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To the horror of many fans who watched Tuesday's match, Alan Pardew started with his customary 4-2-3-1 formation, except with Moussa Sissoko on the right wing and Hatem Ben Arfa in a central role behind Shola Ameobi. The melodrama was unnecessary, seeing as it was a match that didn't count, which was rendered even more meaningless after it became 10-on-10 late in the first half. But Pardew's experiment showed that he is not quite convinced that any plausible combinations of his central midfielders work.
Toward the end of last season, as Sissoko faltered in his number 10 role, many supporters suggested moving him back to one of the holding midfield positions, where he spent most of his time at Toulouse. But Sissoko's Premier League statistics show a potential problem there. Despite his obvious physical gifts, he's hasn't been particularly stout, winning ground duels at only a 39% clip, second-worst in the entire squad. Pairing Sissoko with either Yohan Cabaye or Vurnon Anita could leave Newcastle's back four with very little midfield protection. The alternative is giving Cheick Tioté a virtually guaranteed starting role, which seems worrisome on the back of a shaky 2012-13 campaign.
With Tioté cemented in the starting lineup, Cabaye, Sissoko, and Sylvain Marveaux are fighting for two midfield positions. Marveaux is the most natural attacking midfielder at the club, and it would be intriguing to see him get an extended look in the number 10 role. But would Pardew leave Sissoko or Cabaye on the bench several weeks in a row? It seems unlikely, and given Marveaux's injury history, we may never find out anyway.
And if Sissoko doesn't work as a number 10, neither does Cabaye. Though he was briefly successful in the role at the end of 2011-12, for about as long as Sissoko worked in the role last season, his instinct is to play very deep. One of the biggest issues Newcastle struggled with last year when Cabaye and Tioté played together is that Cabaye always set up closest to the back four, leaving his Ivorian teammate as a very unnatural creative outlet. Cabaye can also be marked out of existence in an attacking midfield role, as any defender worth his paycheck is capable of staying close enough to nullify his influence.
So if the 4-2-3-1 doesn't seem to click with this set of players, what other choices could Pardew have? I'd personally like to see him resurrect the 4-3-1-2 formation he randomly tried out in one of last year's friendlies, with whatever two strikers he can muster - assuming the dispute gets sorted out, Papiss Cissé and Yoan Gouffran are the obvious choices. Ben Arfa or Marveaux could play behind those two, with some combination of Cabaye, Sissoko, Tioté, and Anita in the line of three. It's probably the best balance of attack, defense, and the natural tendencies of all the players involved, especially given the ability of Mathieu Debuchy to widen what can be a narrow formation.
Or maybe Pardew would prefer a similar narrow look with one striker and two free-floating attacking players behind - probably Ben Arfa and Marveaux in combination. You may recognize it as the approach Carlo Ancelotti has used in many of his managerial stops, including recently at PSG.
Formations are only as good as the players in them. Although the 4-2-3-1 is currently in vogue, it's difficult to see how Newcastle's midfielders can fit neatly into the system. Experimenting with Sissoko on the wing is a sign that Pardew recognizes the problem. But the fix requires more than just shuffling players around an unsuitable style. Even if nothing gets accomplished on the transfer front, a system that better fits the squad should produce much improved results.