Ebbsfleet United manager Dennis Kutrieb happy to adapt formation but side’s playing philosophy won’t change

Ebbsfleet manager Dennis Kutrieb has insisted he’s not a one-trick pony.

The Fleet boss has consistently stuck to a 3-5-2 formation during his three years in charge at Stonebridge Road.

But, after shipping six goals at Altrincham last month, Kutrieb has switched to a back four in the past two home games, as well as different shapes in forward positions.

Unlike the New Year’s Day massacre at Dartford last season when the Fleet changed both their pattern of play and formation, Kutrieb insists that he won’t change his philosophy.

“I would be stupid if I said I’ll stick to my plan no matter what because sometimes you need to adapt it to the league, to the players who are available,” said the Fleet boss.

“You need to find who are the in-form players at that moment who can help you to get three points.

“You want to see that everyone understands what it is about because at the end of the day we need to make sure we get points on the board and not ‘we’re playing nice’ or ‘we’re sticking to the plan’.

“We’ll stick to the principles and that will never change, because they don’t have to. But if you need to adapt from a technical point or whatever, then that is no problem.”

The Fleet ended a run of five games without a win by beating Boreham Wood 3-1 last Saturday in the National League but followed that up with a 5-2 defeat at Eastleigh on Tuesday.

Speaking before the midweek loss, Kutrieb believed his side have only been outplayed for 90 minutes twice so far this season.

“We were far away in parts (of games),” he admitted. “At Altrincham in the first half we were far away because we approached the game totally wrong but second half we were all over them.

“You can’t say it when you lose 6-1 but they were happy after the game that