(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) First it's not pee-wee herman, it's Fabri Fibra, and second it's not a bunny suit, it's a dog suit.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) Diavolino would be happy to share the biting duties with Fishdoll. I was only teasing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyBm0Bn_Tcg

Funny stuff lol

Fishdoll is not a fan of Leonardo.

While it is true that when the 4-2-1-3 mostly works - like v Cagliari - it is entertaining. Thing is the entertainment comes at the cost of sacrificing the other seven guys on the pitch (chief among them pirlo who cannot do the pretty passing any more because he is too busy being a defensive mid). it is also rigid - the team no longer seems capable of playing any other formation - and really easy to stop if you are a smart coach (ie see dechamps and the OM game. it was really effing cold at that game too.)

the other bit of fallout is that leo's one method of play comes at the cost of alienating some of the very senior guys on the squad I bet it's been a while since pippo was told to warm up, did so for 15 mins, and then got told to sit back down, for example.

Rino gave a very interesting interview yesterday afternoon - the english version should be coming out by now -and he is one very unhappy camper. pls, someone find the stuff and post in english; i am at cdg on the way home from italy and don't have time.

Fishdoll is just not sure the brief glimpses of pretty football are worth the cost.

interesting isn't it. I mean this is certainly something we are not used to... seeing the senior players benched.

Its scary yet rewarding at the same time. I think Leo is trying to get this message across:

"If you don't perform your on the bench, it doesn't matter who you are"

This post has been edited by Bluesummers: Nov 27 2009, 08:09 PM

You can't blame Leonardo, he almost lost his job early on in the season. He's been having good results lately, and if he has to alienate some of the senior players, he will not refrain from doing so.

the formation really works for us, i believe once the defence gets better we're only gonna score and concede less.

i love the senior players but it isn't leo's fault if gattuso can't make a decent pass to save his own life+ he isn't doing so well defensively these days, he seems to only do well with a partner in DM, unfortunately the new formation needs two rigid CMs who can pass the ball well... that's why ambro keeps getting the nod ahead of him, pirlo already is one of the best passers of the ball but leo'll rather have him make more tackles(leaving him panting like he'll drop dead any minute).... the senior fellas should simply IMO professionally work towards fitting into the new set-up and meet the new manager's on-field demands rather than queue up scheduling meetings with galliani

Never have I agreed with someone more.

I don't agree entirely. I admit that as long as you're in the team you be professional and play as per requirements, but there's no point playing in a position that is not your strength.

Hence why I'd come up with the suggestion that if need be, we should sell people who can't fit into the system perfectly like Pirlo or Rino. I know they're stalwarts, but if they're not happy (can't speak for the former...coz well...he doesn't speak), we should perhaps give them what they want. Not to mention, we can find good players on the cheap who save us on the wage bill, while still helping us make profit on the transfer market with these sales.

As long as Pirlo performs the way he has for the NT, then he'll always bring in a 15million+ price tag. 20+ in these inflated times. We can get at least 12 for Rino. Now that's enough probably to get one genuine tackler CM who Leo wants.

Will management listen to what Leo wants is the question at hand though.

sell pirlo, are you out of your mind? I thought you were in love with pirlo?


Imo pirlo should not move anywhere, he give us so many options with his play that he is like the engineer of this team. Take Xavi out of barca and they'll flop, same with us.


On rino, I personally hope he doesn't get sold. He's still a solid DMF with huge loads of experience. These players like Ambro, gattuso etc need to retire with us and become part of our coaching staff.

You don't just let a player whose played with your club for almost a decade go without a fight. Especially given that he's italian too; you know he's going to stick around.

This post has been edited by Bluesummers: Nov 28 2009, 04:14 AM

Thing is, with this new style of play, Pirlo can't make the pretty passes because he's too busy tackling and doing the typical DM stuff. His play suffers because of this play style and that's one of the things I don't like about it. I'm not convinced at all that Leo's is the right way to go, or the only possible way. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know, but at this point I am going to respectfully disagree with folks who are such big fans of the system. I'm just not sold yet, especially since I don't like the cost it's extracting.

Funny... I agree with you.



I personally am behind Leo because of various reasons but I am also in doubt over this system. In theory it works because we create so many oppurtunites and we can score off them. However, this system depends too much on

1) The fitness
2) Motviation
3) Performance

of the players.


If Dinho has a bad game, we have a bad game. Same with Pato. Marseille was a good example of what happens when players don't perform; we get ripped apart.


In order for this system to work successfuly, we have to score every chance we get because the other team is going to counter us hard.


We don't have a world class goalie that can save our @SS like Madrid does. We don't have a solid back line that can protect the net flawlessly like chelsea does. We don't even have a midfield that can control the game for hours like barcelona does.


Our formation and style of play works simply on tape and glue. Very dangerous and requries too many variables in order to be successful, which you ultimately want to limit.


If we don't get players in January, god help us.

Fishdoll. o O (Surely it's a sign of the Apocalypse if my person and Blue are agreeing).

I think there are other ways the fragility of the formation can be shown in addition to what's been mentioned above -- namely, if you stick a guy on Pirlo and stick another one on Seedorf, the team's passing ability is more or less nullified. That's what OM did and, well, that was just not a fun game to watch.