“Suso is an extraordinary player, but he probably has different characteristics and we need to get them to play in their natural roles. We’ll have to work on it and certainly in a different way, probably 4-3-3.
after one game...
I didn't expect it to happen so soon when I wrote this:
How long until the team drops the forced, impractical 4-3-1-2?
It took 3.5 games in 2012/2013.
No more than a few preseason games in 2013/2014.
8 games in 2014-2015.
I think we'll hit a post-2012 record this time. Giampaolo has used 4-3-1-2, from start, in EVERY single game in charge of Sampdoria and Empoli, with zero exceptions. He might stick to this until he's fired, and that's probably not going to happen until at least a few months into the season.
The only hope is that he mimics Sarri once again.
Giampaolo wasn't this strongly associated with 4-3-1-2 until he replaced Sarri at Empoli, and copied him, which saved his career.
4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 were his thing at Catania.
It's Sarri who was the 4-3-1-2 guy, and he tried to bring that over to Napoli, but he quickly realized it was impractical and shifted to a 4-3-3 that was a more advanced form of Benitez' 4-2-3-1.
Hopefully Giampaolo is as pragmatical as the guy who saved his career.
And hopefully Maldini and co aren't stupid enough to put all the eggs in one shitty basket, 4-3-1-2 in this case. It would repeat the mistakes of 2013, 2015 and 2017 summer mercati.
It seems he's going the Sarri route again, which is better than the alternatives, still we've ended up in a shitty situation that was so easy to predict from start.
I do not mind the club putting faith in a system coach and prioritizing long term results, but if you're going to do that then do it with someone worthwhile. Giampaolo went from a flop who was known for provincial, defensive tactics, to a "modern", 4-3-1-2 possession guy when he inherited Sarri's team at Empoli. He went on to try something similar at Sampdoria, and got similar results as his predecessors(actually Miha managed to finish higher than he ever did, 7th). He is one of few coaches who prefer short, lightweight, technical players in front of the defense(so basically he prefers Xavi on Busquets' position), and he throws away the defensive solidity which 4-3-3 & other winger formations tend to bring due to the helping hand the wingers give to the fullbacks. His Sampdoria team also looked overly tactical and static in some sense. Does his defensive record justify these weird decisions? Definitely not.
Did the overall results? Doesn't look like it. He may have improved some players, but he's the opposite of Gasperini in the sense that his stars go on to do even better without him. That's not a good sign.
Gasperini is what the club wishes Giampaolo was.
They should've given up the idea of a system coach when Gasp, Conte and Sarri rejected us. Or at least got someone that has achieved more than a 9th place.
Oh well. I hope he turns this around. Hopefully he manages to improve on Rino's/Montella's 4-3-3 the way Sarri did on Benitez' work.
He has such a sympathetic face. It breaks my heart to criticize him, especially now that he's already down.
Why couldn't all the poorly performing Milan coaches look like this?
