3 at the back?

[Paloschi]

I have been saying this for ages, mostly because we have had poor full backs and inevitably our centre halves or midfielder's have had to play in full back positions.

We currently don't have sufficient wing backs that may pose a problem to this formation. Initially I thought Wotherspoon and Booth would be perfect on either flank. I feel Taiwo and Stevenson are the most disciplined and agile for the role currently.

Williams

Forster
Hanlon
McGivern

Taiwo (rwb)
Stanton
Thomson
Stevenson (lwb)

Haynes
Heffernan/Collins
Watmore/Harris/Cairney

Robertson can compete for a central midfield role on his return. What do you guys think?

[kentao]

Would be better to play 6 at the back and 5 up top. Since we miss the midfield out and with nelsons great passing ability surely he would be able to hit someone if we play 5 upfront.

Sorry just totally fed up of hibs at the moment

[Tricla]

I'd give it a bash.

1 up top ain't working.

[Hero76]

You need to be extremely good at keeping possession to play this formation and unfortunately were not.

[The Sea-gull]

I have been saying this for ages, mostly because we have had poor full backs and inevitably our centre halves or midfielder's have had to play in full back positions.

We currently don't have sufficient wing backs that may pose a problem to this formation. Initially I thought Wotherspoon and Booth would be perfect on either flank. I feel Taiwo and Stevenson are the most disciplined and agile for the role currently.

Williams

Forster
Hanlon
McGivern

Taiwo (rwb)
Stanton
Thomson
Stevenson (lwb)

Haynes
Heffernan/Collins
Watmore/Harris/Cairney

Robertson can compete for a central midfield role on his return. What do you guys think?

Worth a try, every other formation we have tried this season hasn't worked creatively. Agree, Wotherspoon and Booth would have been good for the wide positions in theory though both lack defensive qualities and Booth is yet to really prove he can do it at SPL level on a consistent basis. Stevenson could do it, not really sure about Taiwo but worth a go.

[speedy_gonzales]

I suggested this a couple of weeks ago to my faither, but with regards to the back three, McGivern was on the bench, Hanlon to the left and Nelson in the middle. The reasoning being Forster/Nelson-Nelson/Hanlon pairings haven't been that bad minus the odd individual errors of late. Also, McGivern offers nothing when we get a corner, very rarely does he get in to the opposing teams box, this is obviously on Butchers instruction but when we do get a corner, Nelson/Forster/Hanlon are nearly our best threat!
Also agree with the positioning of Taiwo and Stevenson, I think they have enough energy to run the lines for the 90 and their tackling (as long as they 'aint last man) isn't the worse.

[thebakerboy]

I have been going on about this for months , play players in their proper positions as much as possible. We do not have a recognised RWB either but playing 1 player out of position is better than 2 especially at the back. So yes I think it would be a better formation.

[J-C]

I'd go for a 3-1-4-2 set up the deep holding midfielder will cover the CB's when they go out wide, the 2 wide mids/ wingers would need to do a lot of back tracking for cover, or you play with 2 wing backs.

Williams

Forster
Hanlon
McGivern

Thomson/Taiwo

Watmore/Zoubir
Robertson/Stanton
Craig/Stanton
Stevenson/Harris

Collins/Handling
Haynes/Cummings

[Hibercelona]

.....................Williams..................... ..
......................Nelson...................... ..
.................................................. ........
.................................................. ........
.................................................. ........
.................................................. ........
.................................................. ........
................Everybody else....................


We can't defend anyway, so we may as well just stick everybody on the opposition goalkeeper and hope for the best. :pray:

[Bronson]

3 at the back rarely works in practice, good on the old xbox but I wouldn't try it in reality.

Much rather we had 2 good attacking full backs and 2 solid centre halves.

[J-C]

3 at the back rarely works in practice, good on the old xbox but I wouldn't try it in reality.

Much rather we had 2 good attacking full backs and 2 solid centre halves.

Don't know about that, Mancini, Guardiola and a good few others have used it but you do need very good players to use it.

[Paloschi]

3 at the back rarely works in practice, good on the old xbox but I wouldn't try it in reality.

Much rather we had 2 good attacking full backs and 2 solid centre halves.


We tried it once with Boozy at sweeper. Wasn't our formation back in McLeish days a 3-5-2?

I agree it can be hard to execute but I think its the way to go with the players we have currently. Thomson and Stanton are the two most composed players on the ball and ideally they will have Taiwo and Stevenson available on either side of them and 3 forwards ahead of them to pass to. We always lack options in other formations because our full backs don't push on and we have 1 up top against 2 centre halves.

