by Little Shrimp » Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:30 pm
We've actually had a bit of a history undoing Duff's back three, even before DA was here! I remember when we beat them 4-0 a couple of years ago, Mingoia basically stuck on the half way line ready to break - which was quite unusual for him as he generally tended to work back more. This helped us get in behind their wing backs which caused trouble.
I didn't think the 3-5-2 match up we did at the start of the season worked hugely well, although when we settled into the shape in the second half a bit better we looked solid, and McAlinden picked some gaps in their back three really nicely.
Yesterday's diamond was a really interesting call from DA to exploit Cheltenham. My own view is that 4-3-3 (our usual formation) is best to exploit a 3-5-2 as when your full backs push up, you can really hammer a 3-5-2 out wide (see England vs Croatia in the WC semis). The diamond was an interesting approach, and worked very well in the first half and really caught them out, partially because I think it was so unexpected and there's no way Cheltenham would have prepared for it. We had some good numbers in midfield, two or three (including Carlos) forwards picking the holes in between the centre backs, and we could match up out wide with full backs going man for man with the wing backs.
They got a few more numbers out wide in the second half which is where the diamond can be weak as it's a very narrow formation, and helped them crank up the pressure. Then I thought DA countered well to bring on Cooney and give us a bit more defensive sureness in wide areas.