4-2-3-1 (Speculation)

Milan last season had a system, stuck to it, copped a lot of criticism for it, but it worked. Our three midfield "destroyers" with a defensive-minded attacking midfielder played in front of them often looked uninspired, lethargic and boring, but the wins kept on coming. Allegri was respected, but doubts and criticism always accompanied the praise. Pre-season injuries to Gattuso and Flamini hindered the potential effectiveness of playing three defensive midfielders and the decline of van Bommel forced Allegri to change his style, but the formation remained the same.

Aquilani, a man who would hardly ever see the field in 2010-11 Allegri's side due to his low work rate, inconsistency and inneffectivness for large portions of a game is now a cornerstone in Allegri's midfield. Nocerino was given his chance due to injuries and has taken it but he to doesn't have the tackling or positional ability that an in form, fit Flamini or Gattuso would.

Allegri decided to make his changes in the form of playing a much higher defensive line and pressuring much higher up the park, something we have learnt leaves us very susceptible to counter attacks due to the lack of pace we hold in the middle of midfield and defense. van Bommel, Nesta and Aquilani have all proven to be liabilities in this system. However, the change has made us better to watch, hold more possession and create more chances.

What I wonder is would a different system be better? For the players we have I believe a 4-2-3-1 would be ideal.


When did Pato make us believe he would become one of the best strikers in the world, makes us believe that the tide at Milan was changing? When played out wide. His speed is seen as there is more space to run into at AMR, there are more 1v1 situations and he can feed off Ibrahimovic without having both CB's next to him at all times. Robinho was good at City in a similar role and even at Madrid. He can play AML and should. Less pressure would be put on him to finish and same with Pato, his speed and dribbling skills would flourish. Boateng makes a good AMC, a poor CM. Ideally we would have a better option to play there, but Milan 2012 is not the Milan of old. The two defensive midfielders would compensate for playing four attacking players. Zlatan loves attention. He loves the game revolving around himself, the ball played at his feet, people running off him. Playing him as a lone striker would give him all those things.

It won't happen as Allegri has been stubborn as a mule with regards to formation or style changes but it is fine to speculate. Anyone have another idea as to a different formation we could play?

Unfortunately Mr one dimensional ,I mean Mr.Allegri can only think in 4312.

Spalletti style

A midfield trident of Bommel,Nocerino and Boateng...

red&blacklegion wrote:Unfortunately Mr one dimensional ,I mean Mr.Allegri can only think in 4312.

These kind of lazy and ignorant posts are typical of you. Do you contribute in any other way than nonsense like these? I guess you didn't see all the games he played a 4-1-2-1-2 as well.


OT: Once again, superb thoughts buddy. a

I always felt 4-2-3-1 would suit us but the question would be that this formation is only for those who have the pace and discipline within the '2' of the formation. MvB has been in decline, but picked up admirably after his inconsistent early season form and has been solid in 2012. Nocerino is my problem. The goals have erased any memory of how defensively poor he is along with his complete lack of tactical positioning and tenacity to tackle. Once his goals fade away people will realize that aside from his energy and work rate he provides very very little. Gattuso despite his age and pace, would still with his tackling and harrying the defence, along with his underrated positioning skill to "sweep" the defenders.

Pato? In a wide role? I don't know man every time I see him wide, he tends to drift wider until he disappears. It could work though as he had a similar role with ancelotti. But with his current form where he can't seem to do a single thing along with his piss poor work rate, I would bench him until he fixes his act. Robinho? It could work as Luis Suarez has a similar role at Liverpool where he is free to cut in. I doubt it would make a difference to his finishing though as this is down to a recent mental block he has developed through his missed sitters. What I disagree with you about is Nesta and Ibra. Nesta has many times shown later on in this season that he can indeed cope with Allegri's tweaked system. What needs to happen for him that he needs to stay a little deeper than usual and play a more sweeping role while Thiago is given the license to roam. Plus you have to keep in mind how much his leadership, important partnership to Thiago, and overall reading of the game is a difference against any team. And Ibra? Zlatan has always thrived far far more in a free 10 role where he can create and not be fixed in a target man role. He did the same at Ajax, does it now for Sweden, also did it at Inter despite the reliance on him to score. At Barca despite all his goals he was to restricted and did not have the freedom to create and split the defence open like he always has. It was similar in his early season half at Milan last year where he scored, but was to restricted to up front as now this season, he might not score as much in open play, but that is because he is deeper and has a much much more influential role exploiting ALL his traits. I can see your point, but I feel he offers much more than just his goalscoring.