I think Black and Baptie in the U20's look good for wingback roles too.

[Saturdays Hero]

Tbh I don't think it matters what formation we play the squad we have are totally devoid of any football,even the basics,1 or 2 the exception but the rest are wage thiefs.

[Bronson]

Don't know about that, Mancini, Guardiola and a good few others have used it but you do need very good players to use it.

In all fairness I said rarely, not never.

Can't see it working in the British leagues due to the way the football is here, might well work abroad.

[BSEJVT]

There are no 3 individuals in the squad at Easter road that you could put together to play that formation.

In fact I would go as far as to say there is not 1 individual in the squad who could play that position regardless of whom they were playing with.

[R'Albin]

Weirdly enough it's the formation we play at my Sunday league team, which, originally was meant to be a joke team, but has turned out really well given the talent of the players involved. It can probably be played at just about any level, as long as the team has the right qualities to do so (I'm not going to pretend that I know what these are).

I would say that our back three probably isn't good/experienced enough. I'm a fan of both Hanlon and Forster, but I doubt they're consistent enough to be able to pull this off - especially if partnered with McGivern or Nelson, both of whom aren't good enough for this level based on current form IMO.

Although it would certainly benefit us to have the extra midfield man as well as two forwards, so I wouldn't be against seeing this in the future.

[Hibstrooper]

I think it's telling that you struggle to find a team that plays 3 at the back nowadays.

I understand our romantic notion with it though given that the 3-5-2 team of McLeish was the best Hibs team I've ever seen but that probably had more to do with the players than the formation.

[NorthNorfolkHFC]

I have been saying this for ages, mostly because we have had poor full backs and inevitably our centre halves or midfielder's have had to play in full back positions.

We currently don't have sufficient wing backs that may pose a problem to this formation. Initially I thought Wotherspoon and Booth would be perfect on either flank. I feel Taiwo and Stevenson are the most disciplined and agile for the role currently.

Williams

Forster
Hanlon
McGivern

Taiwo (rwb)
Stanton
Thomson
Stevenson (lwb)

Haynes
Heffernan/Collins
Watmore/Harris/Cairney

Robertson can compete for a central midfield role on his return. What do you guys think?

Taiwo and Stevenson are probably the least agile and athletic players in our squad!!

I loved mcleishs team but I don't know if we have the players.

[BOB MARLEYS DUG]

We don't have good enough players for 3-5-2. Therefore I don't think it would work...

[Pray4Marc]

I'd go for a 3-1-4-2 set up the deep holding midfielder will cover the CB's when they go out wide, the 2 wide mids/ wingers would need to do a lot of back tracking for cover, or you play with 2 wing backs.

Williams

Forster
Hanlon
McGivern

Thomson/Taiwo

Watmore/Zoubir
Robertson/Stanton
Craig/Stanton
Stevenson/Harris

Collins/Handling
Haynes/Cummings

Imagine Harris as a wingback. Jeezo.

[Unseen work]

Taiwo and Stevenson are probably the least agile and athletic players in our squad!!

I loved mcleishs team but I don't know if we have the players.

Not sure if this is sarcasm? They are deffinetley 2 of the most athletic and fittest guys in our team

[NorthNorfolkHFC]

Not sure if this is sarcasm? They are deffinetley 2 of the most athletic and fittest guys in our team

Not sarcasm.

Yes they are fit but being athletic is a totally different attribute. Tom Taiwo and Lewis Stevenson are both slow to average pace runners. They would both struggle badly getting up and down the line.

[The Utility Man]

I would try 4-3-1-2
Williams
Forster------------Nelson-----------Hanlon---------------McGivern

--------Taiwo--------Craig(depends on form)-----Stevenson-----

-------------------------Stanton-----------------------------

--------------Collins---------------Haynes---------------

Although this formation would involve passing it around in defensive areas because the three would be quite deep at times this means there is plenty of defensive cover and Collins/Haynes are not isolated up top when they get the ball. Because we have no widemen I feel this is the way to go for Hibs.

[spike220]

I have been saying this for ages, mostly because we have had poor full backs and inevitably our centre halves or midfielder's have had to play in full back positions.

We currently don't have sufficient wing backs that may pose a problem to this formation. Initially I thought Wotherspoon and Booth would be perfect on either flank. I feel Taiwo and Stevenson are the most disciplined and agile for the role currently.

Williams

Forster
Hanlon
McGivern

Taiwo (rwb)
Stanton
Thomson
Stevenson (lwb)

Haynes
Heffernan/Collins
Watmore/Harris/Cairney

Robertson can compete for a central midfield role on his return. What do you guys think?

