Agreed, with Cassano and Robinho rotating accordingly (or starting when necassary due to injuries and tactical reasons). The midfield would offsett the fact that we'd be so top heavy. I think by playing those 3 we could afford to drop the creatve CM (Aqui).

similar to the wonders its working for napoli with lavezzi,cavani and hamsik, totally agree mate.

Yes, and bring him in the second half, after 60 minutes or so depending on the match situation. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) If Seedorf says goodbye at the end of this season, and we don't invest in a proper AM then this could/should be our first choice formation. Versatile and hardworking, plus with Pato upfront, lethal.

PS. Change your keyboard, Han. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I love it. KPB and Nocerino can pressure hard defensively. Ibra and Tevez can both drop back to midfield to receive the ball and make plays. This much firepower should demolish any domestic competition. My only slight worry is getting bogged down in midfield against real top European sides but with all that skill up front scoring shouldn't be a problem against anyone. Just need for the three to gain some chemistry. That is if Tevez comes at all haha.

Are you guys for real with this? That's never ever going to work.

If Tevez does the Robinho and act as a hidden trequartista, then it can easily work. Boateng would also be moved to his original position, which is a plus. I mean, right there you've got a rock solid midfield and a top heavy attack. The only problem is that it's completely different from Allegri's current strategy. Does he have the will (and balls) to change?

No, disagreed with all.

The three man attack doesn't work with Pato. His workrate is too little for that.

Moving Boateng to RCM means taking off Aquilani who is our creativity force in midfield. Now there's a lack of creativity in midfield. Besides that Boateng is poor in defending. So you would have only 3 midfielders, and 3 at most are good in defending.

In short: against any proper side we will get smashed. Leonardo style.

The three-man attack is perfect for Pato. Having Tevez and Ibra will create much more spaces for him. He plays with the same formula for Brazil after all, and he usually does well.

As han said, for this kind of formation, sacrificing Aquilani is acceptable. Even if we are depriving ourselves from our only creative source, that's just too attacking power for any opponent.

And if you think Boateng is poor at defending, then I say that he's totally being wasted in attack. The guy is a box-to-box mid for crying out loud! He's no trequartista and he's no winger and he's no striker. RCM is the IDEAL position for him. That formation can work ESPECIALLY because it suits the midfield to a tee.

With Leonardo we had Pirlo, Ambro and Seedorf, Ronaldinho and Pato, and the latter three NEVER tracked back to defend. Here you've got three classic midfielders, two of whom can both defend and attack. And then if Tevez does the Robinho like I mentioned above, we won't be vulnerable to strong opponents.

Who's the playmaker in that team? Just Ibrahimovic?

When you don't play Boateng as AM (which he does well), then it's either him or Nocerino, which should be Nocerino, unless you have an AM (and not 3 forwards) who's creative (which is not the case).. I remember lineups with barely creativity... it end up awful.... now you got the legs, but you need both legs and playmaking... maybe Van Bommel can step up and do the playmaking then?

Also Van Bommel's defending is not super strong anymore, and he needs to make up for poor defending from Boateng, yes he is not good at it, and for the 3 forwards (even if 2 track back, it's big difference from playing with 4 mids)

This post has been edited by CHU-LIP: Dec 23 2011, 01:34 AM

Playing with four midfielders is not very popular nowadays. You'll notice that most teams play with either 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. It's not necessary to field many role midfielders if the team plays as a unit. Allegri has managed to achieve this.

Playmaking is important, but I've seen Inter (where the only playmaker was Sneijder) win the Champions League beating the toughest opponents. They relied on muscle and pressure to win their games, rather than ball possession and creativity. With that line-up, we can do the same thing.

Anyway, if it was up to me, I'd sign a proper trequartista and play him instead of Tevez in the hole. But not Boateng!

This post has been edited by X-Offender: Dec 23 2011, 02:28 AM

And who will be our Sneijder?


Ah ye, cuz others do, it must work for us also better than 4 mids.

Meh..

Ibra. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)



It might, it might not. It's still worth trying. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/96.gif)

@ Chu, I personally find all your points invalid because you're trying to insist on Boateng playing the AM position. He's simply not that, he's wasted there and putting all the creative responsabilties on Ibra because he simply does not support the 2 strikers as a proper AM should.

Boateng needs to be moved back, especially if Tevez comes.

As for Pato not being a hard worker, it depends on how he's deployed by Allegri, and playing at the head of a xmas tree does not mean you have to be a hard worker either, as long as you have the proper support, than all Pato would have to do is make the runs to receive the ball and open up spaces for Ibra and Tevez.

This. +1

Ye.... not quite yet.... lolzzzzzzzzzzzz

If you can't see the difference between a midfield lead by one of the best playmakers, and two footed also, Sneijder, and a forward who is capable of some playmaking, with having a midfield with close to zero creativity (even Inter's midfield with Sneijder often missed creativity, let alone if Van Bommel is your most creative midfielder, and at the same time the most defensive one), then I'm sorry, but it's not good for my health to continue this.


Boateng plays AM for Milan some time now and does it well. Since Ibrahimovic and Aquilani are creative, but not the fastest players and all, Boateng is a nice add to it. With someone like Boateng it's why we can get so much out of Ibrahimovic and Aquilani.


Ye, and instead of our only creative mid, right? Milan has struggled pretty much every time when they play without a creative midfielder. If we are talking about what most teams do, they have always one or more playmaking midfielders. And Tevez doesn't add the same as Boateng. Boateng is a midfielder, and does still offers more than a hardworking tracking back forward. And that change + Boateng in the midfield 3 makes the team defensively weaker.

You guys are so obsessed with moving back Boateng that you guys don't wanna nor can't see how well Boateng as AM preforms/works. And if anything, it is Boateng deeper in midfield which need to be proven, not him as AM, because that has been proven. He is a good option at AM. Of course, I wish we got someone like Özil there rather, but ye, can't have everything I guess.


If you play with only 3 midfielders, and 3 forwards, better all forwards work hard and track back. Pato usually does close to nothing when it comes to this. For a reason the 3 forward thing never worked with Pato, but did sometimes without Pato. If you wanna 3 forwards, Robinho must play over Pato.

I can't remember what good team had success with no creative midfielders, and our midfielders we have are not good enough to make up for missing the 4th midfielder (unless no Pato, but Robinho, else no shot). Teams like Barça who are the popular ones with the 3 mids, 3 forwads, have much better midfielders than Milan has. Because Barça can keep possession very well, unlike Milan especially with the no playmaker midfield. Also defending wise, Boateng is meh at most, Van Bommel is also not super reliable anymore...