Now that we have a strong defence..

[Jamie88]

Now we have Sigurdsson, Madl and Kalas, presumably one of these will not get in the starting XI.

However, I was thinking earlier that a 3-5-2 or 3-5-1-1 might be a good option to be able to play all three of them, especially what with our new attacking options in the full back positions.

Do we think Slav might consider doing something like this? May be a bit of a gamble given that he has played a 4-2-3-1 consistently this season and got the team playing a certain way

I was thinking something like this -

                              Button
           Kalas        Sigurdsson        Madl
Odoi                   McDonald           Malone/Sess
               Cairney              Kebano/Ayite
                             Aluko
                             Martin

[General]

I think Mcdonald has done more than enough to merit his place in the starting line up.

[AlexW132]

Kalas can also play RB, arguably better than at CB. Therefore I wouldn't be surprised to see Odoi move over to the left to accommodate Sigurdsson in the middle

[AlexW132]

Also switching to a 3ATB during the season is very risky, especially since we have had success with a back 4. It's a tall order for a 16 year old to have to attack and defend a whole left side without support.

[Jamie88]

Kalas can also play RB, arguably better than at CB. Therefore I wouldn't be surprised to see Odoi move over to the left to accommodate Sigurdsson in the middle

I know he has played at RB, but I'm almost positive his best position is at CB from what I've seen. I'm never a fan of centre backs playing as full backs - thinking of players like Ream and Stearman and in the past Aaron Hughes - they may do a job defensively, but usually they don't give much if any support in attack

[fulhamben]

Kalas can also play RB, arguably better than at CB. Therefore I wouldn't be surprised to see Odoi move over to the left to accommodate Sigurdsson in the middle

I know he has played at RB, but I'm almost positive his best position is at CB from what I've seen. I'm never a fan of centre backs playing as full backs - thinking of players like Ream and Stearman and in the past Aaron Hughes - they may do a job defensively, but usually they don't give much if any support in attack

im with you, and i could understand it if odoi malone and sess had been dodgy. but they havent, far from it. im sure mjg could point me (privately) to their average ratings this season so far. and i bet all 3 are close to 8s

[bill taylors apprentice]

The sensible thing to do would be to move Kalas to RB where he has played and impressed many times and swop Odoi back to his preferred position of LB.
Thus leaving Madl and Sigurdsson in the centre.

Tough on Malone and Sessengon but they can play LM when needed, not tough on Ream and Fredericks (when fit) who are not good enough to play when everyone else is fit.

[AlexW132]

Kalas can also play RB, arguably better than at CB. Therefore I wouldn't be surprised to see Odoi move over to the left to accommodate Sigurdsson in the middle

I know he has played at RB, but I'm almost positive his best position is at CB from what I've seen. I'm never a fan of centre backs playing as full backs - thinking of players like Ream and Stearman and in the past Aaron Hughes - they may do a job defensively, but usually they don't give much if any support in attack

Apparently for boro he was very good on the right

[fulhamben]

The sensible thing to do would be to move Kalas to RB where he has played and impressed many times and swop Odoi back to his preferred position of LB.
Thus leaving Madl and Sigurdsson in the centre.

Tough on Malone and Sessengon but they can play LM when needed, not tough on Ream and Fredericks (when fit) who are not good enough to play when everyone else is fit.

sorry how is making 3 to 4 changes to our back 4 sensible? sensible would be to leave it as it is as its doing so well. you are making soo many changes to our back 4 to accommodate 2 players, and its not just those that will be effected. every player infront of them will have to learn the styles and abilities of those behind them. and also our defenders in new positions would have to learn all about the new players infront of them. they would also have players next to them that they are not used to aswell.  im just not getting sensible from that at all

[fulhamben]

Kalas can also play RB, arguably better than at CB. Therefore I wouldn't be surprised to see Odoi move over to the left to accommodate Sigurdsson in the middle

I know he has played at RB, but I'm almost positive his best position is at CB from what I've seen. I'm never a fan of centre backs playing as full backs - thinking of players like Ream and Stearman and in the past Aaron Hughes - they may do a job defensively, but usually they don't give much if any support in attack

Apparently for boro he was very good on the right

apparently jazz richards played well for wales and swansea

[Whitesideup]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[JOND999]

  ask Sigurdsson who he wants to play with in the back and that's your line-up.

[filham]

No way should Jocavonic start fiddling with the system, it is working well at the moment, leave it as it is and be pleased that we have a very good defender on the bench or as cover for injuries.

Of course we do not know Sigurdsson is going to react to Championship football, it may take him a while to adjust in which case our back four will be as it was in the last match for a while.

[Jack Fulham]

No thank you!

No point trying to fit people in, let them compete for a place in the team.

[Asotosyios]

I think Jokanovic will stick to 4-2-3-1 for now, but I wouldn't be surprised if he chooses to play with 3 at the back in some games.

On a different note, I can see us buying Kalas in the summer if he has a good year. He will only have a year left on his contract (expires in 2018) and a bid of £3-4m should probably be enough.

[AlexW132]

I really think we need Sigurdsson in at the back ASAP, at the moment our defence is a bit short.

[hovewhite]

Don't fix something that's not broken siggi on the bench for now!