
During
Chris Wilder's tenure as manager, we've become accustomed to seeing
his Oxford sides organised in a 4-3-3 formation. A particular feature
of Wilder's 4-3-3 has been the attacking role of the full-backs, and
with the introduction of Liam Davis on the left this season he and
Batt have had a particularly important role in turning defence into
attack. This was especially effective earlier in the season, with
George Dugdale
noting in his assessment
of the 4-3-3 that when Batt and Davis advance high up the pitch
they can “pen opposition wingers deep in their own half, limiting
their threat to the Oxford goal”. The good form of Davis drew
particular
attention from this website earlier in the season as well,
praising him as “one of the few players in our side brave or good
enough to run at opposing defenders and with the ability to deliver a
final ball”.
Another
feature of this side we became particularly accustomed to was a
physically
weak midfield which often lost the battle in the middle of the
park. However, with the combative Andy
Whing now occupying a regular slot in midfield and in great form
(which surely deserves an article of its own at some point), this has
become much less of an issue in the second half of the season. This
has allowed us to play through the middle far more often and when the
ball is spread wide it is more often from a central midfield position
rather than from a defensive position as it more frequently was in
the first half of the season. This, combined with the more active
attacking role played by wingers such as Montano, Morgan and Oli
Johnson, has reduced the attacking burden placed on our full-backs,
but has also weakened their role in the team as a result.

Batt
has always had a tendency to lunge recklessly into a challenge, but
this has become more apparent as he has come under increased pressure
to defend. Davis, whose mazy runs up the left wing were a common
sight in the first half of the season, appears to have become less
prominent in recent weeks and is now a shadow of the Liam Davis of a
few months ago. This being the case, perhaps we need to replace our
attacking full-backs with a pair of solid defenders. Anthony Tonkin
is a more conservative defender and has done well when deputising this season, but if the current trend is to continue into
next season, then we may need to bring in high quality
defensive-minded full-backs in the summer, regardless of what league
we're playing in.
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