It seems as the team was very mixed messages. One minute you had Riedewald trying to play out from the back. Then you had PVA smashing forward. I am struggling to see this system being effective. Out of the ordinal players that FDB inherited. Who does this system actually suit. I'm struggling to come up with 4 names. We now found a system to make Zaha less effective. Who do you think suits the formation?

Frank said the players suit it and at that point we were 5-6 players short for 3-4-3. We're now at least 2 players short. RWB and keeper. But if there's injuries we'll be short again.

It's frustrating seeing the left sided players Riederwald and PVA receive the ball and not turn out wide to the left. Instead they pass inside every time. Very predictable and possible for 2-3 opposition players to act on and press Hennessey, Dann, Mensah, Luka, fvcking anybody really.

First 15 mins though I thought we looked dangerous going at them from all angles. Once they weathered that it was all over.

COYP

If de Boer was given a good chunk of money do you believe he should buy for 433 or 343.

We do not have enough technically gifted players that are comfortable playing this style. It is and will continue to be a disaster. Just because everyone else seems to want to play 3-4-3 doesn't mean it's right

I like to see something like this experience at the back in dann and Tomkins. Riedewald in central defensive mid. Dropping back if need to be he seems to be decent on the ball. Well for 10 minutes anyway.

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It also depends on the opponent. Huddersfield played with tight wing defence (the fullback and wide midfielder doubled all the time), which pushed our wing-backs to rush and pass the ball either back to the central defenders or (more likely) the two central midfielders. Luka got a knock and it took him out and Punch is just Punch, can't ask for much. There was a lot of waste in the middle of the park, which made us regress to Warnockian long balls into nothing (remember the hundreds of longs balls played on Zaha and Campbell back then? yolo).

Disappointing: Ward (out of position, slow and so easy to dribble past), Puncheon (I fail to see what influence he has, which apparently is the reason he's not dropped. PVA and RLC were shouting at him), Benteke (all too familiar self-indulgence and lack of judgement), Zaha (played on the left, where he's not as dangerous), Dann (physically weak and tactically erratic). Probably the players CAN play this system, but it will take a long time to drill. The question is if the price is worth paying- price being lots and lots of lost points. RLC and Mensah decent and episodically excellent, but they're not ours, so...

Watching MOTD as I type this- worrying that most teams in the EPL look v. comfortable in their systems, even the ones that lost!