Should Hartlepool stick with 3-5-2 away from home?

By Albatross
October 14 2002

The question of the Formation Pools play away from home raises it's ugly head again following the defeat at Bournemouth - our first away defeat since March lest we forget. Albatross has a look at the pros and cons.

Yesterday's performance at Bournemouth has caused a few people to question Pools use of the 3-5-2 formation. Let's have a closer look at the pros and cons of both 3-5-2 and 4-4-2.

3-5-2 was Turner's preferred formation for a long time, and took Pools to the playoffs two seasons running. However, after the poor start to last season, he switched to 4-4-2 for much of the season with excellent results. He seems to have settled on 4-4-2 at home and 3-5-2 away unless the opposition is weak.

4-4-2 has much to commend it. Yes it's something every side is familiar with, there aren't going to be many shocks in the basic formation, but it didn't become popular for nothing, and with the right personnel it can be devastating. There's plenty of width, even without the full-backs pushing on for starters. With someone like Paul Smith on the flank, opponents have to be very wary about their own full or wingback pushing up for fear of leaving a lot of space for him to exploit; and if Smith is anywhere near the form he was on last season following his knee op then we'll see a lot of good crosses into the box. With someone of Smith's quality, you don't even have to worry too much about height, as he showed last season he has the ability to pick out his man.

There's no argument about the formation at home; 4-4-2 has proved it's worth and CT is unlikely to change that unless things start going seriously wrong. What about using it away from the Vic?

Teams tend to be a lot more attack-minded on their own ground, and especially if they have players capable of joining the attack quickly from midfield, 4-4-2 can see the two central defenders outnumbered unless the runners are picked up by our own midfield. Lest we forget, this is one of the reasons Tommy Miller scored so many for Pools, using his pace to link up with the front two.

3-5-2 away from home adds that extra bit of security, with a spare man (usually Barron) available to pick up a runner from midfield, or being able to look to cut out the ball as its played forward. Defensively, we look very solid away from home with Barron playing as Sweeper.

The main problem is, we don't seem to create very much when playing 3-5-2. None of the current midfielders have the same blistering pace as Miller to join the attack; meanwhile, playing with Wingbacks means that we don't pose the same threat out wide - there's not much chance of doubling up on a full back, and anyway they have to be aware of their defensive responsibilities. When playing against a good wingman, they can spend almost all of their time having to defend, and we then lack width. The pressure is therefore on to produce something through the middle; Humpty can do that when on form, but Tinks and Widds are not players that are great at running at the opposition.

The quality of the wingbacks is crucial if you're going to create in 3-5-2, and this is where I think Pools fall down a bit. On the left, Robinson is a decent Fullback but not so good coming forward; but to play Smith there almost seems wasteful when his big strength is as an attacker. On the other side, CT has experimented with Clarke in the last two games; and while he hasn't been disasterous there he doesn't look like winning too many plaudits either. Barron is a decent Sweeper but I don't think he's more than a "do a job" player out on the right; Bass is a full-back; and Arnison maybe looks the best equipped to play there but is not the most creative player going forward.

The problem is that a Wingback has to be able to both defend well and attack well, and preferably have enough pace and stamina to make runs forward and back again throughout the match. Good ones are in very short supply - at Pools we have reasonable ones, but not exceptional ones.

The question has to be asked though, what are we trying to achieve away from home? Like every fan, I'd love to see us hammering every team we come across, home or away; but the reality is that unless you're head and shoulders above every side you meet that's not going to happen. Pools have a good side, but we're not light years ahead of the rest of the division in the way that Arsenal seem to be in the Premiership at the moment.

So long as we're picking up plenty of points at home, we'll be in the hunt; and away from home therefore all we need to do is pick up a few points here and there. Most people reckon that if you win your home games and get draws away you're set for promotion; and while it may not be particularly exciting to watch, 3-5-2 is doing that for us. We won't annihilate teams away unless they are really poor, but even the top teams will find us hard to break down and we'll get plenty of draws and snatch the odd win here or there - as we did at Shrewsbury.

So for all of us away fans, we might not be always singing the praises of the players - but we should have the odd win to celebrate, and hopefully promotion come the end of the season.