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Martinez always played wing backs to an extent.
even when we played 4-3-3 he wanted the full backs to get up the field and become part of the midfield.
It became quickly apparent that we didnt have the players to pull this Barcelona type formation off so a back 3 gave us more defensive cover for the full backs to push up.
The 4-3-3 system that we started with is what is being used at Everton nowadays and plenty has been said on how well that is working with quality CB’s such as Jagielka.
Rosler may find similar problems with a back four in his reign but the fact we are not facing some of the best attackers in the world and we have a much better and bigger selection of CB’s than was ever available to Martinez this time around might just work in our favour.
Thanks for engaging with the question posed by this thread.
I suppose you’re right: with attacking full backs you can play four at the back.
But I very much doubt that Rosler will risk playing Beausejour and Boycie without three centre-halves to cover.
Another thing we need to sort out is our corners. Many times this season, we’ve seen Gomez and Watson unable to beat the first man with their corners and – worse – the opposition breaking away and scoring.
Another thing we need to sort out is our corners. Many times this season, we’ve seen Gomez and Watson unable to beat the first man with their corners and – worse – the opposition breaking away and scoring.Ah, the old “we’re shit at corners” observation. Whilst I don’t believe Gomez and Watson are particularly exceptional at taking corners they are no worse than anybody else. The trick is to fire the ball in hard and flat and the tried and tested way to counteract that is to put a man or two on the front post, thus making the margin of error in achieving this very fine indeed. I’m sure most, if not all, professional footballers are quite capable of kicking a ball into the opposing penalty box from a corner every single time. I’m equally sure supporters would soon find something to moan about when those nice looping efforts are easily dealt with by defenders and goalkeepers.
Counter attacking from a corner was never an Owen Coyle philosophy so I am expecting things to improve.
They are considerably worse than most opposition teams’ corners. We could be doing so much better.
For example in our 1982 promotion season we played every corner to a man on the near post (either Lloyd, Methven or Barrow) who then flicked it across over the keeper. Very difficult to defend against.
Around the same time I saw Bobby Charlton guest for Latics in a friendly against Bodo Grand. His corners were whipped in, swerving towards the keeper for people to challenge.
But, poor as our courrent corners are, nothing forgives how bad we are at defending the counter attacks that eventually ensue. We conceded like that again against Millwall, and almost conceded a third from a similar position when Shotton took a long throw that went wrong.
You’re going back a number of years there with your comparisons. The game has changed considerably since then in all departments.
Generally the football we played under Coyle was poor and the defending in particular naïve so I expect things to improve, which shouldn’t be too difficult a task given the players we have at our disposal – strikers excluded.
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