Fulham no longer a one-man band

"I think last year I picked a team and the tactics that suited the players we had and it got us success, but then we lost Louis in January.

" Louis's best position in my opinion is alone up front, because he's very dynamic, strong, quick and he can occupy two centre-backs, but I think the strikers we have got now are different.

"Obviously Coley is a goalscorer, Brian McBride holds the ball up and Tomasz Radzinski has never played in that role, so we have had to tweak it a bit."

Yet while Coleman has opted for a more attacking system, many of his counterparts are taking the opposite approach.

Charlton manager Alan Curbishley has recently dispensed with the idea of playing two forwards, joining David Moyes at Everton and Bol t on's Sam Allardyce as proponents of the 4-5-1 system. It is a formation Iain Dowie has also used with good effect at Crystal Palace this season.

"There is only one natural striker but we felt early on we were getting overpowered a bit at Premiership level and it is a case of our game evolving," Dowie said.

"I cannot judge for other Premiership sides but maybe we will evolve and go back to a four-four-two as we get used to the Premiership.

"We have not been turned over with this system and it is working for us at the moment. Andrew [ Johnson] would benefit from having a foil at times but we also have to make sure he gets support and in lots of games we have done that.

"But if you say we are a negative side I would disagree. Our goal tally is not bad. Birmingham and Tottenham play 4-4-2 and they have not scored a glut of goals - that is not a criticism, that's just the way they are."

As such, it is not necessarily the formation but the constraints players are operating under which determines how attack-minded a team might be. Dowie highlights Arsenal as a side who regularly play only one outandout striker - Thierry Henry - though through the combination of movement and rotation, which Arsene Wenger actively encourages, the champions are not only offensively strong but entertaining to watch.

Indeed the Arsenal manager is heavily critical of those who use the 4-5-1 formation conservatively.

"When that happens I wonder whether the game is open enough for the fans to enjoy," Wenger said, referring to Manchester United's tactics during the recent Carling Cup tie. "Did we give the people what they wanted?" Perhaps that question would be best directed to the blue side of Merseyside.

Few Everton supporters are complaining at Marcus Bent's role as a lone striker in a team which has been transformed from potential relegation candidates to Champions League contenders.

"I would have said that playing 4-5-1 is a negative system before this season, because you have got a lot of men behind the ball," Bent said.

"You are basically saying we are setting up to defend and trying to score on the break but we have been dominating quite a lot of sides."

Bent candidly admits he has adopted a new work ethic since joining Everton in the summer, and he believes some centre-forwards would not be comfortable playing without a partner.

"I don't think every striker can play up there alone, it's a role that you have got to adapt to," the 26-year-old said.

"I am not one in a million but it suits me because I am quite pacey.

"You also have got to work extra hard because you haven't got many players around you and it's important to have midfield players who are prepared to get beyond you. It's working well for us at the moment - but it can be a lonely 90 minutes."