THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[maro]

I will be interested to see, if we do play that starting 11 in a 4-2-3-1, whether Perrotta and Simplicio are in those roles. I wonder if it might not, in fact, be Simplicio as vice-Pizza alongside DDR and Simone back as trequartista.

[maro]

Call me contentious:

Benitez: "Male su Bale Loro più forti e più veloci"
Il tecnico dell'Inter: "Tottenham fisicamente più forte. Li ho visti più veloci, quando perdevamo la palla loro erano pericolosi."

[Giacomo]

Nothing contentious about it, just duplicates what I said on Monday.

[RomaShield27]

What happened to Borriello now? A muscular problem? So both Totti and Borriello picked up slight injuries in training since the Lecce match? That is not too good to hear. I also thought Cassetti was certainly out but good to see he's in there ahead of Cicinho.

Its good to see we may line up in a 4-2-3-1. Despite our win on Saturday its foolish to think all of problems are behind us and I don't think the 4-4-2 is working for us at the moment. I think we are too unbalanced in that 4-4-2 where Vucinic is not really playing as a winger, and with Riise behind him who gets forward quite a lot we would be too exposed there against a quality opposition with good wingers. In such a situation Vucinic does not have the defensive ability or patience to do what is required of a left-sided midfielder, and the other three midfielders would have to cover for him. We also don't really have any natural wingers, anyway, and seeing the likes of Perrotta and Brighi and Simplico line up out wide is not a good way to go, especially when we have two rather static forwards in Totti and Borriello upfront. It is just all two unbalanced for my liking. In a 4-2-3-1 we at least have a trequartista who can make more forward runs into space and offer an outlet, and Vucinic and Menez out wide in wing-forward positions can be a lot more threatening when working with a lone prima-punta. This is a better position to play Vucinic, either that or as the second forward in a 4-4-2, and we have to play a formation which best accommodates our best players.

[maro]

I have to confess I don't share what seems to be the general opinion that Borriello is in any sense a "rather static" forward. The biggest difference between him and Luca is the threat he carries in behind with his extra pace. He also works very hard across the front line.

[Giacomo]

But that is not a useful comparison because Toni had no pace at all. When I think of pacey forwards I think of players like Vucinic, Lavezzi, Pato, etc., not Borriello.

I agree with RomaShield that 4231 is the way to get the best out of the players available for this game.

[maro]

I should have thought the opposite of static was mobile, not pacey and is a function more of the kinds of movements a striker makes and of the areas on the pitch in which he operates. I'd be inclined to suggest that Vooch is actually a more static striker than Borriello despite also being a pacier one.

[RomaShield27]

Borriello does have pace which makes him a dangerous striker, but his pace is not his main attribute of his game. He is an old fashioned centre-forward in that he has a bit of everything. He is a target man who likes to show for the ball and lay it off and then get in a position to score. He won't come deep for the ball and look to beat three defenders. In that regard, when playing alongside Totti, there is not a whole lot of movement from those front two and I'm not sure if they're a perfect match in a 4-4-2, particularly when we have little runners from midfield. Add Vucinic to either of those two in a same 4-4-2 then its much different, I think.

[Giacomo]

[RomaShield27]

I don't really agree with Ranieri when he says it is more of a 4-3-3. I mean it all just seems very unbalanced. I don't think its fair on Vucinic but more importantly its not fair on Riise, who thinks Vucinic should be doing more tracking back then he does and so leaves him exposed, like what happened against Lecce a few times. If we were playing Spurs or Chelsea tomorrow, say, there is no way Ranieri could line up with this '4-4-2' with Vucinic on the left. Are the other midfield three (DDR-Pizza-Taddei; Brighi-DDR-Perrotta, whoever) meant to automatically switch to a three man midfield whenever Vucinic wanders forward and become a 3-man forward line, and who provides cover on the left for Riise, leaving other gaps where would normally be covered? It just seems overly complicated and likely to fail against the big teams.

[maro]

Surely it's precisely because he doesn't come deep to pick up the ball and run with it that his mobility is more likely to complement Totti's game? He's not a striker who does all his work in the box - that's the point about his not being "static." He runs the channels, makes runs in behind etc. etc., works off the ball rather than on it. And it was certainly a 4-3-3 on the weekend. For one thing, Totti spent much more time down the right than he has done in living memory. Ranieri commented after the game that all three of the front trio were supposed to help out getting back and that if they didn't that was the way they'd interpreted the situations in front of them. If they don't come back to help out then they have to do some damage going the other way - these were Ranieri's comments.

[vtec]

in a sprint, i would say borriello beats anyone at roma or milan.

[RomaShield27]

[maro]

Watch the game again, threadmund, and see if you think Totti "clearly spent little time down the right." And then you can submit a 1500 word paper on why that schematic is clearly such a load of tosh.

[RomaShield27]

I have watched the game in full and have it downloaded as well. Perhaps it is you who needs to do just that.

[maro]

Perhaps it's just my lack of technological expertise, but I'm not sure simply downloading the game counts as watching it a second time, though.

[romawi]

[RomaShield27]

Jasas, email Corriere dello Sport and complain so. I find their graphics fairly good and accurate I have to say. Anyway, Totti's position is not the key element from that graphic. The positioning of the three midfielders is.

[romawi]

[maro]

I've tended to find their graphics fairly good and accurate too; the point is simply that this one seems quite clearly awry for whatever reason. What is the 94 meant to represent - Menez's position? Or Menez and Brighi's position combined!?!? Or Menez and Perrotta's position combined?