jamrock
Senior Member
Pep hated a true no9 for his whole coaching career.
Only lately, after not winning Cls for who knows how many years in a row, he gave up and moved away from his ideas with Haaland.
As Porque said, in 2010, probably even Van Basten, Cr7 and Lewa would have been benched by Pep.
I mean, even a few Months ago, Pep's main pick was playing with 6 attacking midfielders as 6 false nines before he bought Haaland.
Zlatan and Barca 2010:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aleNadb0bhc
Played some excellent stuff in the first half of the season, but as the season went on, it was either Messi as false 9 or zlantan as a regular 9 and we all know how that went are rightfully so.
You couldnt waste Messi on the wings then and zlatan can't play there.
It you placed someone like lewa or Haaland in that team they would struggle as well, needed someone in the villa profile who could play as a inside forward & press in the defensive end to make pep's system work.