First things first, I'm not sure about the title of this post, I just wanted something that was sort of memorable to the news that Martin O'Neill is considering switching back to five in midfield, because I for one think he must. Also, I'm not going to criticise Martin O'Neill, but I think he got it wrong when he moved to four in midfield to accommodate Heskey.

The irony is, I was all for Heskey signing, mostly because of his effectiveness in a 4-5-1 formation while at Wigan and under Martin O'Neill at Leicester. I can't talk for his time at Birmingham City, but somebody told me he did it there too and was quite good also.

But the arrival of Heskey and us reverting to 4-4-2, while it might not be the only factor in our dip in form, it does coincide with it and while Martin O'Neill is saying today that it's giving away soft goals, we didn't give those away when we were playing five in the middle and actually stole a lot of points in the latter stages of games when playing five in the middle.

Look, it's not that I think five in the middle is the best formation any football club can play, but we have to look at our strengths and for me, with the current crop of players we have, five in the middle is the best option, especially with the likes of James Milner, who will run until next Wednesday for you and Ashley Young, who is better suited to the space created when we do have five in the middle.

But, while Martin O'Neill considers it, it's not for certain it's going to happen tomorrow.

Have I contemplated changing formation from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1? It is a decent point. The time we went to 4-5-1 and won away from home, people said 4-5-1 wouldn’t be able to break down defences at home.The point I am making is when we drew at home with Fulham using 4-5-1, people were asking ‘Do we not need an extra centre-forward?’

When we played three midfield players with Stiliyan Petrov holding, in many aspects, it gave us a lot of stability and a lot of strength around that area. And away from home, with Gabby Agbonlahor down the channels and midfielders breaking, it seemed to suit us greatly. At home, I wasn’t sure it was always effective, but I am not so sure that formations are everything. It is something to consider. I look at the formations, tactics, it is a point to consider.

Martin O'Neill, April 3rd 2008

The most important thing I think we need is consistency in formation, so that everyone knows the role they have to play and not just those eleven that start. If we play a consistent formation, everyone that is coming through or coming on, also knows the role that each position is expected to play and like I've said above, with our current crop of players, five in the middle is best.

But don't take my word for it; nobody voted for 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 in our recent poll!

It's not about five in the middle away from home, then four in the middle at home. The Fulham match Martin O'Neill brings up, for me anyway, isn't an ideal one to look at because the one before at home, we held Manchester United to a goal less draw and the one after, both playing five in the middle, we beat Bolton 4-2.

Those are the result we should be looking at, for home matches and five in the middle, if anything the Fulham match might have been a blip and considering the result before and the result after, at the time, we would have all taken that blip.

We have to try and stop conceding daft goals, not only daft, but soul-destroying goals. They knock the stuffing out of you in many aspects. That is my viewpoint.

We’ve got to get back to playing in the type of form we showed from late November right through to February, when we went 13 league games unbeaten. We’ve got to win some matches and we’ve got to remain unbeaten.

Martin O'Neill, April 3rd 2008

I don't want to put words into the mouth of Martin O'Neill, but if he just adds the letters 'ation' to the end of one of the words he has used, I think it might all start to fall into place again; Jonathan Wilson also thinks so - he says 4-4-2 is dead!

So, the change in formation is under consideration but we'll not know for sure until tomorrow, but if we want a fighting chance to get something out of this game and not see our team go to 4-3-3 in the second half with James Milner playing at right back, then I believe it is something we have to do.

Comments (36)

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Jimbo Daventry Villa said:

... I was never really a fan of 4-5-1 but looking back we played our best football during that period. I don't however think switching to that now will mean we will get anything up there tomorrow. It has got 3-0 written all over it. If Man City can get something from Arsenal we have still got a great chance as they have to play the top 3 yet but if we find ourselves 6 points adrift come monday I think sadly it will be too much.

Comment 1, made on April 04, 2009 at 12.47 pm

Paul Gough said:

... 451 away at Old Trafford is likely to invite Man Utd on to us. Our strenght is the quick break on attack, so it should work out well.

Comment 2, made on April 04, 2009 at 12.48 pm

Damian said:

... Jimbo Daventry Villa I agree - I think it's going to be very very tough tomorrow, but like I said in my preview here: http://www.thevillablog.co.uk/...-trafford/ They need 4-5-1, if not only for a fighting chance, but to get used to it again for the Everton match .. and to start to try and create that level of consistency again ..

