I think we are deliberately playing a diamond - it seems to be something Poch is intent on getting right. And I acknowledge it hasn’t worked very well in the past, either this season or when Poch first tried it in the game that Winks got his first goal, against West Ham.
But when it comes to what we are playing now, particularly in these games against City and Arsenal so far, it’s different to what we expect from a Poch team. There is no real pressing as we know it. There was no desire to dominate possession in the opponents’ half. There was no real high defensive line. It is a narrow formation designed to spring a counter attack and it requires good execution on passes made from front to back. One time Eriksen ballsed up a break away and Poch was furious - because those are the chances we wanted to create in that game. Eriksen’s goal was near enough perfect execution of the strategy, and if memory serves the play leading to the penalty came from a good fast break getting us there.
There are still kinks to work out. We got too easily panicked for for their first goal and need to understand that even if we don’t have a possession strategy there are times we still need to make calmer choices with the ball. And for the second, we stood off a lot although to be fair Guendouzi’s pass was excellent. We also need to figure out how we play the diamond in games where we expect to dominate possession. We need more positional interchange, we need more fluidity in those games, but I will assume this will come and the first games are Poch trying to establish the shape before adding more complexity.
But maybe he likes it because with most teams having moves away from a back 3 again and towards a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, he thinks this gives him enough of an advantage in the right areas to create a structural benefit, in the way 3-4-3 did for Conte. I don’t know for sure - I’m by no means an expert, but he seems determined with this formation.
Work out the kinks and I think it’s a good big game formation. We’ve gone to two tough grounds and come away undefeated now. And particularly in the Arsenal game we created chances enough to win with better composure. But even in the City game, despite the shots I think there were large periods we did lock them out. Then it’s just sorting possession out against deep defending sides when the 3 up on the counter doesn’t work. As I said, fluidity is important. Quick interchanges are important - the type that lead to Kane’s post rattler. I’m sure we can get there.
And I will say, if we are moving away from pressing hopefully this will benefit us more over the season. And we have a squad that can suit. Players like Lo Celso and Sessegnon can play so many roles in the formation. So can near enough all of our midfielders. We just need to sort possession out, and make the right decisions under pressure so as not to concede stupid goals like the one before half time.
