Melo has been in wretched form. Not solely because of the position asked of him, but in general. His mind is not focussed. Which can be said of many of our players. Far too many misplaced passes for a player who occupies a sensitive area of the pitch. And this is not simply tactical. For Brazil, he plays alongside a man who does a lot of the Destroyer work, which hs has done for us, alongside Momo, a few times. However when the Destroyer position is forced onto him, he loses composure. Marchiso is not an out and out destroyer, and Poulsen most definitely isn't, at least not in a Juve shirt, and I would suggest, not in italy. Perhaps in Spain, where the players are far more flimsy, he was feared, but not in Serie A, which is MUCH rougher than La Liga.
Italian football is rougher in general, or should I say more vicious, than any other major league I watch, other than the south american, particularly the argies. The Juve v Inter game would have seen at least 3 or 4 red cards if played in the premier league, and 4 or 5 deaths if played in La Liga...
Melo does need to improve. And he needs to be played next to players to allow him to do what he does best, which to my knowledge is driving the team forward as well as SUPPORTING the hatchetman. I do not share anyone' view that Poulsen has become a great player this season. Yes, he has improved dramatically on last season's corpse like showings, but still, he is way behind Momo and Marchiso in terms of CM possibilities, because he so often, offers nothing.
The strangest thing about Poulsen is that he is often superb for the Danes...far more prominent, much more of a star player, than Melo is for Brazil, but then again its easier to be a star player for the Danes as the quality of the squad is massively lower than that of the samba boys.
Melo can pass, can shoot, can tackle...but we need him to focus on ONE JOB only, rather than ask him to be an all action box to box midfielder. Marchisio can do that job, so can Momo.
Buy on AliExpress.com
