[Jack Sparrow]

Personally, I think Pirlo is being used to do something he isn't suited to do. In which case he shouldn't be in the lineup..when you can hire someone else to do it. Why waste him in a job he's not meant for? You're only weakening your team.

I said sometime back in an earlier post that if we are going to stick with the 4-3-3 we are better off selling Pirlo, since Pirlo automatically forces the team to play a certain way.

Play this then...

--------------DEFENCE------------------------------
---------------Strasser----------------------------
---Ambro/KPB/Flam--------Ambro/KPB/Flam
---------------------Seedorf-------------------
----Pato/Robinho--------------R80/Robinho/Pato
---------------------Ibra/Pippo-------------------

[acid911]

Worth a try, Jack. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) And I agree, Pirlo along with Ronaldinho are the only two players who force the team to play in a certain way to accommodate them. For that to happen, both should be giving in at least 85% every game. Anything less, and we know what happens.

[Jack Sparrow]

Well obviously you're not paying attention because if you were you'd know I'd posted a stupid lineup with 12 players. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) It's a 4-4-3!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[d'Arc.LP]

Well obviously you're not paying attention because if you were you'd know I'd posted a stupid lineup with 12 players. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) It's a 4-4-3!!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I take Defence as 3 man defence (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[acid911]

No really, I'm all for a 3-man defense, provided it is Nesta, Silva, and maybe Bonera. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) And each three stays put in his position, behind the 2-man midfield of Flamini and KPB. We won't concede a goal if we go this route.

[Jack Sparrow]

It's a three man mid-field with Strasser as well..and someone will have to drop back to cover up as the 4 defender on occasion.

Zonal marking's got an article of how Busquets was doing it.

[Fillipo Simone]

Three man defense?? Last time we played that kind of strategy...it ended up badly.

[acid911]

True. And well one of the reason why we dropped so many points these past few weeks is our defense. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) Sure we had a lot of trouble scoring, but our problems would be less than half if we kept clean sheets. And a 3-man defense of ye olden days that does not go on attacking adventures, no full backs, just pure defenders would not be that bad an idea. Have the DMs help back. And play with wingers. And a single striker (Pato or Ibra).

Bench Pirlo, Ronaldinho or anyone else as needed. Surely the 4-3-3 is not working. And it won't unless we somehow clone Xavi.

[d'Arc.LP]

I wasn't suggesting us to play with 3 defenders. It was just a way to "save" acid for not paying attention to Jack's post (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[acid911]

LOL, of course, you did, and I actually got it the first time round. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) But lately I've been itching to somehow see a 4-5-1, or even a 3-man defense, composed of all our CBs. The slow limbering team that has been putting on the horror shows is just not doing it for me.

And oh, Fillipo, it can't turn out worse than what we have now. If we had kept clean sheets in all our matches, we'd be sitting in at 8 points, 2 behind inter. Not 5. Sure the other problems would still be there, but our lackluster defense surely isn't making things easier. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) Other teams counter us at will, and most of the time it's because almost all our defensive players are deep in the opposition half. But I do agree these are drastic measures, I can only hope Allegri gets things right through conventional means, 4-3-3, Christmas tree, or diamond.

Thanks, nonetheless, d'Arc. Gonna have to keep eyes open for this pesky Pirate, and that horrendous Han. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) One can never be too relaxed when these two are around and doing their shenanigans. Cheers!

[han2503]

Personally, I think Pirlo is being used to do something he isn't suited to do. In which case he shouldn't be in the lineup..when you can hire someone else to do it. Why waste him in a job he's not meant for? You're only weakening your team.

I said sometime back in an earlier post that if we are going to stick with the 4-3-3 we are better off selling Pirlo, since Pirlo automatically forces the team to play a certain way.

Imo Pirlo has been misused for years now. And it's not his fault that he's left stranded, the only reason he makes the mistakes acid was talking about is because he usually finds himself stuck in dangerous positions with the ball and has no one to release it o because all his teammates are in stationary positions. Imo, Pirlo can play in any area of our midfield, but our coaches have confined him to playing in front of the defence. Pirlo hasn't been playing a decent game since the days when Rino was on form and could protect him. That's how long it's been and imo the only player in our team who can do that is Flamini, but for some reason Leo and now Allegri don't play him, they prefer the slow Ambro who likes to run like a headless chicken into the box leaving Pirlo exposed.

