If players are free to roam as they please to wherever the ball is, what is the point of having formations and defined roles? Why dont we just put 11 players on the pitch and ask them to fluidly move to wherever the play develops?
In a 3-5-2, the 8s are not meant to double up on the flanks as that would take them out of position and leave a gaping hole in the middle. Instead their primary area of coverage is inside midfield on their side of the pitch. Conte's Inter is no exception with Vidal and Barella playing inside midfield. Their roles are narrower than with a winger.
The WBs position is in midfield and is further upfield than a FB. The space behind left behind can be more easily exploited by wingers and overlapping FBs.
Not sure what you mean by an orthodox three in midfield. We always played with 2 DMs and one CM ahead of them. Irrespective of personnel, the roles remained essentially unchanged.
Fulham never had a numerical superiority in midfield as both teams had 3 in the middle. The only difference was that we had a normal triangle trio (2 DM + 1 CM) while fulham had an inverted triangle (1 DM + 2 CM/AM). Both formation were matched 1v1. Sissoko came on, picked up his man and did his job.
An orthodox 4-3-3 plays a lone DM with 2 CMs (or a CM and AM) ahead of him. Doing that would have left Hojbjerg as the sole DM to cover side to side and he doesnt have the pace to do that. Fulham would have found it much easier to play around him as he would have had to dealwith two CM/AMs on his own.
Our issues stem fromour inability to retain the ball and difficulty in pressing effectively. No formation is going to make players better passers or make them better defenders or better pressers. Our biggest issues came from Kane failing to press Andersen and Doherty being badly positioned. Trying to blame the formation for our troubles is just misguided.
We are not adopting a deep block but are being forced into it cos we cant keep the ball and get out of our own half, nor do we press well enough higher up the pitch.
An example is from the beginning of the 2nd half, we get a free kick which Toby takes, passing back to keep possession. Toby to Sanchez, to Doherty, back to Sanchez, to Toby, to Davies and then Davies plays the ball right to Andersen with no Spurs player in sight. No formation or tactics is going to fix that. None of our defenders could get by the press and advance the ball or pass into the midfield.
No matter which formation we play, if we keep passing to the opposition, we will be under continous pressure and forced into a low block. When you add defenders being as clueless as Doherty was, the outcome is what we saw.
