Paulo Dybala (144 Viewers)
- Thread starter Dostoevsky
- Start date
I personally want my best players as involved as possible. That's why I like the fact that both Pjanic and Dybala are in positions to actually get the ball. The popular and in my opinion quite simplistic view is that we should have our best players as far up the pitch as possible. I don't think that is a good ideas as attacks usually start from the back unless you resort to long balls. If we suddenly sign a player like Pogba who can take that load of carrying the ball forward and creating for others Dybala can go further up.
He is one of my favorite players in current team, when he is on fire, he is a joy to watch. But he isn't playing well enough this season. Despite the obvious midfield weakness, he needs to step up and rise to the occasion. He needs to be more involved, whether he's playing a bit behind and we are counting on him to help with build up of our attacks, or creating something in the final 3rd when he recieves the ball in a good position. I think it's more of mental issue than his actual abillity that prevents him to fulfill his potential. He is drifting in and out of games and there are large spells when he isn't involved. Fighting with a coach won't help him solve this.
I agree but I think the consideration for Dybala would be to not necessarily get him the ball as often as possible but as open as possible considering his main talent is a strike, not necessarily passing.
If he is the #9 then when he comes back into midfield we can have 6 or 7 players there (3-5-2 vs. Bologna in September
). In which case he finds an easy time getting open. If he is playing #10 then he *is* the midfield, so he's never open. There are only 3 players there and he is the 4th. Easily marked and he has to rely on first touch, quick passing, etc. Attributes that aren't his strength.
I will try to find some example of this situation where he is in a clear numeric superiority vs. Bologna and screen grab it.
Edit: We need to find this situation more often. Technically both CR7 and Dybala are strikers in this match but look at this position they find. I don't know if you necessarily need to play the 3-5-2 to find it but it helps to have two wingbacks who are on the last man to stretch the defence. And imagine Bernardeschi playing the B2B CM role instead of Bentancur in this picture. A player who can take up that space that Dybala leaves. It's a nightmare.
Edit 2: If you want 99% possession. No striker for the CBs to mark. You might not score from here, but you will have the ball. Is that really a negative thing?
Edit 3: If you want Dybala to be a playmaker:
I suppose this is more of an argument for a 3-5-2 than I thought because you get 5 midfielders instead of 4 and you get the wingbacks pinning the defensive line back instead of a #9.
You might also do this with a 4-4-2 where you just split your CBs and basically everyone else is in attack but that is a big risk considering Bonucci is isolated.
Although I think you can still incorporate Mandzukic in a 3-4-2-1 and have a lot of players in midfield as well. My main point is that Dybala should be a surplus in midfield, not part of the midfield.
If he is the #9 then when he comes back into midfield we can have 6 or 7 players there (3-5-2 vs. Bologna in September
). In which case he finds an easy time getting open. If he is playing #10 then he *is* the midfield, so he's never open. There are only 3 players there and he is the 4th. Easily marked and he has to rely on first touch, quick passing, etc. Attributes that aren't his strength.I will try to find some example of this situation where he is in a clear numeric superiority vs. Bologna and screen grab it.
Edit: We need to find this situation more often. Technically both CR7 and Dybala are strikers in this match but look at this position they find. I don't know if you necessarily need to play the 3-5-2 to find it but it helps to have two wingbacks who are on the last man to stretch the defence. And imagine Bernardeschi playing the B2B CM role instead of Bentancur in this picture. A player who can take up that space that Dybala leaves. It's a nightmare.
Edit 2: If you want 99% possession. No striker for the CBs to mark. You might not score from here, but you will have the ball. Is that really a negative thing?
Edit 3: If you want Dybala to be a playmaker:
I suppose this is more of an argument for a 3-5-2 than I thought because you get 5 midfielders instead of 4 and you get the wingbacks pinning the defensive line back instead of a #9.
You might also do this with a 4-4-2 where you just split your CBs and basically everyone else is in attack but that is a big risk considering Bonucci is isolated.
Although I think you can still incorporate Mandzukic in a 3-4-2-1 and have a lot of players in midfield as well. My main point is that Dybala should be a surplus in midfield, not part of the midfield.
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I do think that a midfielder who can receive and drive forward is necessary as well. Having said that Im curious to see how we look against opponents who dont sit back as much. When there is a gap between the midfield and defense for Dybala to exploit. When we can play a bit more direct and punish teams. Serie A is tough and its almost counter productive to play nice in serie a sometimes bc its so different than the CL. We do have the luxury of practicing in Serie a for the CL which has helped us reach 2 finals in 4 years that we might not have been able to do with a proper race. Im still on the fence wether Dybala can make the next step or if Allegri is holding him back. Not sure who is at fault TBH
hitting that bench indefinitely 
