I think the quicker we get El Shaarawy accustomed to a support striker role the better for us. His runs off the ball are absolutely great. He always finds himself in dangerous situations even coming from the left.....think about him having the freedom to go anywhere across that backline. I think him cutting in from the left is not an option when he has the ball in his fee as it doesn't work more then it does. His first touch and finishing needs work but it's not that far of from where it needs to be. El Shaarawy is the most dangerous when he doesn't have the ball for longer periods - more dangerous without the ball then with it.....if that makes any sense. As a matter of fact, Allegri saying that he needs someone that will run into the spaces that Balotelli opens up behind him perfectly describes the type of player that El Shaarawy is. He can be twice the player that Matri is in that role. Hopefully we get the kid playing in that position sooner rather then later.
I was not for Kaka's return, but now he is here and he will play as a trequartista clearly. Hopefully him being dangerous with the ball in his feet together with Balotelli (they both can create for themselves but also for others; both able to hold the ball in their feet until something develops; both able to shift markers out of position and drag them deep and away from the defensive line) will create many spaces for El Shaarawy to make his dangerous runs in. I think it's a perfect match, but Kaka has to play at a high level....one much higher then he did in Real.
I think the ideal formation for the team we have right now is
-------Abbs-------
Abate--Zapata--Mexes--DeS
---Poli---De Jong--Monto----
-----------Kaka-----------------
-----Balotelli-------------------
-----------------El Shaarawy--
A 4-3-1-2 but with Balotelli free to operate in deeper positions and El Shaarawy using the spaces that Ballo will open up when he drops deep. This will allow El Shaarawy to not be included in the build up on regular basis (he is not good in this anyway) and will allow him to make his intense and dangerous runs consistently close to the opponents goal. He will also receive the ball much more facing the opponents goal compared to now where most of his touches are done wide and away while facing in a non-dangerous direction anyway.
It may seem like I am focusing a lot on El Shaarawy, but I truly think he may be the key to a lot of our scoring. I think Matri will be more stationary up there and will hang out docked between the CBs when Balotelli drops deep (exactly what happened against Cagliari). I really don't understand why Allegri said that he needs someone to run in the spaces behind Ballo and then mentioned Matri.....to me this makes no sense as Matri is not the kind of player. He may be better then El Shaarawy in certain aspects....but no way is he better then him when it comes to running seems and spaces with attacking runs off the ball.
We need to allow our players to give us the mot of the qualities that they possess. Balotelli has a great ability to drop deep and collect the ball. Almost always he will be followed by a CB who will therefore be out of position. Kaka and El Shaarawy can both exploit the space and so can Poli who likes to make this attacking runs forward. That will leave Monto and De Jong further back to provide the cover and balance to the side. We will clearly need to get our width from our fullbacks as in any other 4-3-1-2 scheme. With Balotelli holding the ball and Monto-De Jong ability to keep possession (let's hope they can)...our fullbacks should have plenty of time to move forward and be in position to attack the wide areas.
I was not for Kaka's return, but now he is here and he will play as a trequartista clearly. Hopefully him being dangerous with the ball in his feet together with Balotelli (they both can create for themselves but also for others; both able to hold the ball in their feet until something develops; both able to shift markers out of position and drag them deep and away from the defensive line) will create many spaces for El Shaarawy to make his dangerous runs in. I think it's a perfect match, but Kaka has to play at a high level....one much higher then he did in Real.
I think the ideal formation for the team we have right now is
-------Abbs-------
Abate--Zapata--Mexes--DeS
---Poli---De Jong--Monto----
-----------Kaka-----------------
-----Balotelli-------------------
-----------------El Shaarawy--
A 4-3-1-2 but with Balotelli free to operate in deeper positions and El Shaarawy using the spaces that Ballo will open up when he drops deep. This will allow El Shaarawy to not be included in the build up on regular basis (he is not good in this anyway) and will allow him to make his intense and dangerous runs consistently close to the opponents goal. He will also receive the ball much more facing the opponents goal compared to now where most of his touches are done wide and away while facing in a non-dangerous direction anyway.
It may seem like I am focusing a lot on El Shaarawy, but I truly think he may be the key to a lot of our scoring. I think Matri will be more stationary up there and will hang out docked between the CBs when Balotelli drops deep (exactly what happened against Cagliari). I really don't understand why Allegri said that he needs someone to run in the spaces behind Ballo and then mentioned Matri.....to me this makes no sense as Matri is not the kind of player. He may be better then El Shaarawy in certain aspects....but no way is he better then him when it comes to running seems and spaces with attacking runs off the ball.
We need to allow our players to give us the mot of the qualities that they possess. Balotelli has a great ability to drop deep and collect the ball. Almost always he will be followed by a CB who will therefore be out of position. Kaka and El Shaarawy can both exploit the space and so can Poli who likes to make this attacking runs forward. That will leave Monto and De Jong further back to provide the cover and balance to the side. We will clearly need to get our width from our fullbacks as in any other 4-3-1-2 scheme. With Balotelli holding the ball and Monto-De Jong ability to keep possession (let's hope they can)...our fullbacks should have plenty of time to move forward and be in position to attack the wide areas.