Tony Cottee believes we go into the match against Wolves tonight with a strong squad mindset after putting five past Hull City in the Carabao Cup.
Wins breed confidence and plenty of goals even more so and the Hammers goal scoring hero is confident that we will be in good shape for the clash.
Give the strength of the performance at the emirates last week he reckons we are ready to put on a show and grab some much required points from the game.
A regular “columnist” on the official site at www.whufc.com TC reckons a back three is the way forward as we saw against Arsenal and clearly won’t be surprised if that’s the way the manager goes tonight.
Such a system gives more flexibility to the attacking options as was particularly noticeable with the inclusion of an on fire Arthur Masuaku, clearly determined to make a point or two.
Cottee said at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2020/september/26-september/tony-cottee-back-three-gives-david-moyes-flexible-options : I think we go into this evening’s difficult encounter against Wolves with a sense of confidence and belief following Tuesday’s convincing Carabao Cup victory.
I actually thought we played really well at the Emirates. We looked threatening on the counter-attack, solid defensively and had energy and intensity running through the team. In the second half, thoughwe just lacked that cutting edge and the fear then crept in that we might pay the price.
The stand-out factor at Arsenal was obviously the change in shape and formation introduced by the manager, going to a central back three and using wing-backs – something he enjoyed success with in his first spell at the Club.
Personally, I think it was the right call, and a decision influenced by the personnel available to David at present. It’s fair to say that our full-backs – particularly Ryan Fredericks and Arthur Masuaku – are attacking full-backs… something you can probably say is the case across the Premier League now!
Gone are the days when full-backs hardly crossed the halfway line and would often be the last line of defence. Now it is the complete opposite – there is so much emphasis on full-backs to get forward and support attacks, and the three at the back system allows them to do it with more freedom and less fear about getting caught out.
Equally, the central defenders have that extra security as a three. I’ve got to say, every time I see Aaron Cresswell in that left-of-the-three role, he really impresses me. He looks comfortable defensively and has a good understanding with Arthur ahead of him.
The other key factor is having a top-quality defensive midfielder in front of the back three and, in Declan Rice, we certainly have that. You need the protector who is going to patrol in front of them, slide across if he needs to cover one of the wing-backs and be able to use the ball efficiently and productively.
Declan can do all of those things with real quality and class, and really is becoming the heartbeat of the team in that sense.
The system also gives you greater flexibility in your attacking formation – the manager has the option to play with one centre-forward, as he did at Arsenal on Saturday, and two wider players to support the wing-backs, or he can bring in another forward and go with a 3-5-2, something he may be considering this evening, especially given Sebastien Haller’s goalscoring form in the two Carabao Cup ties so far.