This is exactly what i've been telling you earlier this summer, Andy. You remember when we discussed Xabi Alonso vs Poulsen, and when i tried to explain the logic behind Ranieri's move to choose the Dane ?
I agree with you that the best thing to do was to strenghten the defense and add a playmaker, but since it was obvious that we weren't going to invest in defense, the most logical thing to do was to protect it with a strong midfielder who covers lots of space, who defends perfectly and still knows how to make a good pass.
You told me that no matter how much we strenghten the midfield defensively, it's going to be useless because the opponents will use the flanks and pass through our midfield with ease that way. Obviously, Momo and Poulsen will not let them do that because they're everywhere.
Yeah, a good point will be to mention Molinaro's absence, but i'm pretty sure that even if Moli played yesterday we'd have seen the same dominance in midfield.
I'm still mad that we didn't invest in our defense, but i must congratulate Ranieri on his choice to buy Poulsen. This is exactly why he wanted him.
I doubt that, we only got Poulsen because we couldnt afford someone better/more expensive. Not that Poulsen is a bad player, but we already had Zanetti for that role and Poulsen will never grow much better than him, he does not have Sissoko's potential.
He is a useful player, but not the great addition to our future's midfield and if it wasnt for Zanetti's injury, we would be wasting one of them on the bench, while still confront the same defensive and creativity problems.
If Secco and co-noobs, would be successful to offload Tiago, they would use that extra cash for a better choice, even if that means a DM who can pass/create or a CM who may defend. Probably the wisest choice, since we seem to have more creativity than defensive problems and already having such a player (Marchisio) one more would balance our team.
And i still believe that our wings are not raped, mostly because Neddy and Camo can defend!
(hopefully CR will not be afraid to use Giovinco because of that)
We practically defend with a keeper (Buffon should count as 1.5 though) +3DFs +Molinaro +2DMs +2x1/2 wingers = 7.5/11,
with Buffon and without Molinaro its a 8.5/11, we probably sacrifice too much to cover up for these defensive weakness,
considering that fixing this problem, not quite that hard, it makes not sense, other than the lack of will to invest, or the awareness of the situation...
I agree that Poulsen's and Zanetti's passing, offers more tactical choices than the one dimensional Nocerino, but its not such a great deal/big difference and yesterday we were not that good, because of that.
If it wasnt for Sissoko's break through on force, we could as well draw them, despite dominating the game.
Amauri and Iaquinta are some creative fighters, but they lack finishing,
Treze would finish the game with the half chances, but he would have created the half by his own. Then we could notice these problems much more easier.
(And DP is our all around joker, doing everything and saving the day when he is on fire...)
Soon or later we will pay this lack of creativity.
I still believe this team is not balanced, depending on our starters, we either have lack of
-creativity
-finishing
-super efficient cover for our weak defense
He's not a bad dribbler and his physique (similar to how Chiellini played as LB) helps him push forward and break through defences.
If it wasnt for that we wouldnt have scored.
Camo also added his touch and Amauri finished it,
but i think that without the extra help from our midfield we couldnt penetrate them enough for such an opportunity to appear,
esp from the front and without long balls...