The Dzeko/Tevez Conundrum...

[WNRH]

I'm convinced we are close to replicating Barca's formation.

Two attacking full backs (Alves and Abidal/Maxwell - New RB and Kolarov)
One holding midfielder (Busquets - de Jong)
Two ball playing midfielders who can get forward (Xavi and Iniesta - Yaya and Silva)
One forward who drops deep (Messi - Tevez)
One striker who pulls wide and can cut in from the wing (Villa - Dzeko)
One goalscorer who plays wide (Pedro - Balotelli/Johnson)

and the likes of Tevez, Dzeko and Balotelli can do any one of the forward three's jobs.

Am i alone in thinking this?

 

[inbetween]

I'm convinced we are close to replicating Barca's formation.

Two attacking full backs (Alves and Abidal/Maxwell - New RB and Kolarov)
One holding midfielder (Busquets - de Jong)
Two ball playing midfielders who can get forward (Xavi and Iniesta - Yaya and Silva)
One forward who drops deep (Messi - Tevez)
One striker who pulls wide and can cut in from the wing (Villa - Dzeko)
One goalscorer who plays wide (Pedro - Balotelli/Johnson)

and the likes of Tevez, Dzeko and Balotelli can do any one of the forward three's jobs.

Am i alone in thinking this?

Xavi and Iniesta are very different to Yaya and Silva, Yaya isn't a ball player like either of them and Silva is a much more mobile version of say Iniesta. Thing is though Xavi runs that team, he can put a pass at anyone's feet anywhere on the pitch that is something we lack, Messi makes a run Xavi puts it in front of him and he can do it in any situation, be it a 40 yard diagonal or a short ball between their full back and centre back. Silva is an amazing passer of course but his mobility is his strength, he can move and pass through the middle at speed but he isn't someone like Xavi who will dictate play from deep, that's something we massively lack. We have Barry in that role but he isn't even on the same planet as Xavi.

We still for me miss a proper central midfielder, Yaya isn't a passer for me, his runs are brilliant but he's just not someone who can dictate play. Barry is far too slow and De Jong is defensive and who else is there?

 

[Andouble]

it isn't a huge insult on Yaya, inbetween, as Xavi is probably in a league of his own when it comes to passing. We could use a better distributor in the midfield and really push up the attack but I think it'd be unfair to anyone to compare him to Xavi!

 

[WNRH]

I'm convinced we are close to replicating Barca's formation.

Two attacking full backs (Alves and Abidal/Maxwell - New RB and Kolarov)
One holding midfielder (Busquets - de Jong)
Two ball playing midfielders who can get forward (Xavi and Iniesta - Yaya and Silva)
One forward who drops deep (Messi - Tevez)
One striker who pulls wide and can cut in from the wing (Villa - Dzeko)
One goalscorer who plays wide (Pedro - Balotelli/Johnson)

and the likes of Tevez, Dzeko and Balotelli can do any one of the forward three's jobs.

Am i alone in thinking this?

Xavi and Iniesta are very different to Yaya and Silva, Yaya isn't a ball player like either of them and Silva is a much more mobile version of say Iniesta. Thing is though Xavi runs that team, he can put a pass at anyone's feet anywhere on the pitch that is something we lack, Messi makes a run Xavi puts it in front of him and he can do it in any situation, be it a 40 yard diagonal or a short ball between their full back and centre back. Silva is an amazing passer of course but his mobility is his strength, he can move and pass through the middle at speed but he isn't someone like Xavi who will dictate play from deep, that's something we massively lack. We have Barry in that role but he isn't even on the same planet as Xavi.

We still for me miss a proper central midfielder, Yaya isn't a passer for me, his runs are brilliant but he's just not someone who can dictate play. Barry is far too slow and De Jong is defensive and who else is there?

I think you are underating Yaya's passing IMO, i think he is very creative and a great passer, i'm sure his pass completion stats would match up with my eyes. I tottally agree with you though, imagine Xavi, Scholes, Fabregas in our side, a central midfielder who sits and knits the play together!

 

[inbetween]

it isn't a huge insult on Yaya, inbetween, as Xavi is probably in a league of his own when it comes to passing. We could use a better distributor in the midfield and really push up the attack but I think it'd be unfair to anyone to compare him to Xavi!

Indeed of course it is, those 3 players were up for the Ballon D'or they definitely have the strongest midfield in the world. Iniesta is brilliant but it's amazing that he's a shadow of someone else in the same team.

Yaya is a great player don't get me wrong but i said it before the start of this season we still lack someone who can stretch play, United have it in Scholes and it's someone we miss, we don't play with much width but at the moment we are relying on Silva's mobility to basically single handedly run our attacks, take Arsenal we didn't have Silva and we struggled to create a single chance, Barcelona dominated Arsenal last year in both legs and it was purely because of that middle partnership they have.

Distribution is key when you have someone like Dzeko in the middle he needs a constant stream of chances but at the moment i can't recall him getting away a single proper shot bar Notts County since he's been here, and it's largely down to distribution as opposed to wingers/width or whatever.

