Coventry City manager Andy Thorn has learnt a valuable lesson from previous managers and that is a side will soon get found out if it does not occasionally alter its tactics.
In an effort to keep the opposition on the back-foot Andy Thorn is now working on what he calls his 'Plan B'.
When Thorn took over as temporary manager following the dismissal of Aidy Boothroyd, he immediately adopted an attacking philosophy using a diamond midfield formation and it paid dividends not only in positive results, but in wining over the fans who had become bored and disillusioned with negative, defensive and long ball tactics primarily aimed at not losing rather than attempting to win.
Now Thorn has been given the managers job on a permanent basis, if a one year contract can be interpreted as permanent, he is working on alternative tactics in a bid to endure that his side is more difficult to be analysed by the opposition.
Thorn explained to the CT:"I think you have to have a back-up plan. It's all right playing open football to an extent but you need something else so we are currently working on and talking about a Plan B, if you like
"We had one anyway but we have been talking about different systems and where the players can fit in and get the best out of them. So we'll have one next season and I'll probably try it out in pre-season."
"It is something we will be able to change during the game or before the game. We have got two or three that we like and we will work on them and whatever suits us best we will do."
Thorn has insisted he will not return to the 4-4-2 formations that were favoured by previous managers and that produced unattractive football which the fans disliked, but he recognises the need for an alternative option. He will persist with the midfield diamond formation, but he intends to add twists and tweaks to it to confuse and disorient the opposition.
He continued: "We had ten games in the end and we didn't change the system. Everyone knew how we played but we started to get better and better at it and it is a case of other teams changing their system to come and stop us. The last game at Norwich we matched them up because they play the same way, and they have played it a lot longer than us."
"There were times when we couldn't get near them and times when they couldn't get near us either, but there are a few things we want to try when we get back, bbut we won't be 4-4-2, that's for sure. We will have bodies in different areas and playing the way we have been playing within different systems we want to try out.
"We might play one half a diamond and one half something else in the pre-season that we have been working on because that's the chance to work on it."