Do you believe pioli will change formation now? During our worst injury crisis he still played 4-2-3-1 and it took a disaster january (our worst ever run) for him to change to 3 atb. Ain't no way he gonna change formation again, why we should put interim coach in charge
I know he will not, because when he did change the formation he chose the wrong one. I am just stating the obvious so I can say later "I told you so!"
The way I see it, Tomori and Kalulu rely on the pace to cover the space. They are not so good in tighter spaces. Maignan also, he is good when his defenders push higher up. When you play 3 atb you are not putting your best defenders in the ideal situation and it does not address the real issue which is the loss of the midfield battle.
Second point is that neither Bennacer nor Tonali are real DMs, meaning they do not clean up the mess in the space between the defence and midfield. Strangely, Krunic does this better, whereas Tonali and Bennacer are better at carrying the ball forward and pressing higher up the pitch. Tonali especially is good as a box to box and has a knack for scoring goals. The obvious solution is to play all 3.
Then up front you can have 1 AM and 2 CF or wingers and a CF or 2 AMs and 1 CF. It depends on the selection, but the ideal situation is to bring out the best in Leao. His best is playing as LW, since he dribbles and with someone like Giroud laying off. Ideally Leao can improve his shooting and move inside, this would accommodate the other forward like Diaz who sometimes has offensive contribution. I think in an ideal scenario. De Ketelare would grow some balls and play as the RW. As things are, our best bet is to continue with the Leao, Giroud, Diaz trio while hoping to figure out ways for Leao to be more involved and effective.
With that said, the best formation today, the way I see it is Xmas tree formation
Maignan
Kalulu, Thiaw/Kjaer, Tomori, Theo
Bennacer, Krunic, Tonali
Diaz, Leao
Giroud
I think we can attempt a more attacking FB than Kalulu on the right (he can go in the middle for Tomori) maybe Florenzi would do if he is fit. This way you get the width from the full backs while the two wide CMs do the the covering.
I would also like to see Leao drop to pick up the ball with Diaz pushing higher up as the second striker.