Gattuso in the middle will NEVER work; 3:4:1:2 vs 4:3:1:2

After Istanbul there have been many calls to change the way we play. Why would 6 minutes of madness dictate a template that has worked for us successfully for three years. Well i applaud Carlo for atleast considering the change to 3.4.1.2, but I strongly believe Gattuso playing in the middle will be disastrous for Milan. I know plenty of my fellow Rossoneri in this forum are die hard Gattuso fans, and here are my reasons for why if we play a 3.4.1.2 and go with Gattuso or anybody else in the middle, we will be in trouble.

Before i go ahead with my reasons, I'm not suggessting dropping him out of the line up.

1. GATTUSO's TRANSITIONAL OFFENCE IS ATROCIOUS.

Firstly what I would like to point out is that, I'm totally against 3.4.1.2, and it doesn't suit the type of players we have in the squad. Starting from the back, obviously a three man defence will have Paolo, Stam and Nesta in the back. I believe we have the best defence in the world when we play with 4 defenders. If we have three, and we have two defenders (Stam and Paolo) who rely on their experience much more than their speed, we could be left begging, when we play against speedy wingers and forwards. Back to Gennarino, I agree this guy leaves it all on the filed, and he is our best ball winner. But Rino's passing is horrible. In today's football you just can't have defensive midfielders who are primarily ball winners and break up attacks. Defensive midfielders also have to be technically and tactically aware that when the team has possession, completing passes and intiating quick attacks is imperative. Gattuso's passing ability leaves a lot to be desired and his long range passing is simply crap. I believe if Rino is put in the middle he will really slow down our attack.

To the numerous people who will disagree with me about Rino's productivity in the middle.For argument sake i also see the other side why Rino would be effective in the middle. And the reason is Pirlo. In Pirlo we have a genious(Falcao) setting up the attack. And i have to point out that Pirlo has improved defensively over the past season. But when Pirlo is harrassed in the middle as done in the past by players like Appiah, Tacchinardi, Emerson, this guys crumbles. If we have Rino in the middle there will be more freedom for Pirlo to generate attack. Nevertheless, this reason alone does not warrant change in tactics by sticking Rino in the middle.

2. 4.3.1.2 is a tried and true template that has won trophies and kept us in the hunt for three years now. Why change it? Our system suits our players to the core. Who can argue that the factor to a strong side is a strong defence? and the defence has proven to be our bedrock throughout our success. With Rino on the right hand side of midfield, there has always been a constant cover for much attacking cafu.

Lastly, Rino is the heart and soul of the team, and he always leaves blood, sweat and tears on the pitch. However, his heart and soul does not belong in the middle of the pitch.

If people dont like gatusso thats fair enough, but to say he cant play in the middle makes no sense. He is a destroyer and seen as Pirlo cant tackle for jack we need him in the middle. Which amazing passes do the likes of Makalele make. All he does is tackle and pass it a couple of yards away. If Gatusso can tackle and give it to Pirlo thats great. If he has no creativity , so what-We have 3 playmakers in the team all at once aswel as a winger/striker as a right back. We need a energetic "Water carrier" in the team.

Dont get me wrong, Gatusso winds me up at time to, but at other times he is our driving force. So far hes been expected to play on the right and add to the attack, but we should just give him the freedom to destroy and protect the defence. Against Deportivo, Inter and Liverpool, we suffered because we didnt have anyone sitting infront of our defence and they both kept taking long range shots. with gatusso there they wouldnt have time.

Henrick, do I smell a merge approaching?

Originally Posted by K77SH C

If people dont like gatusso thats fair enough, but to say he cant play in the middle makes no sense. He is a destroyer and seen as Pirlo cant tackle for jack we need him in the middle. Which amazing passes do the likes of Makalele make. All he does is tackle and pass it a couple of yards away. If Gatusso can tackle and give it to Pirlo thats great.

the problem is that with a 3 man defence we have 2 mids dedicated to defensive labors that would be pirlo and gattuso and 2 wings. the thing is that pirlo would have to cover more ground defensively and so would gattuso so that is were the sistem fails. with our current sistem pirlo only worries about the center of the field. pirlo would get tired running around.

