People seem clueless that he's playing as a CDM, not as a creative playmaking regista. So we get nonsensical comments about the 2 poor long passes he tried in that half, ignoring his amazing defensive contributions breaking up play, winning the ball back, etc. He's been our best player on the pitch this half, imo.
We don't expect him to be creative, at least I'm not. But he got to pass better and play it forward more often. Sideways passing is ok if there's space or back pass if there's no option, but he got to be more incisive in general
Apart from the dying minutes in the 2nd half the entirety of Cuadrados time on the pitch has been spent with him at RWB and Alves further behind him in a back 3. Our shape didn't change until the end. Hopefully we carry on like we ended, with Cuadrado pushed up.
Cuadrado wasn't playing WB at all. Not in the slightest. He had no defensive responsibilities at all once he came on the pitch. Alves even as a WB drifts into the middle often, and he clearly was playing as a RB once Cuadrado came on.
Stop trying to manipulate things to fit your agenda.
I don't deny that, we can't play 4-3-3 with Zuk and Higuain but with the XI on the pitch right now we should be playing 4-4-2. Which we sort of looked like we were switching to at the end of the half.
Cuadrado wasn't playing WB at all. Not in the slightest. He had no defensive responsibilities at all once he came on the pitch. Alves even as a WB drifts into the middle often, and he clearly was playing as a RB once Cuadrado came on.
Stop trying to manipulate things to fit your agenda.
My agenda? If my agenda is wanting to have at least a back up/alternate formation when the 3-5-2 is not working instead of shoehorning people in to a 3-5-2 then yes I have a strong agenda to push.
I don't deny that, we can't play 4-3-3 with Zuk and Higuain but with the XI on the pitch right now we should be playing 4-4-2. Which we sort of looked like we were switching to at the end of the half.
And Alves can't play CB, so maybe we should show some initiative and get that young lad Allegri raves about, that impressed domestically playing on the left hand side of the pitch.