++ [ originally posted by barkuss ] ++
Here is my word on this topic:
CM positions in 4-4-2(various versions) are most important.
I like Tach ....he played very good when the team was playing, doing HIS job perfectly. If I could pick a substitution for him I would pick between Vieira or Emerson (and Davids of course). They are of course better than Tach in "stand-alone " game but Tach is a perfect team player.
When is the team best? Team is best when everybody does the job they are given.....if you give Tach more offensive role....he will suck and Emerson will shine. Give Tach defensive role....he will shine,Emerson will suck(but not that much like Tach in attack). Vieira is a perfect DM with two disadvantages...first one is that he likes to go up-front like Emerson leaving the room for opposition counter-attacks. Thats why Wenger and Capello are forced to play with 2 def.midfielders in middle(Gil.Silva in Arse and Dacourt in Roma). Second one is that he has no powerful-long shot which is IMO very important in DM role. Tach for instance has powerful shot but he doesnt uses it very much. Well we come to a player that was non-officially named for the best DM in the world: Claude Makelele. He is perfect in jobs that are given to the DM`s; search&destroy,when you win the ball-give it to someone! Well that kinda of play maybe worked in RealMadrid when he had Zizou and Figo in the middle thinking how to score,but in Chelsea he makes mistakes more often cuz all of his bad things came out....bad passing,no-play in opponents side of the pitch,bad technique,no long-shoot......etc
Thats why I think that Tach is a great mixure of player that has defensive skills,good pass when he`s given space,reasonable technique and heading,tackle and long-shoot! I do not belive in Blasi and Brighi....we dont need one more year of experiment when Tach is entering in his most-mature playing age. Rather buy a playmaker(everybody know I fully stand behind Diego) that will create space for everybody including Tach. You never see him shine on the pitch but he does his job very good for almost a decade now.
If you are willing to extend your understanding of a player doing his primary job to Tach, why not Trez?
Right now, the deeper Juve is able to initiate an attack from, the better. What we see now is a case of players (forwards) trying to play only when they receive the ball in the last third, the tightest and most heavily marked area of the pitch. Success is limited and in an attempt to correct a flawed plan A, plan B sees them taking turns to drop back in haphazard fashion to fetch and carry. Meanwhile, we stick a helpless frontman all alone upfront as a semblence of attacking intent to try and salvage something.
In essence, given what's been happening, I don't think Juve can continue to afford sacrificing a DM place (one of the most important positions on the pitch) for a pure 80-90% defensive job. I realize the importance of that additional cover in a marathon competition (Scudetto) where the priority is points (not to lose) but the price to pay in offence is too much. A dual pairing of 2-way midfielders with less specialized duties between attack and defence perhaps? I don't know. Of course, like we considered the weakness from a positional perspective, we should also consider it from the individual viewpoint - the role has been adapted to fit Tach and hence limited by him. With all due respect, he is no Deschamps, the man he had been trying to dislogde but which he eventually replaced instead after the Frenchman left ... not all on merit though.
Its interesting that you bring up Makelele and expressed your views on his 'weaknesses'. The nature of the league a DM plays in shapes his style - when you switch leagues, a strength could well become a weakness ... nobody's perfect. Tach is as much a product of the Serie A environment as the way he has grown into the role himself. Ditto Makelele. Both are unfortunate in that they are perpetually living in the shadow of their immediate predecessors - Deschamps and Redondo (interrupted briefly by Helguera), the masters of their positions and people who define those roles. More on Makelele, in Real, he never needed to poke a pass beyond say 10-15m because at any given time, he has infinitely more passing options/support around him than most teams do. When you are in a team of Zidane, Figo et al in an 'open concept' La Liga adopts, you don't have to stretch beyond that range nor do those things which others are much better at. In Chelsea, he has problems with the different system, the rhythm and pace of the game. Moreover, he's not exactly a big man and in such a physically demanding environment, most will need some time to settle.
Lots of suggestions mentioned here. IMHO, Blasi is the clone of Tach. Brighi looked good in Bologna but has gone horribly wrong ever since. Perotta, discarded by Juve years back, will never come back. Emerson sounds good for a 2-way midfielder system but not a straight replacement for Tach. Vieira is out for a variety of reasons. Jankulovski might actually be considered for his technical ability and range of passing except that he could be better utilized as a LB. Ditto Pizarro if he comes. Maresca cannot handle the defensive aspect alone but a pairing with someone like Emerson could address that. All in all, my ideal candidate is a younger version of Mauro Silva, the awesome holding player for Deportivo who has everything needed to succeed.
Above all though, someone in the coaching department will have to see to it that there's actually a constructive pattern of play and build the basic understanding that a team should possess. Again, case study : Deportivo. Simply brilliant.