Andrea Pirlo (110 Viewers)
- Thread starter Mark
- Start date
- Tags the goat of midfield
kasaki
No, I am telling you that if the top 3 players start "running around" Pirlo will find his job much easier as in the top 3 making intelligent runs into space allowing one of Vidal/Marchisio to push forward (while the other stays back to support Pirlo). This gives Pirlo more options. If the top 3 are static and not "running around" then Pirlo is useless, he has no one to pass to accept his CMs.
I'm not really trying to convince you, just pretty much stating how much better we have maintained possession and the improvment in our flow when we switched to a 433 in our games this year. Yesterday we basically played a 4231, it may have looked like a 433 but we clearly had Vidal going forward in an advanced role early on then Marchisio later.
a 3 man midfield, if anything suports Pirlo more (since his pace is slow), but like I said, if our movement in the offensive 3rd is static, Pirlo will be static as well. I am not disagreeing with you in the 424 for example, he does well, I disagree with you in that the 3 man midfield does not support Pirlo, it does...but the top 3 need to be in tune as well.
a 3 man midfield, if anything suports Pirlo more (since his pace is slow), but like I said, if our movement in the offensive 3rd is static, Pirlo will be static as well. I am not disagreeing with you in the 424 for example, he does well, I disagree with you in that the 3 man midfield does not support Pirlo, it does...but the top 3 need to be in tune as well.
He can work in both, but IMO he's miles more effective in the 2 man. If they had tried to man mark him in our 4-2-4 it would be much harder. There'd be too much space and not enough help for his marker. They can man mark in a 3 man mid because if Pirlo turns his marker or has a loose first touch, there are 2 extra players in the vicinity to close him quick.
If there is only 1 it is impossible. Pirlo can turn anyone, he would have turned that schlub multiple times yesterday if he had the space. But we had 2 extra guys there bringing their men with them. He even tried a couple times and the 2nd man in would nip him.
If the opposition is intent on having someone on Pirlo, then they will play 4-5-1. If we play 4-3-3 then that extra man (their 5th mid) gets to play infront of their 4 and hound Pirlo. If we move to 4-2-4, then that extra man must play BEHIND their 4 man midfield. If they don't then we have 2 one-on-ones with their CBs and our strikers.
The 4-3-3 is my preferred formation but not because of Pirlo. It will work most of the time but Catania solved it QUICKLY. We should have adjusted as soon as we saw their intention to follow Pirlo around.
If there is only 1 it is impossible. Pirlo can turn anyone, he would have turned that schlub multiple times yesterday if he had the space. But we had 2 extra guys there bringing their men with them. He even tried a couple times and the 2nd man in would nip him.
If the opposition is intent on having someone on Pirlo, then they will play 4-5-1. If we play 4-3-3 then that extra man (their 5th mid) gets to play infront of their 4 and hound Pirlo. If we move to 4-2-4, then that extra man must play BEHIND their 4 man midfield. If they don't then we have 2 one-on-ones with their CBs and our strikers.
The 4-3-3 is my preferred formation but not because of Pirlo. It will work most of the time but Catania solved it QUICKLY. We should have adjusted as soon as we saw their intention to follow Pirlo around.
Well now you are opening up a whole new can of worms. 
It all depends on what formation the other team plays. A 4-5-1 would not be good for Pirlo to play against regardless, that 5th man can still track him around because they still have 4 at the back and another 4 midfielders. That's what I like to call "parking the bus in front of goal". The beauty of our 424 is that with one sub we can instantly change to a 433 midgame to completely undress the opposition tactical plan. But, as the point you stated it really depends on the formation they are playing. It is nice that we can do that, makes us less predicatable. We have smart enough strikers now (no Amauri or IQ) to sit statically waiting for the ball.
Part of the reason, I would like to point out, that when we switch midgame to a 433 between subs when we suddenly had more flow & possession to our game was because we had to make the other team rethink their tactics, they were lost and had to adapt and during their adaptation was when we improved our gameplay.
It all depends on what formation the other team plays. A 4-5-1 would not be good for Pirlo to play against regardless, that 5th man can still track him around because they still have 4 at the back and another 4 midfielders. That's what I like to call "parking the bus in front of goal". The beauty of our 424 is that with one sub we can instantly change to a 433 midgame to completely undress the opposition tactical plan. But, as the point you stated it really depends on the formation they are playing. It is nice that we can do that, makes us less predicatable. We have smart enough strikers now (no Amauri or IQ) to sit statically waiting for the ball.
Part of the reason, I would like to point out, that when we switch midgame to a 433 between subs when we suddenly had more flow & possession to our game was because we had to make the other team rethink their tactics, they were lost and had to adapt and during their adaptation was when we improved our gameplay.