Cardiff City moved swiftly to land former fans favourite Michael Chopra on a 2 month loan deal, paying big money in loan fee and wages for the Sunderland hotshot. However, the injuries to McCormack and Bothroyd are both improving nicely with neither as serious as first feared.
The improvement in striking options will give Dave Jones a welcome problem to ponder as he considers a formation change to accomodate more of his most dangerous players after a frustrating season where we have found it difficult to break opposition sides down.
Here are the most likely options:
1) 4-4-2 DJ does it again!
Jones has stuck to his beloved 4-4-2 since his arrival with only the mercurial Jason Koumas or Aaron Ramsey ever used outside this system. Ross McCormack could do a good job out wide for Cardiff though he may be slightly wasted. Don’t forget his impressive goal against Birmingham City from exactly this position while Chopra and Bothroyd would cause problems in a traditional front 2 partnership.
2) 4-3-3 Top heavy Bluebirds.
In this system, Bothroyd would operate as the target man with McCormack on the left and Chopra on the right. The pace and height would work well and the two fastmen could provide width when needed without losing presence in the box. This would necessitate a change in midfield but a trio of Ledley, McPhail and Rae would (I think) be well balanced and effective.
3) 3-4-1-2 Change the back to change the front!
A back three of Johnson, Purse and Gyepes would allow McNaughton to operate as a wing back with Ledley or Kennedy on the other flank. McPhail and Rae could continue in the middle with McCormack offered the freedom to roam behind the front two. He likes to drop deep to receive possession and has a good shot on him.
Of course, DJ may decide to keep one of the three on the bench but the ever-improving Eddie Johnson and Paul Parry in attack also have their merits. I feel we are too rigid in our 4-4-2 and fail to adapt as well as other sides, it would also be good to have our best players playing rather than on the bench. In any of these systems, it seems that Paul Parry or Peter Whittingham is the one to miss out though neither is a natural right winger and both could adapt to fit other roles within any of the proposed formations.
Let us know your thoughts….
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I like the fluid 4-3-3 myself as both McCormack and Chopra are have excellent work-rates and love to track back to retrieve the ball. This would take pressure off the 3 man midfield and provide width.
With chops and ross tracking back, we’d have no-one getting behind the last man or able to beat their man – thats what Parry provides. Send Johnson back and have these three strikers vying for 2 places!
is this website reall or what, consider drastic tactics, hello, 442 got us to a fa-cup final, promotion to the championship, and its working magic, and just because we have lost 3 games, 2 of those where to top teams is okay. your all just panicing thinking what to blame
sorry bluebird04 – you miss the point. We are discussing how to make the most of the players we have. Is it not a waste to have chopra on the bench?
it doesnt matter who is on the bench, if they keep thier heads down, and work hard for their spot then fair enough. no point playing chopra if he aint peforming in training. if we do use your 4-3-3 then our midfield will have no wingers, we will have to forward wide guys, meaning on the attack we will have 1 guy in the box, the midfield will be tired every game due to them having to over work every game
i think a differant line up, but we cant go and put ledley in center midfield, we need a forword creative midfielder, and a defensive midfielder
why change something thats been working…….ok you lost a couple…but only just and to 2 really good teams……so dont change what aint really broke…….
We’ve been playing poorly, something isnt right with our midfield – we’ve been lucky to get these wins
The 4-3-3 could work. McCormack and Chopra on both sides and Jay in the middle. Problem is, Jay seems inconsistent – and if he were having one of his ‘off days’ it might result in missed goals. But i’m happy to give it a go. somehow i doubt Jones will change his beloved 4-4-2 – and for good reason. it seems to be working
yes, lets change to 4-3-3 leave our midfield wide open, no, its just i think ledley needs to be dropped, put whitts in his place, give it 1 or 2 more games and you will see a big improvement
b04 – can you name me a game this season when we dominated midfield (except 9 man charlton!)? I cant remember one, so I think using 3 in there and backtracking frontmen could work..
yes i can, after birmingham scorred their 2 quick goals past us, our midfield was tearing their defence away, also against watford our midfield was on form, also wolves, after their quick 2 goals, our midfield was good, if we play 3 in midfield, they will be forced to go forword, and back, and it will absolutly destroy them
why change to a 4-3-3 the kids dont know how to play it, and if we do we could end up looking like the joke of the town, and please explain whos going to be upfront, when the only fitt and natural striker we have is chopra and eddie johnson, so please bluebirdshroom, explain how we could achieve anything
thats very naive. Lee Carsley destroyed us for BCFC and as for Wolves they were completely comfortable. By Kids I assume you mean the 2 oldest players in the side after Purse – I think they could adapt. The change is not necessary, but a very useful option. Upfront? Are you serious? Read the article! Its for when Jay and Ross return!
you make me laugh, because when jay is expected to return 8 weeks time . chops will have gone, 2. we got ledley, mcphail, rae, parry, whittingham, please tell me who you will drop, and who our sub striker is going to be, and no wolves wasnt comfatble, after they had their to goals, they had about 1 or 2 more chances and then we dominated, as for birmingham, lee carsley did not destroy us by himself, we created enough chanes to win the game…….. i would like to see us play 4-3-3 to prove we would get embarresed, cause 2 fast guys, a stong and a creative agaisnt 3 cardiff midfielders, left open on the flanks, one of our midfielders goes to tackle, big hole in the midle of the park,,,, but i dont want to see my beloved cardiff teams.,………………………..
i called the whole team kids, as im older than all of them
bluebird04 we have been overrun in most of our games.
the point your missing is that birmingham and wolves controlled midfield scored two goals and then sat back and used their defensive quality to kill the game.
we done nothing against birmingham except keep possesion, lets face it that was easy as birmingham sat in their own half!!!!
And as for chances we had none apart from mccormacks excellent work cutting in from the right(where he looks very effective probably as we have no right midfield and are not used to players running str8 down the right) and scoring a superb goal!
other than that we were flat!!!!
however 4 3 3 could suit us and i think it should be tried when the boys return to fitness as we have no natural right midfielder but plenty that can play just inside.
and 4 3 3 doesnt mean we’d be exposed as u cud play 4 1 2 3 which would leave say mcphail sitting back to stop anyone that gets thru!
i only say this as mccormack looks so dangerous on the right running at oppositions defence. it really worries the opponent!
AND so it should hes a class act!
It similar to how Man Utd and various other teams play – for the 1st time – we have the players to make it work – would be great in last half hour if we are behind but I do think it could work well from the start. BTW bluebird04 – you are well behind the times as Bothroyd is in training already!
behind the times, if i reveal who i am now, then it would be no point having a covername like bluebird04, but during training on thursday, me and jay where doing stretches, and he said he was in agony, and is very unlikely to play until after swansea, but i hope you are right and he comes back sooner,
so if u play for cardiff why the negativity??
whats wrong with fans wanting a different appraoch to SOME games?