Gattuso in the middle will NEVER work

I feel exactly the opposite.

Originally Posted by kenichy

the problem is that with a 3 man defence we have 2 mids dedicated to defensive labors that would be pirlo and gattuso and 2 wings. the thing is that pirlo would have to cover more ground defensively and so would gattuso so that is were the sistem fails. with our current sistem pirlo only worries about the center of the field. pirlo would get tired running around.

I disagree, I think Pirlo ha more to worry about now, where as with gatusso in the centre he can do his own thing.

Originally Posted by K77SH C

I disagree, I think Pirlo ha more to worry about now, where as with gatusso in the centre he can do his own thing.

right now pirlo has seedorf and gattuso to cover his back. with a 3 man defense he will only have gattuso to cover his back.

Gattuso is perfect in the middle but the problem is Rui costa he has been the best player in preseason. Carlo should make room for rui costa in the starting eleven. I think Carlo favoures seedorf too much. He's a player with a lot of ups and down and his downs comes a lot more often than his ups. He feels to secure in the starting eleven carlo should put some pressure on this guy.

yes, Rui has been great... he creates more than Seedorf... but Seedorf is a complement to the rest of the midfielders... not a genius like Kaka', not a passer like Pirlo, not a warrior like Rino, but always close to help carry the ball...

I would prefer to stick with the 4-3-1-2... but I understand why Carlo is trying the 3 man defense... or 5 men defense... Janko and Cafu do good attacking as well as defending

Originally Posted by kenichy

right now pirlo has seedorf and gattuso to cover his back. with a 3 man defense he will only have gattuso to cover his back.

Well we obviously interpret the two systems differently, we will just have to wait and see.

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Well we obviously interpret the two systems differently, we will just have to wait and see.

how do you interpret it ?

Originally Posted by Rosso6

4.3.1.2 is a tried and true template that has won trophies and kept us in the hunt for three years now. Why change it?

I think we really need to change our strategy because in my opinion Milan becomes too predictable. Especially when they have to play against the smaller teams at the San Siro. The smaller teams only think about defending and then Milan has huge problems.
Maybe that can change with a 3 men defence. And also use Janko and Cafu to defend and attack on the wings.

Originally Posted by kenichy

how do you interpret it ?

Well my friend, like I said I feel we are thin in the middle with just Pirlo there who cant tackle. Yes Seedorf and Gatusso help out, but they also have to cover their full backs and get involved with the attacks. I think Gatusso would provide the aggression we need in the centre of the pitch. Seedorf or Jankolovski could concentrate on their own side of the pitch and we wouldnt lose anything from Gatusso not being invloved in the play because he never really is anyway. Besides I think the system should depend on the players you have and we have the perfect guy to play on the left side of a 3 man defence- Maldini, the perfect guy to play on the right side of a 3 man defence- stam and who else would you want in the centre apart from Nesta.
Then kaladze could always step in in case of an injury.

Man if you put Kaladze on that three man defence it would be suicide. We really need a young talented centre back that could learn from the likes of Maldini,Nesta,Costacurta and stam.

With a 3 man defence is still formation we have not really seen. It's true that we have seen pre season matches where we tried with it. But I guess it's still at early stages as Janko was not involved in the pre season. I believe he will be involved in the left flank and it remain to be seen.
Like I say again it's not the defence we are concern about but it's the midfield formation that is still a question mark. Lots of suggestions have been given by the posters here and we still do not know who and where they will play. some questions that remains are:

1)pirlo might be playing an advanced role?
2)seedorf will have a more central role?
3)we might see rui partnering kaka as dual playmaker?
4)Reborn of ambro in the middle of the park?
5)even sheva playing a deeper role supporting the attack duo?

I believe gattusso will be patroling just infront of our defence ala makele.
We still have 3 weeks before the start of the new season and I hope the new formation will see a great rebirthof milan football just like the era of the great SACCHI.

Forza Milan!