Adama Traore - CONFIRMED

[Risso]

He has to play. He's like Linford Christie after a trip round Lance Armstrong's house.

Like Linford Christie then.

[Gregorys Boy]

Think Sherwood deserves credit for chancing him today and think that he did a good job in keeping the hype down in the media.  If he plays some part in half the games this season then that should be good enough for now.

[olaftab]

He has to play. He's like Linford Christie after a trip round Lance Armstrong's house.

Like Linford Christie then.

Yes I thought they both used the same Chemist.

[Dante Lavelli]

Once he had the ball from out of his feet he was untouchable.  Scarily good. 
That said he adds little defensively (why should he!) so we may need to adjust our formation to accommodate him.

[taylorsworkrate]

It was almost embarrassing the ease with which he went past the 2 palace players.

We don't have another player who is remotely capable of doing that. I think he has to start against Sunderland

[The Left Side]

You know when you plan FIFA or some computer footy game and you can edit a player and give them 100% speed or energy. Well someone must have done that for Adama. He must be a robot or someone has him on fast forward, he is a beast.

[Rudy65]

Based on his cameo performance yesterday he is exactly what we need. No had a decent winger since Young.

He looks promising

[Dante Lavelli]

Promising is an understatement.  I cannot fathom what formation will suit him though as he looked as useful as a chocolate fireplace at some aspects yesterday (harsh to judge based on 20 minutes admittedly).  The way he hugged the touchline is not something we've seen for a while too.  I think he'd be best in a 433 but not sure we have the other players to suit that system whilst also including Grealish (who also looked excellent yesterday).  Could Grealish play on the left of the midfield 3?

 

[supertom]

Promising is an understatement.  I cannot fathom what formation will suit him though as he looked as useful as a chocolate fireplace at some aspects yesterday (harsh to judge based on 20 minutes admittedly).  The way he hugged the touchline is not something we've seen for a while too.  I think he'd be best in a 433 but not sure we have the other players to suit that system whilst also including Grealish (who also looked excellent yesterday).  Could Grealish play on the left of the midfield 3?

I'd like us to sit Gana and Sanchez deep and playing three attacking mids behind a striker. Grealish in the middle, Troare on the right, and one of Sinclair or Ayew on the left.
As long as the base two stay fairly disciplined I think there's enough presence there because lets face it, if you play a midfield 3 and not one offers anything in attack, it's a bit redundant. Westwood offered very little yesterday.

[Monty]

As long as the base two stay fairly disciplined I think there's enough presence there because lets face it, if you play a midfield 3 and not one offers anything in attack, it's a bit redundant. Westwood offered very little yesterday.

Apart from breaking up a whole bunch of attacks, creating our best chances and spreading the play really well. Honestly, I know this isn't the right thread, but I have no idea what Westwood has to do for people to lay off him.

[supertom]

As long as the base two stay fairly disciplined I think there's enough presence there because lets face it, if you play a midfield 3 and not one offers anything in attack, it's a bit redundant. Westwood offered very little yesterday.

Apart from breaking up a whole bunch of attacks, creating our best chances and spreading the play really well. Honestly, I know this isn't the right thread, but I have no idea what Westwood has to do for people to lay off him.

Some decent set pieces would be a start. I felt Grealish was the one creating (until Troare came on) more so, and Gabby of course was wasting those.

I just don't think playing 3 midfielders who aren't really doing much different from the other does much for the side. We could have pushed Westwood a little further up to try and instigate play a little more. If you have two midfielders like Gana and Sanchez, renowned largely for being more defensive than offensive, then I don't think you need another midfielder in there helping out the defenders.

We're not going to create enough playing a three, unless one of those players has licence to push closer to the box, and if you're playing a number 10, you don't really need that 3rd center mid. It's redundant. I'm not completely anti-Westwood (aside from seeing him at the corners) but he's got to be used correctly and he's not good enough to be a regular.

In a midfield two I don't think he'd be strong enough. If we played a two I think you'd have to go for Gana and Carlos.

We're a bit disjointed right now in terms of formation. I hope Timmeh gets it right soon.

[Monty]

I think pretty much the opposite - as soon as we had two midfielders instead of three we fell to pieces, namely when Sanchez came on. We looked just empty in midfield. I think, at least at the moment, that we need three of Sanchez, Westwood, Gana and Veretout in midfield in order to give us a base while all the players are settling in.

As for formation, I don't know, we're not exactly overburdened with brilliant lone strikers. I'd almost be tempted just to play Gil, Grealish and Adama ahead of the midfield three and just sort of let them do their thing. At least we know Gil, unlike Grealish, likes to actually shoot.

[oldham_villa]

It's one thing to have a decent winger, however it is pointless if we don't get in the box. For our equaliser yesterday, there was Gestede, who was heavily marked Gabby and Jack were nowhere near.

The forwards need to get closer together in order to support each other, plus we need to gamble

[Villafirst]

It was almost embarrassing the ease with which he went past the 2 palace players.

We don't have another player who is remotely capable of doing that. I think he has to start against Sunderland

Wrong, Jack and Gil can go by players with ease. That said, Adama is more explosive.

[Dante Lavelli]

Would midfield three (reserve option) of the following offer enough protection for the defence?  I suppose the question is whether Grealish is good enough defensively?

-------Gana----Grealish---Sanchez-------
-----(Vertout)----(Gil)----(westwood)----

Grealish (Gil) given license to go forward if we are dominating the midfield.  The wingers/inside forwards could also track back a bit too, especially if we're getting swamped.  Basically a pretty flexible system which can shift from 433 to 4231 to 451 depending on the game management required.