just grateful we're in a position to not have to see it again.

[Unseen work]

Formation or no formation, but I saw Rocky about to bomb down the left wing on Saturday 🤣

Hopefully he can stay relatively central the next couple of games.

Playing really well at the moment.

[CapitalGreen]

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In my opinion it was as clear as day that the midfield two of Levitt and Newell was never going to work, anyone who has watched Levitt for 5 minutes at United knew he wasn't a flat/deeper CM but a more attacking midfielder that needed support behind him.

Jeggo wasn't everyone's cup of tea and it was clear now he wasn't the managers favourite either. But our best chance to win a majority of the games we squandered between start of December until the St Mirren game was by having Jeggo and Newell behind Levitt/Campbell until we got to the window to improve our options. Instead we persisted with Levitt and Newell as a duo with Vente playing everywhere but in the box and as a result we completely lost the middle of the park on a weekly basis.

Having even an extra sitter in midfield like Jeggo would have potentially allowed for him to drift out wide or into the back line to allow support for Whittaker, instead we chose to use the barest of systems to leave him isolated 1v1 unless Jair decided to come back.

I do agree that our players coming back from international duty + new signings have helped massively, but we already lost to St Johnstone and Hearts before we even lost Rocky, Miller and Boyle. We just weren't protecting the back 4 properly nor playing Boyle in his strongest position. Whatever way you want to cut it the system/set up/formation we deployed for a chunk of this season was nothing short of chronic and I'm just grateful we're in a position to not have to see it again.

Levitt never played as an attacking midfielder at Dundee Utd. His best football at Dundee Utd was playing at the base of midfield in a 2 with Jeandro Fuchs and Callum Butcher. The attacking midfielder (when Dundee Utd used one) was usually Ian Harkes.

[Brightside]

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Levitt never played as an attacking midfielder at Dundee Utd. His best football at Dundee Utd was playing at the base of midfield in a 2 with Jeandro Fuchs and Callum Butcher. The attacking midfielder (when Dundee Utd used one) was usually Ian Harkes.

Aye. Moving forward I think Levitt will have to be happy with being a squad player. He replaces one of Newell or Welsh when they are spent, or injured. He's not an attacking midfielder.

[Donegal Hibby]

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Formation or no formation, but I saw Rocky about to bomb down the left wing on Saturday ��

Hopefully he can stay relatively central the next couple of games.

Playing really well at the moment.

It's in Rocky to bomb forward like Porto or Ambrose did though I doubt if he will stay central tbh as he covers for Obita quite abit in games . Article I read earlier UW about Rocky and Miller here .

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.c...ceroos-4544947

[Centre Hawf]

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Levitt never played as an attacking midfielder at Dundee Utd. His best football at Dundee Utd was playing at the base of midfield in a 2 with Jeandro Fuchs and Callum Butcher. The attacking midfielder (when Dundee Utd used one) was usually Ian Harkes.

He may not have been listed as an attacking midfielder but routinely played ahead of a Fuchs/Butcher and nearly always as part of a midfield 3 with the likes of Sibbald/McGrath or Fuch/Harkes. Never just as one of two in there.

He had a little bit more license to roam around parts of the park, routinely out in the wider areas or edge of the box on attacks, and the rest of the midfield picked up the slack for him defensively. Fuch/Harkes obviously had better tackling and interception stats than him as you'd expect purely from the type of players they are, but Harkes would also do more defending than him. Same for Sibbald and McGrath the season after, albeit their stats were a bit lower and closer to his which is probably one of many reasons why they ended up relegated.

My overall point is that Levitt does not have that side of the game in his arsenal, and to play him in a way that really asks him to do that is just not going to work and we've seen that.

[worcesterhibby]

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He may not have been listed as an attacking midfielder but routinely played ahead of a Fuchs/Butcher and nearly always as part of a midfield 3 with the likes of Sibbald/McGrath or Fuch/Harkes. Never just as one of two in there.

He had a little bit more license to roam around parts of the park, routinely out in the wider areas or edge of the box on attacks, and the rest of the midfield picked up the slack for him defensively. Fuch/Harkes obviously had better tackling and interception stats than him as you'd expect purely from the type of players they are, but Harkes would also do more defending than him. Same for Sibbald and McGrath the season after, albeit their stats were a bit lower and closer to his which is probably one of many reasons why they ended up relegated.

My overall point is that Levitt does not have that side of the game in his arsenal, and to play him in a way that really asks him to do that is just not going to work and we've seen that.

His goals against Celtic and Ross County would suggest that particularly when coming on as a sub, he offers a decent goalscoring when given the chance to roam forward.

[eastmainsmsh]

Daniel Ayala available decent for Monty ?