My comments weren't made with me thinking about Zaha playing as an out-and-out forward.

My understanding is that FDB believes by playing in an advanced forward position out wide in a 3-4-3 he doesn't have the defensive responsibilities he would have in other formations.Just like the Hazard role at Chelsea.

He believes Zaha is very important to the team and would like him to play higher where he believes he is more effective.But of course I understand the 'Bigger picture' in terms of the qualities of the other players, their best positions and the overall balance of the team.

Edited by Willo (08 Sep 2017 2.42pm)

And Shock, Horror, Surprised that neither FdB or Steve Parish invited you along to listen or even contribute!!

To the experts on FdB's record as Ajax Amsterdam Manager and the so-called easy and worthless Career as a Manager after a glittering world renown career as a Player.

To Quote 'Ajax Amsterdam - Wikipedia'

In 2010, Frank de Boer was appointed manager of Ajax and led the club to its first league title in seven years, and record 30th title overall, in the 2010–11 season. This was followed by back-to-back wins in 2011–12 and 2012–13 to match his three consecutive titles as a player in the 1990s. In 2013–14, Ajax were again Eredivisie champions, winning four consecutive league titles for the first time in the club's history.After finishing as runner-up to PSV in both 2014–15 and 2015–16, De Boer stepped down as Ajax head coach in May 2016.

This may go partly to explain why Steve Parish and the Board first elected to sign FdB as Crystal Palace Manager.

Edited by Kingsov (08 Sep 2017 3.26pm)

All well and good but like Gullit said on motd in Holland you go an hour one way and you're in Germany an hour the other and you're in Belgium, the country is tiny. Any promising youngster will go to Ajax that's just how it is there so they have the pick of the best young players in Holland, who continuously produce some of the best players in the world.

Managing a struggling premiership side when even the lowest team can afford to pay players twice to three times over what Dutch teams can and it's a whole different ball game.

But if I recall correctly they finished a massive 17 pts behind PSV Eindhoven in his penultimate season and lost out to PSV in his final season, albeit very narrowly and it went to the last day.

So yes Ajax won 4 consecutive titles whilst he was there but they didn't in his final 2 seasons.

Maybe Steve never got into the specifics of a particular system with the discussion being more broad-based.

At the end of the day I believe FDB will play the system he believes is right based on the players at his disposal and the opponents and won't be swayed by those who are perhaps urging him to do differently.