Hitman
Milan Legend
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2011
- Messages
- 5,669
- Reaction score
- 1,866
I can imagine Pippo having a headache for the formation...
El Shaarawy can only play LW, nothing else. Torres can play CF, nothing else. Menez can play pretty much all the front three positions pretty decent but not excellent, however does he deserve to start? I think he is the best option at RW in a 4-3-3... but could he work as a second striker?
Honda, IMO is our most important player in the squad, can play pretty much all the positions up front and in midfield, and him playing well at RW (even though he always goes central) is because he is a football genius and is adapting to a position that isn't his best. Just because he's doing well there, does not mean we should trap him there and keep him, I think we should experiment and play him as a sole central trequartista because I really think we can get a lot more than him in the center of the pitch rather than at the right offensive wing only.
Pazzini - I am not a fan of him, I see absolutely no benefits in him being in the squad. Niang has so much potential, at times he can be the best player in the squad but his problem is his finish, and his decisions. We know he's capable, but he's just not yet ready to be a starter, however as we saw two years ago when he was given the faith and started, he was truly amazing on the RW. I don't know if RW or CF is his ideal spot, but he definitely deserves to start 5-10 games this season, and be coming on as a substitute in about 20 games.
Bonaventura I believe is an average player and was brought simply for depth. He doesn't deserve to start ahead of any of the four players mentioned above unless they need a rest. I expect 15-20 appearances from him mostly from the bench.
De Jong should and deserves to start every game until Montolivo comes back, by then we will figure out a new solution and see how these two can click. He's a great and classy player however offers 0 creativity and that has been harmful but unfortunately many people ignore that fact because he does his defensive duties so well.
Muntari is a solid player defensively, but way too often does he try his audacious passes and shots of which he fails 70% of the time. He does have a high scoring rate for a midfielder, and he is a very solid option as a box-to-box midfielder for us. Poli at times can be excellent, but more often than not he's average. He's a very good player to have in the squad, but not ideal player to be in the starting 11. He offers a lot of grinta, heart, and at times has the skill to dribble, but offensively he messes up a lot. Essien the worst player in midfield for us, we expected this signing to be a shrewd one, but it has failed miserably. We have not seen anything positive from him since he's been here and hopefully, Inzaghi sees that. I see Muntari, Poli, Bonaventura and Essien all fight it out for that box to box position, in some cases we will require one and others two.
Alex, Rami, Zapata are CBs that are pretty much equal, the first two offer goals on set pieces, Zapata offers experience in Serie A and speed. All three of those are prone to mistakes and none of them is a very good option and deserves to be an undisputed starter. Mexes can be the best CB in our team on his day, but I haven't seen that day in a long time. He plays with so much arrogance and moves and commands his team mates as if he was Nesta, I think he should be the fourth CB. Then there are Bonera and Zaccardo, the worst options in CB. I think that even De Sciglio can play as a CB better than those two. Having 6 center backs is bad for us when playing with 2 CBs, but if we play with 3 CBs, then it would not be such a bad idea.
At fullback positions we only have Armero at LB, Abate at RB and De Sciglio covering both. This means if one of these guys is injured, the we will have no substitutes for them in game time and will have to do a make shift solution such as moving Bonera to a fullback which is a bad idea.
After analyzing our squad, I think, that by far, our best module is this:
3-5-2
------------------------------------ LOPEZ --------------------------------------
---------------------------------- (ABBIATI) ------------------------------------
---------------- RAMI -------------- ALEX -------------- ZAPATA ------------------
-------------- (BONERA) --------- (MEXES) ----- (DE SCIGLIO, ZACCARDO) ---------
--------------------- DE JONG --------------- MUNTARI ----------------------------
------------------ (POLI, ESSIEN) ----- (VAN GINKEL, BONAVENTURA) ------------------
--- DE SCIGLIO ----------------- HONDA -------------------------- EL SHAARAWY
-- (ABATE, NIANG) --- (BONAVENTURA, SAPO, MASTOUR) ------ (ARMERO, NIANG, MENEZ)
----------------------- MENEZ ---------------------------------------------------
------------------ (NIANG, MASTOUR) --------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------- TORRES ----------------------------
--------------------------------------- (PAZZINI, MENEZ, NIANG) -----------------
-- Three defenders because we have a lot of CBs, and too few full backs.
-- One of the wingers in the midfield 5 has to be one of the defensive minded players De Sciglio, Abate, Armero, but never both being defensive.
-- Honda utilized in his best position, here he wouldn't worry about his speed and can dish out passes to the wingers and forward two
-- Menez can start centrally and move to the opposite direction of which Torres runs towards, opening up and stretching out the play. Both wingers should open up the wings as well, with Honda and Muntari pushing forward when in possession.
-- It is very advantageous to us that we have very speedy players playing in the wings and two positions up front: SES, Armero, Niang, Torres, Menez, Abate (with Pazzini being the only slow option)
-- This formation allows most of the players to play in their ideal positions
-- When attacking, it will look more of a 3 - 2 - 2 - 3
-- When defending, it will look more of a 4 - 4 - 1 - 1
Yup I had alot of time on my hands. Given the sad squad, we might as well try to think of solutions. I think this squad could potentially get third. Our squad's success will be determined by El Shaarawy, Torres form and Inzaghi's squad selection.
EDIT: totally forgot about Van Ginkel, but I've not seen him play, so he's a big question mark. I think he would take Muntari's position if he's a good player and fits in. Also forgot about Saponara, who should be one of the last players to be considered if he doesn't make a huge leap in his game. He should play in either the LW or RW spots, or maybe even instead of Honda (if he's trying to be a trequartista).