Comment 3, made on April 04, 2009 at 12.49 pm

tony dunn said:

... 4-4-2 can be good but the forwards need to be smart - as Luke Moore was when we beat Chelsea at VP last year - and drop into the midfield when the other team have possession, particularly if they are a strong team playing 4-5-1 as Liverpool were against us two weeks ago. It also needs an energectic midfielder like NRC to cope with the space and protect the 2 CBs.

Comment 4, made on April 04, 2009 at 1.06 pm

Denis_B said:

... MONs comments about home andaway and 451 are relevant but I thought he would be able to realise that it is possible to play different formations in different games, we don't have to rigidly stick to any formation. Our problem has been breaking down defences at VP but even 442 isn't much good when you concede space as we did against Stoke

Comment 5, made on April 04, 2009 at 1.37 pm

peter haworth said:

... We had a fantastic run whilst playing 451,when Gabby played on his own up front,with Petrov as a holding midfielder.I believe we must play NRC in midfield,if MON plays NRC at right back then we are stuffed!Play Carew up front he will hold the ball with Ash and Milner on the flanks.Another big qustion mark is who will play at LB,will MON play Luke,Bouma or Shoreyit seems to me that we are very vunerable at RB and we need to have a player who will handle Ronaldo.If we play a defensive game,do not give a silly goal away with Vidic,scholes,Rooney Berbatov all out we could snatch 0-1 on the break.Also,they must have a few question marks in their minds after defeats at Fulham and thrased by Liverpool,could this be our greatest moment of the season and a big push for top 4?

Comment 6, made on April 04, 2009 at 1.52 pm

adam curley said:

... happy days the penny has finally dropped for MON its only taken 4 months of bad results UTV

Comment 7, made on April 04, 2009 at 1.53 pm

Rich Clark said:

... im kinda tired of repeating myself on different forums now, but rooney, ronaldo, berbatov, scholes, vidic, hargreaves are ALL OUT..... i repeat...rooney, ronaldo, berbatov, scholes, vidic, hargreaves are ALL OUT.....

Comment 8, made on April 04, 2009 at 2.27 pm | url

Damian said:

... Rich Clark So, you are saying now is a great time to be playing United. I agree and if we are to stand a fighting chance, I think we've got to revert back .. If we get three points from Old Trafford tomorrow I'll not drink beer for a month!

Comment 9, made on April 04, 2009 at 2.32 pm

Andy Pepper said:

... Rich Clark I dont think Ronaldo is out,unfortunatley

Comment 10, made on April 04, 2009 at 2.55 pm

Rich Clark said:

... villapep is he not? damn, the only reason i knew about those lot being out is because my mate (wh im watching the game with) is a man united fan and apparently the girly ronaldo hurt his ankle again and damien yup im saying now is the best time to play them, although we NEED to drop heskey (preferably off the planet) and revert back to 451, desperately, any old idiot can see the drop in form weve had since donkey came into the side and we changed to 442, why cant MON?! also has anyone seen his interview? he said something about "getting this far and NOT throwing it all away" thats ironic, because we got "so far" in the uefa cup to go and throw it all away, so it wouldnt suprise me if he did the same with the premier league... sorry, still a bit sore from the whole uefa cup and january debacles

Comment 11, made on April 04, 2009 at 3.11 pm | url

Damian said:

... i think a few are still upset about the UEFA cup white flag waving episode - especially because it didn´t serve the purpose it was done for .. it may haunt o´neill in future times

Comment 12, made on April 04, 2009 at 3.17 pm

Martin Clabon said:

... I think we are kidding ourselves thinking changing formation suddenly means we start playing good football again. What we need is some players to come back to fitness (Skip, Big Billy Bouma)and form (Gabi, Ash, Zat, Curt, just about everyone really)and a bit of confidence - and maybe a bit of luck. Most fans are just desperate to find a simple reason we are having a mare which can be quickly fixed Despite lack of Man U players tomorrow I think we will lose tomorrow - but you never know. After that, regardless of formation, we will start winning games, although Everton will be tough. I am expecting a strong finish to the season and indeed was expecting this bad patch (although didn't think quite this bad). Not sure will be good enough for 4th though, still in with decent chance of 5th Also, Adamskin, 4 months of bad results - when did that start?

