Yeah but we've playing it with 2 wingers or 1 winger and Mandzukic. Maybe playing a CM on the wing a la Atletico would bring more defensive coverage because at this point, 433 means no Dybala
You can put 4 CMs across the midfield, but it will always be harder to defend with 4 midfielders instead of 5.
When you play 4-4-2 you are either asking the strikers to put in a shift defensively, like Atletico a few years ago using Raul Garcia there, or you are banking on your striker partnership to bang a fuck ton of goals to justify only putting 8 men behind the ball. But so far together, Dybala/Higuain don't really justify it.
You can't put Matuidi on the wing and expect that to work IMO.
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I don't understand why Dybala can't play RW in a 4-3-3? Cause he won't put in the tracking back effort that our other wingers will...I suppose it is a trade off but I wouldn't think we should have to be so reliant on our wingers to put in the defensive shift they did under 4-2-3-1 with that extra center midfielder.
Well the way Allegri sets up the 4-5-1, it's insanely strict defensively. Which is why it's so effective really. The wingers have to cover a certain space so the CMs can press the other teams in central areas.
If they have to constantly cover for the RW then their pressing is compromised, and they have to start rotating a lot. Allegri goes supersaiyan when any flank player is displaced, which is the #1 reason Khedira always plays. Since he is always there to cover.
But I think Allegri's main thought with Dybala is to get him receiving balls outside the box, in between the lines, for long distance shooting opportunities. He's said this before that he prefers Dybala with the ball outside the box.
The honest truth is we have no idea if Dybala can play RW or #9 because we've never seen it tried. And if we never try it we'll never know what possibilities we could pursue in the mercato.