A 4-3-3 can work for us, I have no doubts about it, but only if Pirlo is given a free role in front of Boateng and Flamini or Ambro in certain cases. Anything other then that will produce what we've been seeing week in week out for months now, even during the days under Carlo.

LOL, of course, you did, and I actually got it the first time round. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) But lately I've been itching to somehow see a 4-5-1, or even a 3-man defense, composed of all our CBs. The slow limbering team that has been putting on the horror shows is just not doing it for me.

And oh, Fillipo, it can't turn out worse than what we have now. If we had kept clean sheets in all our matches, we'd be sitting in at 8 points, 2 behind inter. Not 5. Sure the other problems would still be there, but our lackluster defense surely isn't making things easier. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) Other teams counter us at will, and most of the time it's because almost all our defensive players are deep in the opposition half. But I do agree these are drastic measures, I can only hope Allegri gets things right through conventional means, 4-3-3, Christmas tree, or diamond.

Thanks, nonetheless, d'Arc. Gonna have to keep eyes open for this pesky Pirate, and that horrendous Han. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) One can never be too relaxed when these two are around and doing their shenanigans. Cheers!

A 3 man defence system can work for us, we've got 3 strong CBs to work with and not so strong fullbacks while we have better options for a packed midfield. But I can't see us trying it anytime soon.

As for the recent games, you have to say, Catania's goal was more a fluke then our defence sucking, sure we let them spring counters on us, but they scored off none of them. What was his name, that LB that scored on us? I'm sure he couldn't do that again in a million years.

[acid911]

A 3-man defense like you said, Han, is worth trying, but not sure Allegri has it in him. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) It's better to die trying than failing consistently with something that's clearly not working. If only for surprising our opponents. Now the other teams almost know for sure our preferred formation and rival coaches work it all out in a snap. Allegri should be thanking his stars that we are playing Genoa tomorrow - not inter.

As for the fluke goal, yes, it was a magic moment. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Not gonna happen in another million years. But the way Hernanes ran circles around our defense in the Lazio match, and finally delivering the pass for the goal that cost us 2-points is a cause for concern. Either this defense improves (not talking about the CB pairing) or we try something new. Going into big matches, in the league or CL, with our paper defensive line that goes into futile attack modes is fraught with danger. And if there is one word I have learned to not argue with is: fraught.

[han2503]

A 3-man defense like you said, Han, is worth trying, but not sure Allegri has it in him. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) It's better to die trying than failing consistently with something that's clearly not working. If only for surprising our opponents. Now the other teams almost know for sure our preferred formation and rival coaches work it all out in a snap. Allegri should be thanking his stars that we are playing Genoa tomorrow - not inter.

As for the fluke goal, yes, it was a magic moment. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Not gonna happen in another million years. But the way Hernanes ran circles around our defense in the Lazio match, and finally delivering the pass for the goal that cost us 2-points is a cause for concern. Either this defense improves (not talking about the CB pairing) or we try something new. Going into big matches, in the league or CL, with our paper defensive line that goes into futile attack modes is fraught with danger. And if there is one word I have learned to not argue with is: fraught.

It's the same defensive line as last season, and when we had Nesta it was full proof, even with Favalli we were more stable then we currently are. It's obviously the system that's the problem and not the players.

And imo it all stems from the midfield. Once that midfield gets stabilised we'll be good to go, but until then we're going to keep losing points.

As for Hernanes, I've been harping on about wanting him for 2 years straight. And isn't it funny that Lazio got him for the sum they did? :sarcasticlaugh: (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

[acid911]

Yeah, I hear you. My younger brother told me about Lazio signing Hernanes, and I was like "What?!" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) How can he go there, why not Milan, and when I saw the amount, I was even more taken aback. I like him a lot, he is a great player, and will do even better playing in the Italian version of Seria A.