West Brom blog: Do Albion really need three central midfielders?
As the Baggies have struggled to offer much of an attacking threat this campaign, perhaps it’s time we ditch three in central midfield and free up room further up the pitch?
Out of the 10 games we’ve played this season, on six occasions we’ve deployed three central midfielders in the same lineup (with James Morrison playing higher up in the Manchester City cup tie)...writes Albion blogger Nathan Carr.
This is an unnecessarily negative tactic by Tony Pulis that invariably invites the opposition onto us and reduces the support for the lone frontman if we play 4-5-1.
If we sacrificed a player in the middle of the park, that would give us more options in other areas higher up the pitch.
With two holding midfielders, there’s the possibility of a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 – two formations which, in my opinion, would make the team more well balanced.
For this weekend’s match at St. Mary’s, I’d ideally like to see Gareth Barry and Grzegorz Krychowiak holding with the latter given a bit more licence to roam forward. I don’t think Jake Livermore has done enough to warrant a starting berth.
Nacer Chadli, buoyed by that beautiful free-kick on Monday night, and Matt Phillips out wide and a forward partnership of Jay Rodriguez and Salomon Rondon.
As stated in one of my previous blogs, I believe that is a partnership which has potential to flourish.
Will this happen? It’s unlikely given Pulis’ preference for making the midfield compact. But it’s a change I’d like to see, sooner rather than later.
You can follow Nathan at @njcarr_
