If you managed to catch the Kalidou Koulibaly press conference this afternoon, then you may well have also noticed this snippet.
When asked about adapting to a new club, he mentioned that he needs to adapt to playing a new formation, the 3-5-2. Notice, he quite specifically said this setup rather than the 3-4-3, which we largely played with last season.
So, was it just a mistake, or is Thomas Tuchel genuinely going to be switching formations?
It does make sense with the players we have and the players we are linked with, but I will be surprised that if he does switch, then why haven’t we tried it in pre-season?
Photo by Henry Browne/Getty Images
Anyway, I’m all for it, let’s have a look at one or two ways we could line-up, and I am going to add in a few players we are heavily linked with this week as well, just to make it even better looking!
The below would be the first starting line-up, and there is a lot about this that would excite me.
Mason Mount playing in a more free role centrally, where he can do more damage, and the front two of Sterling and Havertz would be very intriguing.
But we’d also have a pretty tasty looking ‘second string’ side as well in this line-up, basing on the current squad.
Personally, I prefer this line-up IF we have to go with a back three. Ideally, I’d prefer to see a back four, but I think we need a more combative defensive midfielder to play with a lone DM.
There will be more movements of course and different variations, but I think a 3-5-2 would get the best out of more of our players, so let’s hope Koulibaly meant it and it wasn’t just a slip of the tongue!