El Shaarawy can only play LW, nothing else. Torres can play CF, nothing else. Menez can play pretty much all the front three positions pretty decent but not excellent, however does he deserve to start? I think he is the best option at RW in a 4-3-3... but could he work as a second striker?
Honda, IMO is our most important player in the squad, can play pretty much all the positions up front and in midfield, and him playing well at RW (even though he always goes central) is because he is a football genius and is adapting to a position that isn't his best. Just because he's doing well there, does not mean we should trap him there and keep him, I think we should experiment and play him as a sole central trequartista because I really think we can get a lot more than him in the center of the pitch rather than at the right offensive wing only.
Pazzini - I am not a fan of him, I see absolutely no benefits in him being in the squad. Niang has so much potential, at times he can be the best player in the squad but his problem is his finish, and his decisions. We know he's capable, but he's just not yet ready to be a starter, however as we saw two years ago when he was given the faith and started, he was truly amazing on the RW. I don't know if RW or CF is his ideal spot, but he definitely deserves to start 5-10 games this season, and be coming on as a substitute in about 20 games.
Bonaventura I believe is an average player and was brought simply for depth. He doesn't deserve to start ahead of any of the four players mentioned above unless they need a rest. I expect 15-20 appearances from him mostly from the bench.
De Jong should and deserves to start every game until Montolivo comes back, by then we will figure out a new solution and see how these two can click. He's a great and classy player however offers 0 creativity and that has been harmful but unfortunately many people ignore that fact because he does his defensive duties so well.
Muntari is a solid player defensively, but way too often does he try his audacious passes and shots of which he fails 70% of the time. He does have a high scoring rate for a midfielder, and he is a very solid option as a box-to-box midfielder for us. Poli at times can be excellent, but more often than not he's average. He's a very good player to have in the squad, but not ideal player to be in the starting 11. He offers a lot of grinta, heart, and at times has the skill to dribble, but offensively he messes up a lot. Essien the worst player in midfield for us, we expected this signing to be a shrewd one, but it has failed miserably. We have not seen anything positive from him since he's been here and hopefully, Inzaghi sees that. I see Muntari, Poli, Bonaventura and Essien all fight it out for that box to box position, in some cases we will require one and others two.
Alex, Rami, Zapata are CBs that are pretty much equal, the first two offer goals on set pieces, Zapata offers experience in Serie A and speed. All three of those are prone to mistakes and none of them is a very good option and deserves to be an undisputed starter. Mexes can be the best CB in our team on his day, but I haven't seen that day in a long time. He plays with so much arrogance and moves and commands his team mates as if he was Nesta, I think he should be the fourth CB. Then there are Bonera and Zaccardo, the worst options in CB. I think that even De Sciglio can play as a CB better than those two. Having 6 center backs is bad for us when playing with 2 CBs, but if we play with 3 CBs, then it would not be such a bad idea.
At fullback positions we only have Armero at LB, Abate at RB and De Sciglio covering both. This means if one of these guys is injured, the we will have no substitutes for them in game time and will have to do a make shift solution such as moving Bonera to a fullback which is a bad idea.
After analyzing our squad, I think, that by far, our best module is this:
3-5-2
------------------------------------ LOPEZ --------------------------------------
---------------------------------- (ABBIATI) ------------------------------------
---------------- RAMI -------------- ALEX -------------- ZAPATA ------------------
-------------- (BONERA) --------- (MEXES) ----- (DE SCIGLIO, ZACCARDO) ---------
--------------------- DE JONG --------------- MUNTARI ----------------------------
------------------ (POLI, ESSIEN) ----- (VAN GINKEL, BONAVENTURA) ------------------
--- DE SCIGLIO ----------------- HONDA -------------------------- EL SHAARAWY
-- (ABATE, NIANG) --- (BONAVENTURA, SAPO, MASTOUR) ------ (ARMERO, NIANG, MENEZ)
----------------------- MENEZ ---------------------------------------------------
------------------ (NIANG, MASTOUR) --------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------- TORRES ----------------------------
--------------------------------------- (PAZZINI, MENEZ, NIANG) -----------------
-- Three defenders because we have a lot of CBs, and too few full backs.
-- One of the wingers in the midfield 5 has to be one of the defensive minded players De Sciglio, Abate, Armero, but never both being defensive.
-- Honda utilized in his best position, here he wouldn't worry about his speed and can dish out passes to the wingers and forward two
-- Menez can start centrally and move to the opposite direction of which Torres runs towards, opening up and stretching out the play. Both wingers should open up the wings as well, with Honda and Muntari pushing forward when in possession.
-- It is very advantageous to us that we have very speedy players playing in the wings and two positions up front: SES, Armero, Niang, Torres, Menez, Abate (with Pazzini being the only slow option)
-- This formation allows most of the players to play in their ideal positions
-- When attacking, it will look more of a 3 - 2 - 2 - 3
-- When defending, it will look more of a 4 - 4 - 1 - 1
Yup I had alot of time on my hands. Given the sad squad, we might as well try to think of solutions. I think this squad could potentially get third. Our squad's success will be determined by El Shaarawy, Torres form and Inzaghi's squad selection.
EDIT: totally forgot about Van Ginkel, but I've not seen him play, so he's a big question mark. I think he would take Muntari's position if he's a good player and fits in. Also forgot about Saponara, who should be one of the last players to be considered if he doesn't make a huge leap in his game. He should play in either the LW or RW spots, or maybe even instead of Honda (if he's trying to be a trequartista).
Last edited:
#Khedira
