Problems arose for Leeds United at Chelsea as they went up against a back three which took Georginio Rutter out of the game and had their wide men in no man’s land. It was a tactical ploy Javi Gracia could not be sure of before trekking to Stamford Bridge, but there should not be the same problem this weekend.
Unlike Brighton & Hove Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers have been partial to a back three in recent years. Julen Lopetegui tried a 3-4-3 in the EFL Cup once, but he has otherwise stuck with four defenders.
More recently, the Spaniard was burnt by his temptation to go back to three centre-halves. On Sunday at Newcastle United, with the match level at 1-1, Lopetegui replaced midfielder Joao Moutinho with centre-back Nathan Collins.
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It pushed Wolves into three central defenders and two roaming full-backs, but Newcastle would hit a winner four minutes later. The Wolves boss blamed himself for that formation switch.
"To lose is always frustrating,” he said. “Maybe in this moment, we don't have to change anything and I am talking about myself and not the players.
"Always when you make one change you are thinking about helping. We wanted to put more strength in that area because they are a very good team in this way.
"They got the second goal and it was a pity for us. It was a key moment. We made three very offensive changes and we wanted to balance the team, but in the end, we suffered a lot in a key moment.
"It was a pity because my thought, in that moment, was we could try and win the match, but we didn't."
On Saturday, against a Leeds team 14 places and 21 points behind the Magpies, at home, Lopetegui seems highly unlikely to repeat his error. Patrick Bamford or Rodrigo seem set to battle with Craig Dawson and Max Kilman in the middle.
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