I like it a lot!

[J-C]

Imagine Harris as a wingback. Jeezo.

I never said that, I said the wide men need to do a lot of work as cover, if not then you'll need to play wing backs, I don't see Harris able to cover.

[Unseen work]

Not sarcasm.

Yes they are fit but being athletic is a totally different attribute. Tom Taiwo and Lewis Stevenson are both slow to average pace runners. They would both struggle badly getting up and down the line.

Sorry couldn't disagree more. Think they are both pretty quick, especially Stevenson, would say their very athletic too, look after themselves, both strong quick and fit guys imo

[NorthNorfolkHFC]

Sorry couldn't disagree more. Think they are both pretty quick, especially Stevenson, would say their very athletic too, look after themselves, both strong quick and fit guys imo

May be strong and quick but that doesn't make them athletic.

I'm heavily involved in athletics at school level and compete myself.

Watching these guys week in at Easter road they have no attributes that would make me think they were athletic. For starters their body make up.

Most athletes have short bodies and long legs, tom and lewis have the unfortunate short body and short legs. It means they have a shorter stride length. I doubt very much they would excel in a session of 150m at meadow bank.

At Hibs just now we lack real athletic runners in the team. Alex Harris, Scott Robertson and Danny Haynes are the ones that spring to mind.

[judas]

3 at the back rarely works in practice, good on the old xbox.

thats no right mate. You need counselling.

[Unseen work]

May be strong and quick but that doesn't make them athletic.

I'm heavily involved in athletics at school level and compete myself.

Watching these guys week in at Easter road they have no attributes that would make me think they were athletic. For starters their body make up.

Most athletes have short bodies and long legs, tom and lewis have the unfortunate short body and short legs. It means they have a shorter stride length. I doubt very much they would excel in a session of 150m at meadow bank.

At Hibs just now we lack real athletic runners in the team. Alex Harris, Scott Robertson and Danny Haynes are the ones that spring to mind.

Being athletic is a mixture of strength, endurance and speed. All of these attributes I would say they have.

If your looking into body types your looking a bit far into it for a wing back in football, wouldn't consider Harris anymore of a athlete than someone like Lewis even though he's faster as Lewis has better endurance and stregnth

A athlete isn't just someone that can sprint 150m quick, there's a variety of different physical attributes to be considered

[NorthNorfolkHFC]

Being athletic is a mixture of strength, endurance and speed. All of these attributes I would say they have.

If your looking into body types your looking a bit far into it for a wing back in football, wouldn't consider Harris anymore of a athlete than someone like Lewis even though he's faster as Lewis has better endurance and stregnth

A athlete isn't just someone that can sprint 150m quick, there's a variety of different physical attributes to be considered

I'm sorry I totally disagree. Alex Harris would tear Lewis up for a**e paper in an athletics based session. I was not referring to a one off race, I meant a session requiring three or more runs.

I don't think I am looking too deep, that is what effective scouts do. Hence why many English teams recruit guys from Africa on the basis of their athletic prowess.

Tom, on the other hand. I doubt he would be able to run one 150m.

[Unseen work]

I'm sorry I totally disagree. Alex Harris would tear Lewis up for a**e paper in an athletics based session. I was not referring to a one off race, I meant a session requiring three or more runs.

I don't think I am looking too deep, that is what effective scouts do. Hence why many English teams recruit guys from Africa on the basis of their athletic prowess.

Tom, on the other hand. I doubt he would be able to run one 150m.

Fair enough all about opinions. But my basis is on the position they would be playing as well, Stevenson and taiwo are stronger and I would guess have more power in the legs. To me that's why I consider them athletic and fit for the position as I think the physical demands defensively would drain Harris where as taiwo and stevensons physique allows them to cope better

Theirs no doubt Harris is a really fit fast guy, but for me he would struggle massively in that position.

[NorthNorfolkHFC]

I'm not suggesting Harris would be a wing back as his defensive abilities would let him down but I think he'd be able to cover the distance effectively.

I just think Lewis and Tom would struggle, not because of their abilities football wise.

To be honest Hibs lack athletes and it's a real problem. It's not just speed merchants but guys who are genuinely athletic.
Dundee United's team was full of athletes. Most of their back four and Armstrong stood our for me.

[Bronson]

thats no right mate. You need counselling.

Sorry buddy, shall I take my wrong opinions elsewhere?

[judas]

Sorry buddy, shall I take my wrong opinions elsewhere?

I just find the innuendo in your comment slightly disturbing and would remind one that this is a forum for discussing hibs and football in general.