This is my first post so hopefully I've posted this in the right area? My apologies if its not...

 When supporters usually discuss the formation, we usually tend to discuss an attacking formation. But what about a defensive minded formation? What I mean by that is, a change in formation say, from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1, for example, when the opposition is on the counter? Some might ask "why bother when the opposing players take a constant attacking formation (while obvioulsy attempting to find space)?". My answer to that is that only one player on the opposing team can have the ball at any one time (obviously :P), so when teams like barcelona are on the attack, we should be more careful to constrict any open space AND mark any key attacking players without having our team constantly stretching and contracting. I'll use the CL final in may as an example: when barcelona were on the attack, whenever we attempted to shut them down, we left gaping holes in our defence. When the ball was passed, our back line had serious difficulty reacting to the passing speed AND range AND the player movement. We had a similar problem last year when we lost to loserpool at old trafford [cringes]. United generally have no trouble constricting the counter when the opposition are only good at 2 of the 3 issues (eg. recently against tottenham).

For example, the problem with a 4-3-3 formation is that its very attack minded but, for purposes of argument, its also more difficult to rapidly change into say, 4-5-2, when we give away possession. My questions to the other supporters is: do you think such a tactic is feasible? also, how do you think it should be employed (remebering that passing speed AND range AND player movement should be taken into account simultaneously)?