Well when you don't have the right roster to play 3-5-2 due to injuries, AND the 3-5-2 has proven to be a failure without the right players this month, time and time again, AND we DO have the right players for the 4-3-3 even with the injuries, then it is a stubborn formation of fear.
Listen it's exactly the opposite. In 3-5-2 you need a winger that will handle "the entire flank" by himself as there's only one winger on a side. In 4-3-3, 4-4-2 you have two wingers who help each other in attack and in defense. De Ceglie and Peluso are too slow to play LWB in 3-5-2 and that's a fact. In 4-3-3/4-4-2 they can play deeper and closer to our defense which doesn't require to be that fast. Last season De Ceglie played LB for many matches and he did well. If you have wingers who aren't one-man-army like we do you have to make life easier for them and take some responsibilities away from them or they'll fail miserably (just like they're doing right now).
The support the central defender closet to the wingback offers, combined with a stacked midfield, is far more sturdy, then a 4-3-3 where the fullback and the side forward are far away from each other
De ceglie, did average, was often saved by chiellini.
It won't solve everything, but I'm tempted by the idea simply because the players that are available to us at the moment suit a 4-3-3 better. Giovinco can only get better on the flank, Pirlo has more space in midfield, and we have an extra forward on the pitch, one of them is bound to strike the goal any time soon.
Well when you don't have the right roster to play 3-5-2 due to injuries, AND the 3-5-2 has proven to be a failure without the right players this month, time and time again, AND we DO have the right players for the 4-3-3 even with the injuries, then it is a stubborn formation of fear.