Galliani: "Allegri has done a good job in changing the tactical set-up. We will continue with the 4-3-3 formation next season."
Galliani: "Allegri will also be here next season. And all our youth teams will play in the 4-3-3 formation."


As I had stated earlier, 4312 is dead and 433 is the new modern system being used by more and more clubs.


I find it funny how Ajax have always been ahead of the game. They've been using that for the last 15 years. Barcelona implemented their fundamentals as well. It really shows.

come on now blue, our formation these days is barely on the edges of what a real 4-3-3 is.

We played 4-5-1 againt Barca and in our lat 2 league games where we FINALLY started playing good football, Allegri removed Niang from the right and gave Boateng a more of a free role where he starts wide and then moves to the center. Hardly a rigid 4-3-3 like you were advocating a few weeks ago with Niang running a straight line on the wing

Agreed. IMO, it's been more of a 4-3-2-1 with SES and KPB supporting Pazzini, both having the freedom to roam over the trequarti.

Since we're talking about tactics, Sport says that Barça will revolutionize and play 3-3-4 against us.

I suppose the spare CB is to deal with the lone striker role that Pazzo played? :-) Will we have Balo back?

Speaking of which, I like the 4-3-3 because it is a formation that offers a lot of flexibility as opposed to the others. The traditional 4-3-1-2 is a bit too transparent in it's intentions and needs top top players to make it work. It's not like in our glory days under Carlo, our gameplay was surprising.

Everyone knew what to expect, but when you have Seedorf, Pirlo, Rui Costa, Sheva and Pippo in one team gunning for you, and Rino,Cafu, Stam, Maldini and Nesta in your face, there is f_ck all you can do.

No man, Balo can't play in the CL.

Sorry. It's Monday and I'm an idiot.

The other CB will most likely be Mascherano. I don't know how that can work... Will they use Alves and Alba on the attacking wing? Or will they just go their usual 3 in midfield and then just lump Iniesta, Messi, Villa and Pedro up front?

I don't think they can do much about Pazzini since he's basically constantly in their faces because he'll most likely drop as deep as he did at San Siro... And Mascherano will end up pushing up into midfield anyway so it would look very strange.

Personally I don't think Barca will change much. They still have their pass pass pass style and they'll stick to it. The only things we might see is Villa coming in for Cesc, or maybe even Tello playing. Can't see Sanchez starting as he's be awful lately for them

Regardless of how they play, we must kick them out! A chance like this comes once in a lifetime.

Agreed, whatever changes they make to their line-up and tactics we simply have to play like we did at home. We all know that the fundamental aspects of their play will remain as they are, they'll still try to constantly pass through us and get Messi/Pedro in behind, they won't take too many shots from distance, and crosses are usually very easily dealth with. The most important thing is to keep it tight, get Prince and SES to tag team with Abate and whoever plays on the left to mark out their wide players and push them to play very narrow

4-3-3's biggest problem is it requires VERY specific player types for it to work. Barca are truly the marquee model, until Europe started figuring them out.

In short it needs a DM (Busquets), a CM (Xavi) and an AM (Iniesta). It also requires a front 3 where the left and right prongs are more creators and wingers while the centre-forward is the main goal threat.

This is basic stuff.

It's a good formation to use at home against weaker opposition, and if you have the players for it it's good away too.

We used it going forward in the first leg, while reverting to a 4-5-1 when defending. That is usually the all-round best deployment of it.

Barca's issue is they can't do the 4-5-1 defending part. They get caught easily by the 4-3-3 on the counter.

Dare I say it we can do both.

The problem for us this season is that we do not have 95% of the requirements you've pointed out above

DM: DJ out pretty early in the season, Ambro cannot cope playing a certain amount of games
AM: No one really on this team is a proper AM
Winger/Creator for the 2 wide men up front: None (Maybe Bojan but they've never really given him enough time to try and make an impact. SES is far from being the type of player you described up there.

The only ones that really hit the criteria are Monto (CM) and Pazzo/Balo (CF)

So it's not that simple, and imo, it's the biggest reason as to why we struggled so much to put in even decent performances let alone start to win games. Now I think Allegri found the best formula for using the 4-3-3 with the players he has.

And for me, I see it as Barca's biggest problem being their extreme egotistic nature of playing as to why they're so susceptible to the counter attack. Playing such a high line with your FBs basically forming part of a 5 man attacking line with none of the mids dropping back to the level of the CBs just requires one good ball to set the opposition off on a 3 v 2 counter situation.

And now that they've hit a slump in form and they're not retaining the ball as well as they used to has made them even more vulnerable to this

A 3-3-4 would play perfectly into our hands. When they go 4-3-3 they have Alves and Alba who have good pace which helps vs the counter. 3 CBs when a team will be looking to counter on you is madness, especially when they get dragged into wide positions.

3-3-4 ... Who comes up with this ****? Barcelona will be Barcelona, if it is their day and they had their pep talk (no pun), 3-3-4, 5-3-2, call it what you call it they will bring the gates of hell to our defense!

The game at San Siro, our players were brilliant! But this Barcelona was/is clearly in a dip of some kind, a CL game against Milan at their stadium, that could be their comeback especially after falling to Milan, and Madrid twice. I don't doubt for one second that this could be a potential comeback game for them. And the reality of it is, it is more likely that Barca win 4-0 than us getting anything out of it ... Unless!! dst opens the thread, then we could start talking about the quarter finals

I will do it, it's my destiny.

+1

I hope we don't forget that no matter what our form and Barca's form is, we're still the inferior team.

Basically, we need to have the same mentality as the first leg, otherwise we're out. and that mentality is that of an inferior side with something to prove. hurts that say that about Milan but it's true.

Nope, we are not an inferior team. As I said a few months back, with our history, legacy and reputation, other big teams play cautiously. We can match them blow for blow if we get our tactics right. If not, then yes, there have been 0-4 results, 4-3 scares and whatnot.

But a rollover we are not, our opponents know this, and it plays on their minds. To no small extent.

Oh by the way, I agree with this totally. This has got more to do with the caliber of the players we have on the team and their weak will concentration and will power. Plus a mediocre coach (Small Team Mentality™) who is average at best against big sides when he is playing a natural game of football and trying to match them.

It happened against Inter and it will happen against other big teams. They will punish us, unless we try out the strategy you mentioned above. Both Juventus and Barcelona got the taste recently. If we stick to this, they may again. Basically, play like an inferior side like your life depends on it, frustrate opponents before finishing them off.

Sad yes, but this is not the coach, nor the team (yet) that plays free flowing football like there is no tomorrow!

And that's what a great coach should do. Only a fool tries to outplay a better team.

Agreed, but the problem is when playing a team that is not better. Inter wasn't, there was a chance to grab all 3 points, get nearer to the top of the table while brushing our cousins off. Instead we employed a different strategy and paid the price in the end. Hubris? Or at least, an extra dash of overconfidence.

I am not saying rush in like fools against Barcelona, just do what you and Zed.D have said and we'd be fine.

And the tactics Allegri set out in the first half were more than enough to do the job. When your players aren't finishing, there's not much you can do about it though. We should've been 3-0 up at half time and the job is done. Admittedly it wasn't all bad finishing, but you can't really account for a keeper putting on a performance like Handanovic did.

There's only 1 way to play against Barca. Fortunately they only know how to play 1 way. This talk of a new formation makes me laugh, they don't play with a formation anyway really.

+1