Comment 13, made on April 04, 2009 at 3.18 pm

Rich Clark said:

... yup and hopefully it'll serve as a lesson in the future im just sick of the excuses, know what i mean? tiredness, confidence, lack of squad depth, whats next? these are all things MON could have and should have dealt with, i just sincerely hope he buys well in the summer, spend between 50-60 million on real quality, to get to the sort of level everton/arsenal are at...weve made the world sit up and take note, so we desperately need to take advantage, i think participating in the peace cup with so many high profile clubs will do us the world of good also

Comment 14, made on April 04, 2009 at 3.21 pm | url

Martin Clabon said:

... Rich, I don't think the Everton Squad's any better or bigger than ours. I agree we need to be buy but should be aiming at Arsenal and above not Everton

Comment 15, made on April 04, 2009 at 3.48 pm

Jimbo Daventry Villa said:

... Damian, I totally agree. If we go up there and pack the midfield we do have a fighting chance its just that we never get anything off United home or away and always seem to have lost before we start against them. Like I said earlier if we can keep the gap to a maximum of 4 points we have a chance because with the 4-5-1 formation i'm sure we will turn Everton over. The reason I'm not a fan of the 4-5-1 is that for long periods of games we play with backs against the wall and rely on counter attacks is boring football but it has definatly been affective and 4-4-2 is obviously not working. Having Heskey out injured may just be the break we need.

Comment 16, made on April 04, 2009 at 3.55 pm

Rich Clark said:

... sid i honestly believe everton have a much better squad than ours, alot of our players only seem good because MON inflated their egos, if you look at the squad and think of the players that'd get into our squad, itd be most of their team at the minute! howard, jagielka, lescott, fellaini, cahill, arteta, yakubu, jo...and theyve got a few youngsters that are quality aswell anyone saw the paul merson prediction on skysports? what he says about the villa is completely true...ill get the link http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,25212,15205_5138237,00.html

Comment 17, made on April 04, 2009 at 4.36 pm | url

adam curley said:

... sorry sid i stand corrected,shit results since EMULE arrived

Comment 18, made on April 04, 2009 at 5.45 pm

Martin Clabon said:

... Rich, may be I've got my claret and blue specs on but I wouldn't have Howard ahead of Friedel or Jagielka or Yakubu ahead of Larson and Davies (I'm also hoping to see what the fuss is about Cuellar at some point). I don't like Jo at all and wouldn't have him ahead of Carew or Gabby when on form. Like I say, maybe I'm seeing things too much from a Villa perspective Couldn't you equally argue that Friedel, L Young, Laurson, Davies, A Young, Milner, Petrov, Barry, Carew and Gabbi would have at least a chance of getting in the Everton side (plus Bouma when back)? I like Arteta a lot. Fellaini looks a prospect but not proved himself and gets booked all the time. Cahill is effective but I can never quite work out how he scores so many goals, all headers and always looks like he should have been closed down (I guess a sign of good movement) but he doesn't do a lot else We have good youngsters as well but I don't really believe this idea that MON gives youngsters a chance - can't see much evidence for that I think Everton have an OK squad but Moyes is a great manager who organises brilliantly and gets the best out of what he's got. Sound familiar?

Comment 19, made on April 04, 2009 at 5.48 pm

Anthony Laud said:

... richclark - ronaldo is playing as for the others they'll bring in Tevez, anderson, Evans and either giggs or park! hardly weakens there side much - hargreaves is irrlelevant as carrick is far better and would start in front of him anyway. oneil will play 4-5-1 i imagine tomorrow but only cause Heskey is out. He'll revert back to 4-4-2 soon enough!

Comment 20, made on April 04, 2009 at 5.50 pm

Martin Clabon said:

... Adam, it's weird with Emille. I've never been a fan and wasn't exactly thrilled when he signed but he is an England regular and a lot of knowledgeable managers and commentors rate him very highly. So not sure he isn't something of a scapegoat as the wheels have come off big style and would have whether he was here or not. Who knows

Comment 21, made on April 04, 2009 at 5.53 pm

Rich Clark said:

... i dont doubt weve got a good first 11 side, aslong as players are playing to their potential, but beyond that we dont offer much, which is where teams like everton and spurs pip us, man city will join that club in the summer honestly MON needs to get his act together when buying players, ive worked it out at around £17 Million has been wasted on useless players who have never made an impact or are never used, they could have been used along with the speculated £40 Million in january we had, to buy some quality players, i dont think i stand alone in saying we should have bought more/better players in january, 3rd at christmas, 2 points off the top, doing well in the uefa....completely deflated and out of the uefa come april...im blaming one person and one person only for that oh and just for fun, am i the only person who thinks is actually randy lerner who has turned this club around? MON hasnt had an awful lot to do with it in my opinion, sure he got us playing better, but no better than we played under gregory or atkinson, even o'leary had us playing some ok stuff at times, i wont even bother mentioning taylor... but in my honest opinion, its without a shadow of a doubt randy lerner who has turned this club around, brand new state of the art training facilities, re-furbished trinity road stand and corporate area, refurbished holte pub, refurbished holte suite, the best kit supplier there is available, a new, fresh badge, a lick of paint round the whole ground, hes even bought in subtle little changes like the personalized corner flags... its a shame the money he gave us to buy players wasnt used more wisely... all credit to Mr.Lerner - hes my savior.

