I see your point, but it presumes the position requires great defensive qualities. I think that is old thinking.The defensive qualities are much more required higher up the field where a turn over gives us a decided advantage with our passing and movement.
Defensively what we need is more possesion capacity, and more calm on the ball. The key is to own the possession edge at a rate that depresses the opposition. Like Pep said, "When we have the ball they can't score."
This philosophy is most apparent when Stones plays. He is no better a tackler than any other of our defenders ( perhaps even weaker than some) but the effect of his possesion abilities reduces the need to even defend dramatically.
Gundogan is a decent defender. He is no Kante or Dihno but yet a better 6 coz he will bring Pirlo like control to the position. And he is probably 10 times the defender Pirlo ever was. That's not saying much I know cause Pirlo did little tackling, but the philosophy is the same.
The key to the whole system Working depends on the pressure from the front 3. They have to be relentless. I trust Sterling, Navas and Nolito on this front, the others (Aguero, Nacho, and Sane) not so much. They don't seem to fully understand it yet.
Again, Pep needs to drill this philosophy into their heads. "We are most dangerous when the other team has the ball in their half." This is when we should be most aggressive in movement and action. Once the front 3 Start doing this as a Unit, Silva, Dihno and DeBryune will be eating teams for lunch picking up lose balls and putting the front 3 thru at ridiculous pace.
When we play a lone pivot under Pep,that position requires the most defensive skill of anyone on the pitch; the lone pivot is expected to win the ball back when our side is under pressure. Failing to do so, or to at least hold up play, frequently leads to goal scoring opportunities for the opposition. Once the ball is won, the pivot starts the attack, generally by making an incisive pass forward. The lone pivot is responsible for covering the entire pitch - sometimes popping up in the opposition's goal box to attack.
The lone pivot thus requires stamina to run for 90 minutes, great passing skills to start attacks, and defensive awareness to cover for the center backs when they go forward. This position must possess pace due to the heavy defensive responsibilities.
Fernandiho is almost tailor made for the lone pivot - his passing might be a bit better; other than that, he's perfect.
By way of contrast - Gundogan is slower, lacks pace, is somewhat easily beaten by savvy attackers and lacks the stamina to go full-out, box-to-box for 90 minutes. He absolutely is unsuited to play as the lone pivot; after watching his performance against Celtic, this is clear; he was rounded easily by an attacker (in the first half I believe - I forget who - but a huge defensive lapse that Fernandinho would never commit). Gundogan's passing is better than Fernandinho's - in that regard only, he'd be better.
Gundogan could easily feature as part of a dual pivot where someone else (Fernandinoh or Garcia) fulfills most of the defensive responsibility and Gundogan functions as a deep passer.
Garcia on the other hand might just well slot into the lone pivot role - I'd like to see him play there.
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As for the "8" under Pep - this is an attacking midfielder role. Each 8 must be great on the ball, it helps a lot though isn't essential to be able to take on defenders one-on-one (Silva lacks in this department), able to play deft one-twos with our striker and other players, and able to move into open spaces (KDB lacks a bit here). Fernandinho would struggle in this role - he simply doesn't possess the deft one-two quick passing required to move set defenses out of position; I'm not sure Fernandinho's movement would be up to the task either, though I've never seen him play far forward where movement is at a premium.
Basically our 8's are must be skillful enough with the ball and attacking minded enough to function as a 9 in systems featuring that role.
Fernandinho as a 9? - surely we have better alternatives.
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So not only is Gundogan unsuited to play a lone pivot; Fernandinho is unsuited to play one of our "8"'s.
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As far as winning the ball back quickly and starting a counter - this is the responsibility of everyone on the pitch.
In Pep's system, the entire side maintains good zonal formation. We move far forward with our centerbacks standing on the half-line. Thus, if we lose the ball, it's far into the opposition's half. And due to our good zonal formation, we immediately have someone near the point of loss to press and others to shadow-mark possible passing options for the attacker. Frequently the ball is won back quickly.
We do not need Fernandinho playing as an 8 for this to function.
If we fail to win the ball back quickly and the opposition luckly springs into a quick counter - this is wher Fernandinho (or someone like him) must rapidly move to shut down or slow the attack. Gundogan playing there - we're going to be beaten way, way too often. Fernandinho (or maybe Garcia) - our 6 moves quickly to the danger point, presses the ball, and if the ball isn't won, at least slows the attack sufficently for the rest of the team to move into better defensive possitions.
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Regarding the defensive qualities of the center-back position - under Pep's system the pivot is expected to provide a big buffer for each centerback - although good defensive skills are required, perhaps equally important under Pep is passing skill.
Generally, the ball is in the opposition half and the centerback is on the half line. In this situation, the centerback functions as one of our attackers - good passing skills are essential.
When the ball is lost, Pep's system is such that the ball is frequently won back without any defensive ability of our centerbacks coming into the picture.
If the ball isn't won back immediately, our pivot slows play and allows the entire team to move into better defensive posture.
It's for this reason that Kolarov and Stones are so good under Pep.
Kompany is a rarity - not only is he great on the ball - he's great on defense. It's too bad that Kompany is so often injured.
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Citing Stones as an example of why our lone pivot doesn't need to possess great defensive skill shows a complete misunderstanding of Pep's system.
Read the articles on
http://spielverlagerung.com/ to understand what's going on.
