The 4-4-2 has been the staple formation of sides across the world since probably the late 1980s, and is still the most prevalent setup used by most teams in the English leagues (especially in the lower divisions). Charlton are, of course, one of the sides to employ it with some regularity - but is this the right way to go with our current squad?
Personally, I don't think so. The midfielders have to work the hardest, without a doubt. As the old maxim goes - if they score, it came through the midfield; if we don't score, there was no service from the midfield. As the vast majority of our midfielders either lack one or more of defensive ability, attacking ability, work rate and athleticism, this leaves all-too-exploitable weaknesses in the middle of the park. Poyet and Cousins are both young and eventually will likely make up their current shortcomings (attacking nous/strength/stamina and such), but with the Championship and English football as competitive and dynamic as it is, we can't afford to have them busting their lungs every week, risking injury or suspension or fatigue.
As for the flanks, Jackson is - for all his ability - simply off the pace, as his woefully late slide tackle against Sheffield United showed. He was lucky to stay on the field. Harriott is too lightweight, and a bit of a luxury player. As is Green - but he's barely even "luxury". Wilson is perhaps the closest we have to a solid midfielder with all these attributes, but even he has his attacking limitations, and is often deployed as a right back.
Up front - we lack a traditional strike force partnership. You could probably categorise what I mean as "traditional" twofold: 1) big man and quick man; 2) creator and goalscorer. In recent years however, as football has evolved and fitness has become paramount across the leagues, this dynamic has changed. You generally get someone with the athleticism of a target man and creative nous of an attacking midfielder, paired with a quick striker who has good dribbling and off-the-ball movement as well as lethal finishing. (That's not to say the big man can't finish, and the small man can't create, of course.) A strike partnership that might typify this is the likes of Dzeko and Aguero at Manchester City.
At the moment, Charlton have Church - quick, industrious, but can neither really create chances nor finish them. There's Ghoochannejhad, who may be able to finish, and looks fairly quick, but hasn't bedded in with our style of play. Sordell is a big guy who CAN finish, and provides some good linkup, but doesn't appear to have settled. Tudgay - another fairly unknown quantity, who appears to have some linkup skills, but no real penetrative edge. So on, and so forth. The main problem is that we haven't got someone big to hold onto the ball, like Yann could, nor apparently do we have any natural-born poacher finishers. Essentially we need a new strike force, which is something I'll come back to.
In defence - we're generally okay. We have a goalkeeper who can perform his duties adequately; a left-back (Wiggins) and right-back (Solly, when he's not injured) who can both maraud down the wings and have the energy to get back and defend against opposition wingers. Our centre backs, while not the quickest, have decent positional awareness and covering abilities. I don't really have a problem here. I am, in fact, guilty of believing the maxim I referred to in my second paragraph: it's all coming through the midfield, so our defence is overrun.
So I've identified that up front, we're a bit screwed, and that the various weaknesses in the midfield lead to either overrunning in defence, or a lack of bite in attack. How can we change this?
NOTE: As my post was too long as I typed it, I'm splitting this into two parts (the other's going to be immediately after).
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You can also turn the 4-2-3-1 from a defensive setup to a more attack minded one, which I will attempt to demonstrate using players in the current Charlton squad. DISCLAIMER: I'm not saying these players are any good, I'm just using our squad for familiarity's sake, based on their purported qualities. I realise we have other players that could play in some of the roles I've outlined, but this post is already pretty long, and it's more of a discussion of tactic rather than our squad at the moment.
Hamer
Solly------Morrison-----Wood------Wiggins
Cousins-----Poyet
Wilson----------Ajdarevic-----------Jackson
Church
So here, we have a fairly defensive setup. Wilson and Jackson's main roles would be to supplement the defence, and frustrate most opposition attacks. Ajdarevic is our main creative outlet, so should we attack, the idea would be to keep the ball for a bit first, regroup, eventually find Ajdarevic dropping into space and use him as a fulcrum to move up the pitch. Church could also be used to counter and pull the defence further back - so we could send him on a wild goose chase, with Ajdarevic in attendance to pick up the second ball and then build attacks.
Alternatively:
Hamer
Solly------Morrison-----Wood------Wiggins
Cousins-----Poyet
Harriott----------Ajdarevic-----------Church
Sordell
Sordell is nominally my "target man" in this strategy, given we have no out-and-out powerhouse a la Yann. Bear with me. The idea here would be to have a quick counter-attack with Harriott and Church running down the wings, cutting in, then hopefully finding Ajdarevic or Sordell to finish some chances. Also, Sordell could receive the ball, hold it up while the quicker wingers move up in support, and counter thus. Again, Ajdarevic would be the main creative outlet. Also, Church/Harriott could swap wings, and aim to push down the byline and get crosses in to a target man and others in the box. I'm no real tactician - I realise that Cousins and Poyet would still need to bomb up and down - but the centre of midfield is crucial in EVERY footballing tactic. They'll be there eventually. I would think they're the best two prospects we have at the club.
Right, back to the need for a target man, aptly demonstrated by my questionable use of Sordell as one in that second formation. Yann would be a perfect fit. However, we haven't got him, and while it's comforting to pine over losing him, we need a replacement. I haven't got a clue who right now. Parzyszek is 6'3, which might suggest something once he seems game-ready. I don't know, I have to stress that - just speculating. He has himself said he's an in-the-box player. We'll see.
Also, I think we need more options on the flanks as it stands. Wilson is solid but not really totally attacking; Green is poor; Jackson is not young; Harriott is too lightweight for all his tricks and pace. Ideally, we'd have a Chris Burke type player on each wing, but that's fairly pie-in-the-sky thinking. The centre of the park will come good, and employing Cousins and Poyet as primarily defensive players for now who don't venture forward too much would in my opinion be a decent policy. Defence - I think we need a quicker centre back to partner Morrison, but that would be a bonus. Full backs we're okay. As for a CAM - Ajdarevic is pretty much my key to success. He probably isn't fit right now, and he's only on loan, but... what a sight he'd be in a Charlton shirt regularly. Obvious choice for this role would be someone in the mould of Juan Roman Riquelme. Obviously, he's nowhere near realistic. But a nice thought.
You have to dream though. After all, we're Charlton fans.
Thanks for reading.
I think you could line up as:
Wilson - Morrison - Wood - Wiggins
Cousins - Poyet
Tudgay/Reza - Ajdarevic - Jackson/Harriott
Reza/Tudgay
AA is the closest thing we have to a number 10.
The problem with the traditional 4-4-2 is that we don't have a strong enough 2. Not now Stephens has gone. The above system might also go some way to dealing with the general lack of movement ahead of Poyet we saw today.