Comment 22, made on April 04, 2009 at 6.03 pm | url

Rich Clark said:

... i forgot to add the refurbishment of villa village! and the planned work he has to rebuild the north stand... the money hes spent is incredible oh and tonebone - thats a shame, oh well...maybe we can break him

Comment 23, made on April 04, 2009 at 6.06 pm | url

Doc said:

... I think rather than speculate, we need to look at what happened when we tried 4-4-2 against an equally mobile, pacey and skillful team on Merseyside. We got murdered. We cannot allow United to swamp our midfield. Instead, we should play an arsey, niggling, space-denying game and hope that we can nick one on the break. O'Neill must now have learned something new: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. 4-5-1 for me, any day of the week.

Comment 24, made on April 04, 2009 at 6.30 pm

Martin Clabon said:

... Rich, I'd agree about Lerner (although training facility development well under way before he came) but think you are being a bit hard on MON. While he makes some rubbish signings and I'm not sure about his sub policy he certainly has something. There's plenty of teams who've spent more and improved less. It's difficult at the moment because we are in a bad run and hence tend to think everything is black but things can turn around remarkably quickly. As far as signing better quality players - agreed we all want that but I'm not sure Villa are yet a great draw for real quality and our budget is not as big as many others - we will not pay top Dollar wages A good test, I think, is what other clubs fans think when we moan about MON. Generally they think we are crazy and don't know when we are well off. Either we are right because we are close enough to see the faults or they are right because we are blinded by our love of the club and our fervent belief that we should be right up at the top all the time because - well we are Aston Villa. The truth, as always, is probably somewhere inbetween

Comment 25, made on April 04, 2009 at 7.51 pm

Michael said:

... theres a small part of me that hopes man u win 2moro, dont want liverpool winning the title, obviously i will be ecstatic if villa win but this might be one of them rare moments that defeat wont be so bad.

Comment 26, made on April 04, 2009 at 9.07 pm

john franey said:

... I cant really see us gettin anything out of the game 2moro,for some reason villa are already beaten b4 they go out on the pitch against united.I hope im wrong though.

Comment 27, made on April 04, 2009 at 9.48 pm

Jimbo Daventry Villa said:

... mickey86 To say that a small part of you hopes Man Utd win tomorrow only shows you are not and never will be a true Villa fan. You should hang your head in shame.

Comment 28, made on April 04, 2009 at 9.50 pm

Rich Clark said:

... i watched that yes we can video again today...i seriously, seriously wish MON would play this for the players before matches, it pumps me up enough to induce a serious amount of confidence into me, so im sure the players would get that same feeling 6 points behind arsenal, man united away, everton home coming up...can we finish 4??? YES...WE...CAN!

Comment 29, made on April 04, 2009 at 9.59 pm | url

adam curley said:

... YES WE CAN

Comment 30, made on April 04, 2009 at 10.09 pm

Rich Clark said:

... hell yeah we can! were aston villa. we can do anything we put our minds to

Comment 31, made on April 05, 2009 at 12.55 am | url

Mike Carter said:

... I don't mind too much if we lose now, at least it means seeing Liverpool fall off top.

Comment 32, made on April 05, 2009 at 12.57 am

Fitzy. 7 said:

... has anyone read the drivel on the old blog. good god its depressingly bad

Comment 33, made on April 05, 2009 at 2.19 am

Nick said:

... I wonder if MON will pick Agonlahor or Carew as the lone striker. If he chooses 4-5-1, which im not sure he will. I would go with Gabby for this game, he created a few chances for himself up against vidic and ferdinand when we played at Villa Park. I think he can do better away from home with hopefully more space in behind. Bring Carew on if we go down a goal and need to go for it. Our biggest problem like always will be our back 4. They have a lot to prove and there is no better place to go and get a clean sheet! utv

Comment 34, made on April 05, 2009 at 3.36 am

Nigel said:

... nick_not_nicky. 100% agree with your assessment.

Comment 35, made on April 05, 2009 at 10.40 am

jon said:

... Fitzy, yes just read some. It's terribly written and poorly spelled. Is anyone else getting sick of Barry harping on about his future? Just shut up man, we all know you're off if Villa don't get top 4!

Comment 36, made on April 05, 2009 at 12.14 pm

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