i must admit , i really don't like 4-3-3 , well certainly not the way we play it or with the players we have to use in that formation . Barcelona are obviously the benchmark for it and of course it's hard to compare against them as they have some of the best players in the modern era but you can look at the type of players they use .
In their midfield three , they've one defensive player and two midfielders who get forward well and chip in with lots of assists and a decent amount of goals. The forward three then all score a bagful and create even more .And of course the full backs play like wingers .
We don't seem to have those type of players at all . For all the so called nice play and passing , most so far this season has been in our own half and none in the final third where it really matters. We seemed to be really slow in getting people forward and so often it seemed players in the forward positions were finding themselves miles from any support .
I don't know , the hope is it will improve as the season goes on but like i said i fear we don't have the personnel to make it work .
Part of me is wondering if we wouldn't have been better off keeping Carroll and just playing direct , long and diagonal balls like most the premiership do .