Knee jerk? Are you serious? Obviously you cannot blame last season solely on Diego as he doesn't take to the pitch alone. If was a collective choice from the top tier of management to the bottom. We tried to accomodate him as much as we could and it backfired BIG TIME. But i forgot how it is around here, if you say anything about Diego that isn't all peaches and cream then all of a sudden you're blaming all the worlds ill's on him.

You're the one knee-jerking.
So according to you it was a good idea to change from a formation that was tried and true with the group of players we have to one that supposedly is Diego's favored formation. Because that's basically what you're saying.
If we wouldn't have bought Diego we wouldn't have been trying to play a 4-3-1-2. Simple as that. We should have just gone out and found a proper replacement for Nedved on the left wing. You can try to twist my words any way you'd like but I stand my my opinion unlike others around here who bow to 'senior' members pressure and agree blindly with everything they say.
We played 4-4-2 for two years in Serie A before that both times attaining VERY respectable positions. 3rd and 2nd respectively. All after we had just come back up from Serie B. Our squad was nothing special at that point.
Yet we played a system that the players knew, we played to their strengths.
And we got results. Unlike what we did last year.
And yes I do believe that when we play the 4-4-2 we create more chances than when we played the 4-3-1-2. You see unlike the 4-3-1-2 we will be playing down the flanks. Unlike the 4-3-1-2 again we will be catering to our group of players strengths. Getting into wide positions and stretching the opponents play thus opening up and creating space.
I would go on but i have to get back to work. I'll be back later.