Higuain is pretty good at receiving the ball. Obviously he is not going to win any headers, but if you play it to his feet he can turn a defender and set up a counterattack.
IMO we need the LM and the RM, and Dybala to find space between the lines and not just stand wide. Push the LB and RB further up to occupie the wide space. Maybe have Costa or Cuadrado go deep once in a while to stretch the defense. Offcourse it might help not having two CB, a RB and the GK who panics and hoof the ball away everytime there is a bit of pressure.
Oh and we need both CM to stay in front of the defense to cover the CB. Khedira is given way to much freedom to move forward in my opinion.
It's hard to protect the CBs with only 2 CMs. It's so much easier with 3 CMs.
The teams that play with a real CAM have the CAM help in midfield so the 2 CMs can stay more disciplined. But Dybala does nothing defensively so Khedira/Pjanic are constantly stretched out of their area.
Like if Eriksen gets the ball between our strikers and CMs, well, our CMs have to come out. We can't just let Eriksen sit on every ball with so much time. Whereas other teams in a real 4-2-3-1 wouldn't allow this time because their #10 would cover that space themselves and their CMs can stay more compact on top of the CBs.
This is why I say we are definitely sacrificing defensively to field both Higuain/Dybala. Then I ask myself if they're good enough to justify that sacrifice. Because like I said in the match thread, our defence is just to take the other team's blow on our chin and just hope our chin holds up. Our chin being the CBs and the keeper.
I really don't agree that they offer anything as targets. I don't know what evidence there is for this to be true. We see every time we're pressed that we can't break it. But you need the strikers to break it. You need the full team to break a press, not just the back 8 players. Dybala can't control anything between the lines consistently. He controls like he's a #9. Sometimes it bounces here, sometimes there. No one knows.
For me, Higuain has always been better at controlling in between the lines but this year he's declined in that area. But for sure, neither of them offer the option to control a high ball. The high ball is so important against the press. It's the easiest way to break it. So we are down the best option right from the start.
The Dybala/Higuain partnership is just such a poor fit in my eyes. They have rarely ever combined. The best combination you'll see is usually Higuain passing to Dybala somehow. I have said before that it would be better if they shared responsibilities in midfield because I do prefer Higuain controlling and passing more than Dybala. Moments like against Spurs where Dybala is behind the line is what makes sense to me in the context of this partnership.
But I still don't see an amazing fit between the two players.
Also I think if you want to continue on with this 4-4-2 then you might as well sell Pjanic because he is just hanging on for dear life in these big games. And has no opportunity to get on the ball.