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Phil Parkinson says the home humbling against Norwich City highlighted the potential pitfalls of playing with a two-man attack.
The Wanderers boss stuck with the same formation on Saturday which helped secure a 1-0 win against Birmingham City a few days earlier.
It failed to work a second time and after the rampant Canaries had surged into a 3-0 half-time lead, Parkinson reverted back to his tried-and-trusted 4-5-1 formation.
Now, with his side due to visit another of the Championship’s big-hitters in Leeds United, he admits he has a big choice to make at Elland Road.
“I will look at that decision over the next couple of days before we play Leeds United, “ he said. “But with two up top against Birmingham we looked a threat and we caused them problems. When you do that you lose a body elsewhere and it means other players have got to do more and can be dragged out of position more than the 4-5-1 we went to in the second half.”
Parkinson had to move Jason Lowe into the back three after Marc Wilson failed a fitness test on a hamstring injury. The Irishman is expected to be available at Leeds, with Joe Williams also pushing for a recall after a bright second-half show.
Striking a balance between defensive security and attacking intent has been a problem for Wanderers since they returned to the Championship last season, and Parkinson will again have to weigh up the merits of playing a front two this weekend.
“We’d worked on that shape in training and we’d to keep a bit of continuity with two at the top of the pitch,” he said.
“As I’ve said on a number of occasions – we have tried to be positive with two at the top of the pitch but against a possession-based team you can be played around. That’s what happened.
“It’s very easy to say what we might have done, but whatever formation we played, Norwich were at the very top of their game.
“I wanted to keep a bit of continuity from Tuesday. Norwich are a different type of team than Birmingham and after Marc had failed the fitness test it was difficult because we had to shuffle the pack again.”
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The Wanderers boss stuck with the same formation on Saturday which helped secure a 1-0 win against Birmingham City a few days earlier.
It failed to work a second time and after the rampant Canaries had surged into a 3-0 half-time lead, Parkinson reverted back to his tried-and-trusted 4-5-1 formation.
Now, with his side due to visit another of the Championship’s big-hitters in Leeds United, he admits he has a big choice to make at Elland Road.
“I will look at that decision over the next couple of days before we play Leeds United, “ he said. “But with two up top against Birmingham we looked a threat and we caused them problems. When you do that you lose a body elsewhere and it means other players have got to do more and can be dragged out of position more than the 4-5-1 we went to in the second half.”
Parkinson had to move Jason Lowe into the back three after Marc Wilson failed a fitness test on a hamstring injury. The Irishman is expected to be available at Leeds, with Joe Williams also pushing for a recall after a bright second-half show.
Striking a balance between defensive security and attacking intent has been a problem for Wanderers since they returned to the Championship last season, and Parkinson will again have to weigh up the merits of playing a front two this weekend.
“We’d worked on that shape in training and we’d to keep a bit of continuity with two at the top of the pitch,” he said.
“As I’ve said on a number of occasions – we have tried to be positive with two at the top of the pitch but against a possession-based team you can be played around. That’s what happened.
“It’s very easy to say what we might have done, but whatever formation we played, Norwich were at the very top of their game.
“I wanted to keep a bit of continuity from Tuesday. Norwich are a different type of team than Birmingham and after Marc had failed the fitness test it was difficult because we had to shuffle the pack again.”
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