Well with Ronaldo, we defend in a 4-4-2 so Ramsey has to be able to run back into the left side of the 4 midfielders like Matuidi does. Otherwise you simply don't have the space covered.
He adds nothing off the bench, he is not the type that makes an impact. I think he can be a starter with a more seasoned midfield. Look at France for example, he has high technical players around him and he does a great job. With our dull midfield he becomes also dull.
Unless we can convert matuidi to a ball winning DM he's the biggest weak spot in our team. Not because he's the worst necessarily but because his position is key to get the best out of Ronaldo yet he's absolutely useless at the offensive side of things. I'd feel confident defending him ffs
He was always all about the engine so now that he got older he's got nothing more to come up with. We should consider selling him but it's all about the budget I'd say.
I love him to death but this is it. Either he transitions to the bench and plays the role of Barzagli from 2015 when we brought him on only to close the game or we have to sell him if he's not ok with that. I'd bet a pretty substantial amount that a pretty substantial percentage of why Sandro struggles so much for periods of time is he has to 'combine' with Blaise to open space. No one is guarding him and Sandro never has an opportunity to run into open space like fullbacks should because the defense is just sitting deep and ignoring Matuidi.
I don't know what kind of structure Allegri has made that let's a talentless guy like Matuidi to be the the most attacking Midfielder and closest player to Ronaldo
Matuidi has always played as a high-energy box-to-box player. If you play him in a stationary role you lose everything he's actually really good at. His best asset is running up and down the pitch closing down players.
Id keep him as back up mid or LB. He should not be starting. He always ends up high on the pitch. And players are no longer passing to him. Theyd know he will lose the ball
Unless we can convert matuidi to a ball winning DM he's the biggest weak spot in our team. Not because he's the worst necessarily but because his position is key to get the best out of Ronaldo yet he's absolutely useless at the offensive side of things. I'd feel confident defending him ffs
Its bad because you can't pass him the ball and expect him to actually push it forward. He doesn't have that kind of technical ability, he should be the last guy on the field to pass the ball to.