Pirlo has been instrumental in our success with our two previous conquest, but he is replaceable. Chiellini and Vidal would be the ONLY players that could be deemed irreplaceable in this team, the rest are replaceable.
I want us to go back with having creative player higher up on the pitch. I love Pirlo, but I really do miss having a reliable creative outlet higher up the pitch. Vucinic has been the best we've had for a while now, and he's underwhelming to say the least.
I'd add in Pogba...considering he is one of the best 20 year old footballers in the world right now, and has been for a while, and is growing stronger still, month by month. I also think that we would be hard pressed to find an equally powerful replacement for Lichsteiner, whose form as a RWB may not be as potent as his rock solid form as a RB, but nonetheless, we would have to pay big to replace him. Also Buffon. We can add in Tevez and Llorente really, for Beppe and Paratici have done an absolutely marvellous job to get that duo for the money we have paid and I can not see any way they could easily repeat the feat. As much as I often grow bothered with Marchisio's tendency to fail miserably at international level and now and then go casper in big games for us, he remains a top drawer midfielder, who would be hard to replace, not just in terms of his technical ability but his dedication to the cause and love for the club and affinity with fans and club alike..Attitude and demeanour and determination and loyalty need to be taken into account, and Lichsteiner is exemplary on all those counts. Claudio ain't too far off either, just expresses himself differently.
Of our first XI...I think we would be hard pressed to replace buffon, chiellini, vidal, pogba, lichsteiner, asamoah, tevez, llorente, barzagli, marchisio. As quality players happy to play back-up we could find trouble replacing Caceres also.