Helenio Herrera had catenaccio; Jurgen Klopp has gegenpress; has Neal Ardley now found his own slice of tactical genius?
While our manager has yet to scale the heights of those first two – although I don’t think Herrera or Klopp has a League Two play-off final winners medal sat in their trophy cabinet, the losers – his four striker strategy worked wonders again at the weekend against Charlton.
Quick sidestep for a second: in American football - you know, that thing that is like rugby but with helmets, more dabbing and less homoerotic genital-fondling – every offense has a running back position.
These guys are responsible for "rushing" with the ball directly through the opposition like some sort of tights-wearing human bowling ball.
Often, NFL teams will have a couple of these guys in their squad and operate who is used when by a "committee".
This helps if, say, you’ve got running backs with different skillsets; one could be better at all out bulldozing their way down the field, while the other might be more nimble and comfortable when catching, giving the quarterback another option when throwing the ball.
Still with me? Good, because essentially, this is what we have with our quartet of strikers, and just like last season Ardley is once again proving adept at knowing how to use them.
The ol’ Ardley switcharoo (not as catchy as catenaccio, I know) worked a treat last year with Tom Elliott, Lyle Taylor (Baby), Bayo Akinfenwa and Ade "Azeeeeeeeeeez" Azeez, and with two new replacements in Dominic Poleon and Tyrone "Course I Am" Barnett, Saturday was a glimpse of the switcharoo paying off in League One.
You’ve got two battering rams in Elliott and Barnett, with the agility of LTB and Polywhirl offering a "1-2" punch to the opposition, a perfect combination that often leaves them battered and bruised.
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Let’s be honest, if you’re the average League One defender, knackered after having to deal with LTB and Polywhirl for 70 minutes, the site of two 6’4” tanks strolling on in their place can’t be the most welcome sight.
It says a lot about Ardley’s effective man-management that he kept this tactic working all of last season without any striker kicking up a stink about lack of gametime.
The fact he’s also replaced Ade and Bayo with two younger, better models is testament to how well he recruits.
Wimbledon’s very own Fab Four* is a handful for the opposition, and if Ardley can keep all four strikers sweet and fully plugged in to his gameplan, it will go a long way to keeping our heads above water in this league.
*LTB is Lennon, Elliott is Harrison, Poleon is McCartney, and Tyrone…sorry Tyrone, it’s either Ringo or Yoko. I’d go Ringo. Lesser of two evils and all that…
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