Okay... so that means Tiago started between 22 and 31 matches in the Premiership that season. With Parker only receiving four appearances and Makelele and Lampard playing every match, that means Tiago was third choice midfielder behind those said players and started a majority of the matches under Mourinho in the Prem that season.
Therefore, it's obvious that Mourinho had confidence in Tiago and thought he was valuable when wanting to deploy the 4-3-3. As you can recall, sometimes Mourinho used only two central midfielders during that season, and I bet you know who.
It doesn't really matter if people think highly or not of Tiago. I don't mind if people think he's rubbish. But please do not waltz around here claiming Mourinho had no use for Tiago or stating things that are obviously not facts. And that last statement was directed more towards other people, denco.
I guess that depends on how you want to interpret the stats.
I could for instance say that he came on for a sub in 20 matches (thats a helluva lot for a supposed starter as some ppl were trying to convince me that he was at Chelsea)
I could also interpret it that he was like Ferreira, thought to be better than they actually are by Mourinho and he started them in a lot of games initially but then realised he was not as good as the player Mourinho thought he was at Union Leira and Benfica and the step in class was perhaps too much for Tiago.
It is all down to interpretation and who is to say who is right or who is wrong.
I am not sure I understand you when you say we would be screwed if Riquelme is played in a 4-3-3
If you had a formation of Nedved-Nocerino-Camoranesi in midfield and Riquelme-Dp-Trez in attack with all the other options of Almiron, Zanetti, Tiago, Iaquinta, Palladino and Marchionni, it does not look so bad.
I would like to think that Juventus with their way of thinking and playing are more mentally suited to adapt more than Argentina and Villareal once Riquelme goes walkabout.
There is nothing in the rulebook that says Riquelme cannot be dropped or subbed.
I am glad you mentioned Copa America, I had written about this particular topic before as I am/was amazed people were surprised Brazil beat Argentina because Brazil always do in competitive matches as Argentina seem to have a mental block when it comes to Brazil no matter which team is on better form
Like France dominating Italy; Germany in yesteryear always used to beat France but lose to Holland except for 1 huge final where West Germany won and Italia 90, Holland used to get the better of their matches.
Back to Tiago, he does deserve at least a chance to prove whether he is a good or bad buy for Juventus as he has been treated shabbily
On a side-note I saw Veloso last night against Roma and though he played at centreback, he was excellent