agree with most of what you said here Meta especially Xabi bizarre form , Momo Diarra return and lack of CR goals last game has exposed Xabi poor game so far .
But i think the idea was to keep possession and allow the likes of Marcelo to bomb forward and never look back (defend )
the failure in this plan was the DM department.
on paper Xabi & Diarra should preform the first line of defense allowing Marcelo - Ramos to go up front and offer the missing width to make the team look like this
-------------Pepe------------Albiol------------
-----------Diarra-----------------Xabi----------
Ramos-------Kaka---------------CR--------Marcelo
---------------Higuain-------Benzema -----------
the problem is so far the 2 DM's (par Lass in the first 2 games ) and Momo Diarra in the last game hasn't preformed so it was a quick smash and grab .
in the Seville game you could see Diarra covering Ramos area which he did superbly while Xabi exposed Marcelo time and time again and he fucked up in his passing more than once.
I know everyone pointed at Marcelo but his role was to provide width upfront and without back up from Xabi Navas murdered him cause he is a talented and faster
Diarra performance exposed the DM's big time and i think it was clear when we were overrun after he went out
that's an interesting tactic, and it kinda makes sense as marcelo can't defend for fuckery.
the problem is xabi isn't really a defensive DM. he's like a sturdier more physical version of pirlo (or a spanish michael carrick). liverpool's outstanding defensive presence has created an illusion that he can be a functioning defensive asset when really he's just
there.
it's like putting michael carrick in midfield and asking him to be a volante. defensively he's fine as long as darren fletcher's buzzing around like a motherfucker and anderson is coming in and helping out too, but when anderson has an off game and you replace fletcher with giggs it exposes carrick coz he has too much to do. i.e. man utd crushing arsenal 1-3 and being spanked senseless by us 2-0.
if you're playing xabi as part of a double pivot then the team either needs to be defensive (never gonna happen) or you need the winger ahead of him to help out defensively (CR, also never gonna happen)
OR you need your LB to be sensible, patient, defensively inclined and competent (i.e. arbeloa, not marcelo).
it'll be interesting to see if pellegrini adapts to this, because attacking fullbacks are a staple of his. but unless you sign cashley cole or patrice evra you're always gonna be exposed playing an attacking LB with xabi in left DM.
really real should drop the 4222 and play 4231. I mean, if you play a #9 up-top and then have a fixed double-pivot you have solidity and a frame, then have your three best attacking players with free-roles inbetween them to move around and fuck shit up. ramos will join them from RB because he's insane like that, and you'll still have a solid defensive five with which to deal with counterattacks.
iker
ramos, pepe, albiol, arbeloa
djila, xabi
higuain, kaka, CR
benzema/raul/ruud
). to which i replied with the marca comment.