By no means I'm patronizing these ideas as I think the are Great! But I just have some scepticism regarding some of the more radical changes...

But great stuff nonetheless.

I agree with you arq,nocerino's goals made us forget how kind of poor he is....

Isn't Robinho originally a winger?

Nocerino poor??? wow

We cannot play a 4-2-3-1, it would ruin the way we play. Our base is a three man mid and attacking full backs. playing a new style would damage the way we play completely. the closest thing to the formation we play right now would be a 4-3-3. I pray that we can have El Shaarawy, Robinho and Ibrahimovic all in the same attack very soon though, let's see what happens.

4-2-3-1 won't work but a 4-3-2-1 aka christmas tree will!..

after todays game i think our starting lineup should be like this:

abiatti

abate nesta(mexes) silva emanuelsson

boateng(aquilani) MVB nocerino

robinho(pato) elsharaawi(cassano)
ibra

Whilst central midfield is not a position of strength within our squad, it is one of considerable depth. Allegri doesn't maintain our current formation due to his own inflexibility, but to that of the squad. We can not train on the basis of a first eleven, but of all those available to us.

A 4-2-3-1 may be a useful formation for an instant in which we are required to mount a comeback, however it is a desperate move for our squad. The midfield proposed is a recipe for isolation, splitting our team with the lack of natural playmaking ability through the core of the team, defensive pressing and instinctive midfield movement. Permanent use of the formation would require Ambrosini to reinstate himself as a realistic first team option, otherwise a formation which would put an exhaustive burden on Van Bommel could potentially cripple our squad with a single injury.

Our forward line's depth has taken a severe hit this year through injury, particularly given the effective absence of Inzaghi from the team as a viable altnerative to Ibrahimovic at the tip of the formation. Pato's use as a replacement here may play into his strength as a central player however without the right midfield it would simply leave him fighting desperately with his back to goal and viable to gifting possession cheaply in positions when we desperately need a forward to simply hold the play.

I agree with Fadi in that an adjustment to our play would best be realised through Ancelotti's Christmas tree, however realistically we would be waiting until the summer transfer window to add greater dynanism to our midfield, though even then I'm unconvinced that it is our best avenue unless our board does decide to sacrifice one of our attackers, not an option I am in favour of.

There are a few other issues, however Arq has already provided an excellent response, so I'll cut this short unless someone wants to discuss it further.

P.S.

Dosto is back :dance: , where have you been? long time no see.

Thanks for the welcome back, I've been in Italy for the past month.

Im confused...when Pato played out wide I always heard that he was being used out of position, and that that was the reason behind his poor or inconsistent play...and now you're suggesting moving him back out there?

bhends wrote:Im confused...when Pato played out wide I always heard that he was being used out of position, and that that was the reason behind his poor or inconsistent play...and now you're suggesting moving him back out there?

Actually Pato was doing better when he was playing on the wing(Leonardo era)but then we had Ronaldinho who was picking him out at the best situation.

Leonardo deserves credit for his good work with the 4-3-3, however with the way our midfield was and is, I was always more comfortable with moving to a 4-3-1-2 system which back then I still believed was best for Pato and which was a view commonly shared.

In any case, Pato would have a far different role in such a 4-2-3-1 compared to Leonardo's 4-3-3. Our first choice midfield has altered entirely whilst the focus of our attack has shifted from Ronaldinho to Ibrahimovic, whilst Pato has continued to evolve, so we can't simply transplant him from a past line-up to this speculative one.