Brunners

This is his first, but tbh you would think going from a CDM originally, CB is probably not to difficult a switch.

Dijksteel was actually originally a CDM and I think it was Charlton that turned him into a RB. So IMO it's not like he's got a youth career of RB appearances to fall back on. He's played the position like...less than 2 seasons I think.

Lets calm down @LinoJo3 no need to start heading towards personal insults.

I, personally, believe that we are in a better position moving forward with the 352, solely because the 433 would require not only the additions to the spine that he was always going to go for regardless, but a huge investment and influx in players to make it work at all. The 352 works now, even if it does have its flaws. I'm not accepting of the mediocrity, I'm accepting of the financial state of where we are. IMO to make 433 work without starting to square peg / round hole players, you'd need 8-9 signings (including the spinal ones that, again, he was always going to make). For me there are too many risks involved in that. What if you don't get the players in? How much would they all cost, all told? We're not made of money. Also as far as the CM playing in the back 3 goes, lets not pretend McNair hasn't played a lot of CB through his career, even before joining us. It's not like it's unknown that he can play there.

National League not starting at their proposed date. Could even shut down the entire season if they can't get crowds back, everyone will go bust otherwise.

Okay cool so now you have those 3 signings for the spine of the team with the GK, CB, CM. So now you expect us to be able to sign 2 starting calibre wingers - likely 2 more as well because we don't have any backup for that position either, AND a new starting LB. Fine, over the entire window, sure - what do we do before we get them all in (if we were even able to, which lets face it, we wouldn't be) considering the players we have now are definitely not suited to the 433?

Not to mention the fact that if we were signing players for the 433 at the pace we are signing them atm, we would have had a preseason playing a formation the players we had at the time weren't terribly suited for, and would be trying to slot in important first team players once the season had already started. That's more of a recipe for disaster IMO than deciding to go the 352

To go 433 effectively you likely need two LW & two RW because we have none. You'd still need a 3rd striker too, so there's 5 signings just to make the bloody formation work. Whereas you can play 352/532 with what we had already, even without Johnson, without any tinkering at all. Yes, there are questions over the quality of our wingbacks, all entirely valid concerns, but that doesn't change the fact that you'd need a huge overhaul of the squad to play 433, while 352 you can just work to improve on what you have.

Can't see any stories about them but I sure hope that club implodes sooner rather than later, dirty cheats.

we aren't going to buy wingers It's more than okay to ask for creative options but the sooner you stop asking for wingers the happier you will be. We need creative options that can operate centrally. A true number 10 for one.

Hashtag Utd through to the 2nd qualifying round of the FA cup after another penalty shoot out! Only 3 wins away from the 1st round proper! First ever televised game tonight & it was a very enjoyable game too.

The entire place? How are they gonna field that many people?!

If dijksteel and McNair play as well as they have in these two games in defeats I will maintain my opinion. My criticism of fry has absolutely nothing to do with him being home grown and everything to do with the fact that he has been downright bad for a while, although I still believe him to have tons of potential and he is still very young. As for the johnson stuff, I don't even know where to begin, so I won't.

What?! Johnson has been far, FAR worse as an option than Spence has! I don't criticise any of the 3 players mentioned (except from a couple valid points about Claytons legs at times, but DS will tell you I was his number one fan on this forum). Spence did alright defensively vs Bournemouth and his ability in a back 4 not only can improve, but isn't terribly relevant in a season where we're likely to play 352 for 90+% of the time. AND he wasn't even that bad going forward either. He appears to be scared to try and take people on at the moment for some reason, whether that's an instruction thing or a personal confidence thing I don't know, but he's still making himself available and playing some nice short passes. His delivery is his biggest let down, but again, the kid is 20 and has played like 20 something games ffs. Not only that, but you bring up playing Fry who has, in all honestly, arguably been in the top 3 for most disappointing players at the club for the last season and a bit AND moving over Dijksteel who did start improving towards the end of last season at RB but has looked PHENOMENAL at RCB in every game he's played so far. For me, Fry doesn't make the team even when at 100% atm, not with how well Paddy and Dijksteel do either side of a slower player like Hall. I don't want Fry ever touching the left side of defence ever again and if he replaces Dijksteel with his form atm I'll scream. For me, personally, based on current form I'd much rather our right hand side was Dijksteel & Spence over Fry & Dijksteel.

Again, what praise? He gets nothing but slated on here and people just wilfully ignore the good stuff that he does do. Just this weekend he made some good defensive plays - one of which I know @Changing Times at least noticed. His runs and movement are still raw and yes he seems to be lacking in confidence right now, but the lad is what, 20? With less than a season of professional football under his belt. Cut the guy some slack ffs.