If we'll continue with 3 atb I'd prefer to play Araujo as a "sweeper" with two good ball-playing CBs alongside him.
Something like this:
------------------MATS------------
--Eric/Oscar--Araujo/Pique--Lenglet*--
Dest----------------------------------Alba
* Until we find someone better he's our best option there. And he's actually done quite well since we've changed formation. Maybe really try to turn Firpo into a LCB (if we won't get a good enough offer to sell him) or bring Martinez from Ajax to fit into that role.
But I think Koeman will continue to drop Frenkie between both CBs.
Potentially we could also use Eric in place of Lenglet. He has played for Spain (and IIRC also some games for City) as a LCB though his responsibilites playing there in a 4-man defense are different than they would be in a 3 atb formation.
Still think our best option would be to go back to 4-3-3 and see if/how Araujo (hopefully he'll stay healthy as I think future success of our defense depends a lot on him as we don't have any other CB who can bring what he can) and Garcia would do together. I think profile wise they could complement each other well but would clearly take time for them to build a chemistry.
If we'll continue with 3 atb I'd prefer to play Araujo as a "sweeper" with two good ball-playing CBs alongside him.
Something like this:
------------------MATS------------
--Eric/Oscar--Araujo/Pique--Lenglet*--
Dest----------------------------------Alba
* Until we find someone better he's our best option there. And he's actually done quite well since we've changed formation. Maybe really try to turn Firpo into a LCB (if we won't get a good enough offer to sell him) or bring Martinez from Ajax to fit into that role.
But I think Koeman will continue to drop Frenkie between both CBs.
Potentially we could also use Eric in place of Lenglet. He has played for Spain (and IIRC also some games for City) as a LCB though his responsibilites playing there in a 4-man defense are different than they would be in a 3 atb formation.
Still think our best option would be to go back to 4-3-3 and see if/how Araujo (hopefully he'll stay healthy as I think future success of our defense depends a lot on him as we don't have any other CB who can bring what he can) and Garcia would do together. I think profile wise they could complement each other well but would clearly take time for them to build a chemistry.
I still prefer that over Busi staying a starter but that's just me.
I still prefer that over Busi staying a starter but that's just me.
Don't think 3 at the back is here to stay unless we sign an improvement over Dembele. Think Mbappe would be perfect for the role. Or Fati comes back healthy and does well there, even though he might lack pace.
And if it does stay, we'd probably suffer a lot with both Araujo/Garcia taking Frenkie's place. Don't think we'd see much of a change.