Post-Palermo Formation Talk

A thread for discussing our best starting formation, considering our injuries atm.

Defence

Abate, Nesta and Silva's positions are set in stone. At left-back, Taiwo, for one reason or another has so far not made an impact for us - mostly because of a lack of match-fitness. Taiwo is fit now, although Allegri still prefers Zambrotta and Antonini. Zambrotta is a more defensively solid option than Taiwo, still he is slow, old and lacks forward movement these days. Antonini is obviously inadequate against any top Serie A team or good Champions League team. Mexes could play at LB, should Taiwo underperform, however this is purely speculation as Mexes has only been declared fit recently and hasn't featured at all for us. Then there's Bonera... Last game is the only one I can remember from the last couple of seasons where he's played and we haven't lost. I think that Allegri should look to the future and invest in Taiwo, except in really big games (eg. Barca, Inter).


Midfield

Assuming that in the future, Nocerino and Aquilani consistently play like they did against Palermo on the left and right respectively, who gets the CM spot? The two obvious contenders are van Bommel and Boateng... one is slow and strong with good distribution, the other is fast, dynamic and impulsive. Seedorf, when fit, cannot play every game. My personal preference is Boateng, although it could be argued that in games where we need more defensive cover, van Bommel should start.


Forwards

After Palermo, Robinho is a certain starter, even when Pato comes back. He has re-affirmed his status as the best TQ we have, better than Cassano and far better than Boateng in that position.


Starting XI


... but this is just my opinion. I'm interested to see what you guys think!

nice analysis, pretty much agree with everything you wrote here.

we wern't that great last night but it was our best performance so far this season, it's also pretty obvious how much dynamism robinho adds to our team although it was ibra who made the difference against a poor pakermo side...

cassano although wasteful and inconsistent should be playing alongside ibra and robinho in attack, the 3 have some very good understanding and really seem to have fun playing together. speaking of midfield, i truly believe now that van bommel is nothing but an average midfield and that is he doing nothing but slowing us down, just like ambro or gatusso, he's too static and limited techniqually...

last night he made countless mistakes(he's been like that since the start of the season!), i truly believe boateng should be given the nod ahead of him in that CMF role, he has what it takes, MVB can still start in some games and he would make a great backup...


one thing that baffled me last night was the fact that allegri still believes in crap like antonini and bonera despite all the sufferiing they brought us throughout the years!, i have no idea when will taiwo be used!!, or if we ever going to see mexes playing instead of the disastrous bonera, this is just unbelievable...


our best TQ???, well, i believe its ibra, he has the best vision in the team and his passing can be significant but i know allegri is too close-minded and limited to try ibra as a trequartista or just to experimient anything new...


imagine:

taiwo silva nesta abate

nocerino boateng

ibra
elshaarawi robinho
cassano

i would defenitely try a formation like that soemtime just for the heck of it...



anyway i think this would be our ideal formation right now:

taiwo silva nesta abate

nocerino boateng aquilani


cassano robinho
ibra

Cassano's passing created 4 one on ones and 7 scoring chances, Impressive.

Very nice post. Mostly I agree with your points, except in the midfield. IMO Van Bommel is a certain starter, but I don't have much confidence in:


My formation would be:


Nocerino though improving slightly in this game, has done nothing to convince me of his worth in the Starting XI, and Seedorf is a must starter when he is fit. Aquilani would be ideal IMO as Seedorf's replacement when he needs rest and eventually in the future.

Otherwise I agree with everything.

Fadi wrote:nice analysis, pretty much agree with everything you wrote here.

we wern't that great last night but it was our best performance so far this season, it's also pretty obvious how much dynamism robinho adds to our team although it was ibra who made the difference against a poor pakermo side...

cassano although wasteful and inconsistent should be playing alongside ibra and robinho in attack, the 3 have some very good understanding and really seem to have fun playing together. speaking of midfield, i truly believe now that van bommel is nothing but an average midfield and that is he doing nothing but slowing us down, just like ambro or gatusso, he's too static and limited techniqually...

last night he made countless mistakes(he's been like that since the start of the season!), i truly believe boateng should be given the nod ahead of him in that CMF role, he has what it takes, MVB can still start in some games and he would make a great backup...


one thing that baffled me last night was the fact that allegri still believes in crap like antonini and bonera despite all the sufferiing they brought us throughout the years!, i have no idea when will taiwo be used!!, or if we ever going to see mexes playing instead of the disastrous bonera, this is just unbelievable...


our best TQ???, well, i believe its ibra, he has the best vision in the team and his passing can be significant but i know allegri is too close-minded and limited to try ibra as a trequartista or just to experimient anything new...


imagine:

taiwo silva nesta abate

nocerino boateng

ibra
elshaarawi robinho
cassano

i would defenitely try a formation like that soemtime just for the heck of it...



anyway i think this would be our ideal formation right now:

taiwo silva nesta abate

nocerino boateng aquilani


cassano robinho
ibra

I definitely agree with your comments about v. Bommel. He seems to have dropped down a few gears this season. I remember him being much more mobile. Perhaps he's still recovering from injury?

Why play Bonera and Antoini as 1st choice? That is the million dollar question really - considering the wages we pay them. Antonini is an adequate back-up, and Bonera wouldn't bother me that much if he didn't play, but we have a perfectly good Taiwo and Yepes on the bench, yet Bonera still gets a game. What is Allegri thinking there?!