 

[RP2]

I'm convinced we are close to replicating Barca's formation.

Two attacking full backs (Alves and Abidal/Maxwell - New RB and Kolarov)
One holding midfielder (Busquets - de Jong)
Two ball playing midfielders who can get forward (Xavi and Iniesta - Yaya and Silva)
One forward who drops deep (Messi - Tevez)
One striker who pulls wide and can cut in from the wing (Villa - Dzeko)
One goalscorer who plays wide (Pedro - Balotelli/Johnson)

and the likes of Tevez, Dzeko and Balotelli can do any one of the forward three's jobs.

Am i alone in thinking this?

Xavi and Iniesta are very different to Yaya and Silva, Yaya isn't a ball player like either of them and Silva is a much more mobile version of say Iniesta. Thing is though Xavi runs that team, he can put a pass at anyone's feet anywhere on the pitch that is something we lack, Messi makes a run Xavi puts it in front of him and he can do it in any situation, be it a 40 yard diagonal or a short ball between their full back and centre back. Silva is an amazing passer of course but his mobility is his strength, he can move and pass through the middle at speed but he isn't someone like Xavi who will dictate play from deep, that's something we massively lack. We have Barry in that role but he isn't even on the same planet as Xavi.

We still for me miss a proper central midfielder, Yaya isn't a passer for me, his runs are brilliant but he's just not someone who can dictate play. Barry is far too slow and De Jong is defensive and who else is there?

Michael Johnson - get him in there.

 

[inbetween]

Xavi and Iniesta are very different to Yaya and Silva, Yaya isn't a ball player like either of them and Silva is a much more mobile version of say Iniesta. Thing is though Xavi runs that team, he can put a pass at anyone's feet anywhere on the pitch that is something we lack, Messi makes a run Xavi puts it in front of him and he can do it in any situation, be it a 40 yard diagonal or a short ball between their full back and centre back. Silva is an amazing passer of course but his mobility is his strength, he can move and pass through the middle at speed but he isn't someone like Xavi who will dictate play from deep, that's something we massively lack. We have Barry in that role but he isn't even on the same planet as Xavi.

We still for me miss a proper central midfielder, Yaya isn't a passer for me, his runs are brilliant but he's just not someone who can dictate play. Barry is far too slow and De Jong is defensive and who else is there?

Michael Johnson - get him in there.

We'll see, he needs to get some games under his belt. I've heard he's off to Leeds soon though.

 

[Da_Blu_Moona]

I'd keep the system exactly as it is and the only change I'd make are to put Tevez where Yaya is. Tevez loves to come deep and drive forward with the ball getting our attacks going. So why not have him in this deeper advanced midfield position which would allow him to do this while at the same time the team will be able to maintain a presence up front with Dzeko in and around the box.

So something like:

Yaya/Barry----De Jong/Milner
Silva-----Tevez----Balotelli
--------Dzeko---------

I know it's not Fifa or FM etc and this formation is on paper too attacking but if the front 4 work hard for the team and pressurise it isn't really all that gung ho and is quite balanced on the whole. I've said this before and will say it again, Yaya doesn't defend much anyway in that position so we're not losing his tackling prowess by putting Carlos in there.

My 2 pence worth anyway. We did look good when we lined up like this today though when Dzeko and SWP came on....

 

[citymad]

Best thread of the day. Its clear nothings gone according to plan with the signings. We just have to trust that Mancini will be able to solve the problems.

 

[smithy167]

Personally I think Mancini hung his hat on Kola and Boateng turning out to be world class attacking full backs - had that been the case we could play with Tevez and Silva in behind Dzeko, or even the 4312 system Mancini played so often at Inter...

Unfortunately so far neither has looked up to speed with the premiership. The frustrating thing is that Roberto hasn't really looked like finding a "plan b' so to speak. We let our natural wide players go, or we marginalized them, presumably, on the basis that the full backs would do the business - since they haven't, we need to look again at the whole set up.

It's worth pointing out that all three goals were created/scored by naturally wide players. Giggs to Nani, SWP's cross for Dzeko/Silva, and then Nani's cross for shrek...all the pretty passes are nice, but when you come up against a team like the rags who can deal with that effectively, you need to have another option which doesn't involve simply hoofing it up to the big man...

I agree with what you're saying... in principle!

But Boateng was always a central defender who covered in at full back. It must have been apparent to our scouting staff that Boateng does not fly down the wing and play like another winger. The fact that he's probably behind both Richards and Zabaleta for that right back position must be worrying.

And Kolarov on the other side... we had Bridge there, we're desparate for some pace, as all good full backs need these days... and we buy someone actually slower than Bridge!

I think Kolarov's future at City is left midfield, as I doubt anyone will trust him as a defender... ala' Bale.

That's £30m on two full backs who, so far, have not improved us one iota.

I'm not sure who we should have bought, but seeing as we have a huge and expensive scouting network I genuinely expected better.

Surely someone sits down and thinks through what specific qualities we need in any replacement player? Just a thought.

Soulboy cheer up m8, things aint that bad, we aint perfect, nothin is.