Coventry City stand in manager Richard Shaw has said he will continue to use the diamond formation introduced by the former manager Andy Thorn.
Shaw, who was in charge of the side that beat Birmingham City 3-2 in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night, used the diamond formation and as he pointed out they have used it five times this season and have yet to lose.
However Shaw remains open minded on the subject of formations and says he will use whatever formation he believes will succeed against any given opposition. He will work with his players during training to make them understand how to change formation during a game to make them a difficult side to play against.
Thorn came in for some criticism for persevering with the diamond formation, which he introduced with some success on his appointment as caretaker manager at the end of the 2010/11 season, when it wasn't working and the results went against them.
Shaw succinctly pointed out to the CT's Andy Turner, “We’ve used it five times this season and we haven’t lost yet! I am very much open to different systems but I think there is a lot made of formations and systems and a lot of nonsense talked about them. I think you play the system according to the players you have.
“We went 4-4-2 against Wrexham in the pre-season and got murdered. Because it was pre-season we were just trying out different things. Everyone now seems to play a man in the hole, a man in front of the back four and if teams do that and get on the ball really early you really do have to look at it and change your system accordingly and try to get a foothold in the game.
“We have played the diamond system this year with two up front which is always going to be a threat. We’re unbeaten in five games and every team has adjusted themselves to playing that system, and that’s all credit to us.
“Birmingham came to our place on Tuesday and played a diamond because we did, and that’s a Championship club.”
“I think to be fair the first half against Bury we were different class and had we won no-one would have even thought about the system. The second half was abysmal and people were saying the diamond system is not very good, so it’s all about the personnel. Players make the system work because if you have got someone who switches off then there’s a problem. But, if like on Tuesday, everyone is on top of their game, in the right slots and right areas, it can be a real handful.
To make best use of any formation a manager has to have the players who can make best use of them, there is little point in setting a side up to pay wide if there are no wingers in the squad.
Shaw explained: “We played 4-3-3 at Millwall last year and I absolutely loved it, but we had two wide players with pace but we haven’t got that here so you have to play according to the players you have got, and that’s being pragmatic.
“If the team played in a diamond for most of last year and got relegated then people will be down on it anyway, but if Coventry had stayed up people would have said what a great system it is, but whatever system you play you expect players to track back and tackle.
“If you look at the Premier League no-one plays with two up front now. They all play with one up front and one off him or two wide players coming because it causes problems, but if you can get a centre-forward working like Stephen Elliott did on Tuesday night it makes life so much easier. Carl Baker, too, played his position really, really well.
"I told Carl today that there are times in games when he has disappeared and we’ve been poor in terms of the structure and shape in the team because if one man doesn’t do his job then the whole thing falls apart.
“We’re going to lose matches this year by teams being better than us but what I hope is that we are not going to lose games where we haven’t worked hard enough. I want all eleven players and all the subs to come off knowing that they have put a shift in. And if it is not good enough at least you have earned your corn and you have given the crowd something to shout about.”
More on this: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/coventry-city-fc/coventry-city-fc-news/2012/08/31/92746-31735179/?