Corica's Hole

By Alan Stokes
October 7 2002

Corica is a player of undoubted talent but where do we accommodate him on the pitch to get the best results for Walsall FC? What is the best team formation?

Having watched football down Walsall way for the last 19 years I would go as far as to say that Steve Corica along with Peron is one of the most talented players to have pulled on the red shirt. However, the question I am raising now is where on earth are we supposed to play him to get the best out of him as a player without having a detrimental effect on the team performance and result.

Corica’s favoured position is to be played in a withdrawn role behind the strikers. However, we started the season employing Corica behind one striker and the result was a lack of goals as well as goal scoring opportunities. As the results got steadily worse we then opted to play a straight 442 system with Corica playing wide right which brought immediate dividends in terms of team results but had an adverse effect on the contribution that Corica was giving to the team.

Personally, I have argued long and hard about the merits of playing a straight 442 system and sticking to it as with a set system all of the players know what is expected of them and as a result teamwork, understanding and anticipation will improve. However, after the Derby match I am not so sure.

We started the game as we had for the previous few successful matches in a 442 system. During the first 30 minutes we were ripped apart and could and possibly should have been more than one goal down. A tactical change then pushed Corica into his favoured “hole” and the change was dramatic as we piled pressure onto Derby and had enough chances to go on and win the game.

So which system should we employ?

Using a 4312 system with Corica in his favoured hole we can attack teams and create goal scoring opportunities but at the same time we leave ourselves terribly exposed down the flanks

With a 442 system we look like a solid outfit if the wide players and full backs work together as a team both offensively and defensively. In my opinion Corica is great in his famous hole but less effective and maybe even a liability when played wide right as he has a tendency to drift inside and do his own thing rather than sticking to a game plan.

As mentioned earlier I am now going along the lines of “horses for courses” as opposed to sticking with one system. If we start a game with a 442 system and its not working then we can try a 4312 system. We did this to great effect against Derby and have now proven that we can play either system effectively dependant on the opposition.

Thank goodness Colin Lee has to make such decisions and not me.

Any thoughts?