Right. I mean first of all, Dybala is not a baby anymore. And he's not really that short, he just looks like a boy. He is taller than a lot of #9s around Europe. But if you pass it to his feet, he can shield the ball. He does it all the time in midfield. Or he draws a foul. This is not like 1988 where the defender just punches you in the head and takes the ball. They can hardly do anything to you without a foul called.
But also, one of my biggest pet peeves, is that he prefers Mario's physicality but we rarely ever use his head in build up. Instead of playing through our midfield, maybe go straight from Bonucci to Mario to Ronaldo? Have we even seen that more than a couple times this year? So if you are not using Mario's biggest strength, why is he preferred there?
Ok you start Mario against Atletico. But then you are happy with 60% possession in the hands of Bentancur, Matuidi, Chiellini around midfield? Why not sacrifice some useless, dangerous (counters) possession and try having Mario knock balls down for Ronaldo? It really makes more sense to try and go station to station against Atletico away? How many teams can do that with even twice the caliber of midfielders we have?
But also, one of my biggest pet peeves, is that he prefers Mario's physicality but we rarely ever use his head in build up. Instead of playing through our midfield, maybe go straight from Bonucci to Mario to Ronaldo? Have we even seen that more than a couple times this year? So if you are not using Mario's biggest strength, why is he preferred there?
Ok you start Mario against Atletico. But then you are happy with 60% possession in the hands of Bentancur, Matuidi, Chiellini around midfield? Why not sacrifice some useless, dangerous (counters) possession and try having Mario knock balls down for Ronaldo? It really makes more sense to try and go station to station against Atletico away? How many teams can do that with even twice the caliber of midfielders we have?
The weird thing to me about this season is how Max didnt experiment as much as previous years, and im not only talking about Dybala CF or Berna CM, but nothing really. Early on we found this front trio of Ronaldo Dybala and Mandzu which worked great on offense due to the 3 of them being able to play all 3 attacking positions and generally them complimenting each other well, which created great dynamic in the attack. And it looks like Max was happy with that and found his formula for this season right there. Most of his new things later were within that system, either more defensive fullback(s), different kind of CMs, Costa/Berna instead of Dybala sometimes... none of it was trying out new drastic things, like going 451 in Munchen 3 years ago, or going back from 4312 to 352 that same season, introducing the 4231 out of the blue etc. It maybe made us too predictable so teams adapt a lot better to us now. The team is in dire need of fresh ideas so its time for another Max moment like those above. Hope he has it in him still
