[Tennie]

(from acmilan.com's english page)

OFFICIAL A.C. MILAN PRESS RELEASE
7/20/2010
MILAN - A.C. Milan communicate that they have signed the player SOKRATIS PAPASTATHOPOULOS outright from Genoa and have sold NNAMDI ODUAMADI, RODNEY STRASSER and GIANMARCO ZIGONI on a co-ownership deal to the same club.

Welcome to Sokratis! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/96.gif)

[Bluesummers]

I was thinking, if our fullbacks are so strained, perhaps it might not be outside the realm of possibility to play a 3 man defence with Nesta, Silva and Sokratis.

No its not a bad idea either, though they say its suicidal in the italian league.



I've read the Italian league is suited for slow-tempo possession formations. Since most teams prefer to play counter attack, it seems one team will always dominate possession while the other will be content to counter. Rarely will both teams fight for who has possession.


favorable formations:

4-3-1-2
4-3-3
4-5-1
4-2-3-1

----------------

3-X-X

is usually an attacking formation where they attack with 7 and then have 2 stoppers and a sweeper to soak up pressure till the fullbacks arrive.


This would be heaven for teams who sit back and then counter with 3 fast players.


-------


the reason 4-possession works well in italy is because the defensive line is deep and usually plays man to man marking, which means they don't worry about the space just where the man moves. The midfield plays zonal, which means they sit in front of the defence and worry about the space they are to hold.



--------x---------x-------x---------x
[space]-----x--------x--------x--[space]

[space..........space........space..........]


This gives time for the fullbacks to arrive and provide the needed with in order to penetrate a deep defensive system.


Also by holding the majority of the possesion and one line of defense playing man to man and the other playing zonal, you will see small gaps open in the middle of the defence from time to time as the ball moves from one side to another.

This is also why players like pato/ronaldinho/kaka dominate in italian league and spanish leagues vs english. Once you beat your man marker, your virtually free to have a shot at net or a cross. While in the english league you have to beat players by using the channels in between defenders via passes because all defenders and midfielders have cover, so you'll run into trouble as soon as you beat your guy.

Arsenal worked us pretty well on the channels this weekend. Had we say 6 months under allegri, that would never have worked. Then the only thing they could have hoped for would be beating us via speed and physique and hoping for luck; like they did in 08.



Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2evhC89YPZI

Watch fio's defence and you'll see how many times the middle is left wide open.
-----


If it worked though, this would look damn good.



-------abbiati------

---sokratis-nesta-silva


abate-flamini---pirlo---antonini

pato------borriello----dinho

This post has been edited by Bluesummers: Aug 2 2010, 11:30 AM

[servbot]

the reason 4-possession works well in italy is because the defensive line is deep and usually plays man to man marking, which means they don't worry about the space just where the man moves. The midfield plays zonal, which means they sit in front of the defence and worry about the space they are to hold.


Also by holding the majority of the possesion and one line of defense playing man to man and the other playing zonal, you will see small gaps open in the middle of the defence from time to time as the ball moves from one side to another.

This is also why players like pato/ronaldinho/kaka dominate in italian league and spanish leagues vs english. Once you beat your man marker, your virtually free to have a shot at net or a cross. While in the english league you have to beat players by using the channels in between defenders via passes because all defenders and midfielders have cover, so you'll run into trouble as soon as you beat your guy.

Seems like all the more reason for Pirlo to play up farther, no?