I think Ibra would be a great TQ, but let's face it, we need him up forward more than anywhere else now that Robinho is back. Robinho's pace, dribbling and passing is great, but his finishing has been below-par in the past, so unless it's improved, putting Robinho in as TQ and Ibra up forward is playing to our strengths. However, it's worth trying if Robinho regularly puts away those 1v1 chances like he did last game. Last season that would've gone into the keeper or over the bar.

ACMRox wrote:Very nice post. Mostly I agree with your points, except in the midfield. IMO Van Bommel is a certain starter, but I don't have much confidence in:

Nocerino-Van Bommel-Aquilani

My formation would be:

Prince-Van Bommel-Aquilani/Seedorf

Nocerino though improving slightly in this game, has done nothing to convince me of his worth in the Starting XI, and Seedorf is a must starter when he is fit. Aquilani would be ideal IMO as Seedorf's replacement when he needs rest and eventually in the future.

Otherwise I agree with everything.

That was my problem too, the midfield with Noc-Bom-Aqua would be ineffective at both attacking and defending. I can't imagine them keeping possession either.

Replacing Nocerino with v. Bommel is a good idea though, I just think that atm Nocerino is in better form.

Seedorf needs to start when he's fit, but these days, that's not regular - maybe one game in a normal week and one and a half games in a Champions League week. He should definitely play against Barca, unless Nocerino gets even better before then. Aqua should play too, but this is thinking ahead- plenty can change before then.

On a side note, I am both pleased and surprised that we are coming out of an injury crisis and out of all our players, Aqua managed to stay fit.

Oh, and thanks for the replies Fadi and ACMRox.

I still maintain that Boateng can not play in that central midfield slot, he lacks the positional sense to play as an anchor in Allegri's system when we don't have the ball. Van Bommel or Ambrosini are the only players I would use in this position with a full squad. If force to improvise, I would be more likely to ask Seedorf or Aquilani to play a more disciplined role, even if they offer little defensively and place Nocerino and another hard working midfielder on the other side such as Emanuelson. I feel that if asked to play a static role, Boateng lacks the distribution to help us maintain a good flow of possession from this position and to help us build from the back. Endless energy and movement he does bring, and his technique is perfectly suitable for a midfielder, however in that position his ability to turn and keep possession under pressure, to choose a constructive option or keep his first touching passing tight and accurate in close spaces if he's identified as a weak point will harm us.

I still don't believe that Nocerino is an option for the future, however whilst Gattuso and Flamini are injured he's performing his role as a squad player. I want to see Valoti given some time if the chance arises, however until January we're likely to have to persist with him. Aquilani should be playing the majority of our matches however.

As for the rest of your post, I agree and whilst I devoted a lot of time to the issue of Boateng, I enjoyed reading through the thread.

dostoevsky wrote:I still maintain that Boateng can not play in that central midfield slot, he lacks the positional sense to play as an anchor in Allegri's system when we don't have the ball. Van Bommel or Ambrosini are the only players I would use in this position with a full squad. If force to improvise, I would be more likely to ask Seedorf or Aquilani to play a more disciplined role, even if they offer little defensively and place Nocerino and another hard working midfielder on the other side such as Emanuelson. I feel that if asked to play a static role, Boateng lacks the distribution to help us maintain a good flow of possession from this position and to help us build from the back. Endless energy and movement he does bring, and his technique is perfectly suitable for a midfielder, however in that position his ability to turn and keep possession under pressure, to choose a constructive option or keep his first touching passing tight and accurate in close spaces if he's identified as a weak point will harm us.

I still don't believe that Nocerino is an option for the future, however whilst Gattuso and Flamini are injured he's performing his role as a squad player. I want to see Valoti given some time if the chance arises, however until January we're likely to have to persist with him. Aquilani should be playing the majority of our matches however.

As for the rest of your post, I agree and whilst I devoted a lot of time to the issue of Boateng, I enjoyed reading through the thread.

I agree that Boateng lacks positional sense to be a CM. However, moving Nocerino to CM and Boateng to the left would be the best compromise I can think of with those two players. Seeing as Nocerino played well on the left last game, I would be reluctant to do that.

I would also hesitate to bring in Ambrosini in a starting role at this stage of his career. He still has something to give, but maybe once the match has slowed down a bit.

So then, we could move Aquilani to the middle or bring in Seedorf, but I feel that we would be exposed down the middle massively. I don't feel that either Seedorf or Aquilani are capable of playing a more disciplined role, or that they should be used in that way. The trade-off is energy and movement for improved vision and distribution, as you said.

I also highlighted the words "Allegri's system". If I was coach, with these players, I would much rather reinstate the old Ancelotti midfield diamond. In that kind of system, v. Bommel would work much better at DM and Seedorf/Aqua/Boa would be under much less pressure. I would then drop Nocerino to the bench.
I envison something like this:


...but this is clearly never going to happen anytime soon. Just an interesting idea though.

It would be good to see more youth team players in the starting XI at Milan again, like Man U have done with Welbeck or Barca with T. Alacantra. I want to see Valoti get some time too, as well as Ganz if possible. On the other hand, even if Nocerino doesn't turn out to be 'a player for the future', I think that it would be good for this season if we give him a fair chance and persist with him- I don't want him to turn into another fringe-player like Flamini.

Lastly, glad you thoroughly enjoyed the thread.