Formation under Montella

What formation do you think he will play will he go back ot the 4-2-3-1 or will he continue with the 4-3-3-?

and do you think he will bring any players with him for Catania ?

I personally wouldn't mind if he brought Spolli and Gomez with him.

Patrick Bateman wrote:What formation do you think he will play will he go back ot the 4-2-3-1 or will he continue with the 4-3-3-?

and do you think he will bring any players with him for Catania ?

I personally wouldn't mind if he brought Spolli and Gomez with him.

I would suggest you to sign Lodi. He is beast !

He'll probably bring Lodi with him, but I'd really love to get Alejandro Gomez as well. That's a top, top player Catania have on their hands.

McLewis wrote:He'll probably bring Lodi with him, but I'd really love to get Alejandro Gomez as well. That's a top, top player Catania have on their hands.

Ture I like him to but Lodi is beast

I think if we manage to keep Gago, or end up bringing Pizarro back, his only change will be readjusting that midfield. I think he would want De Rossi to be a little further up (therefore narrowing our back line just a bit) and drop Gago, or Pizarro, back. Pjanic I think will continue to operate a little deep with Totti, while the two wingers/strikers, depending on who they are, will make their way forward as usual. As a very simplified example:

Luis Enrique:



Montella:


Totti drops back in either case, now he'll just have to work on an understanding with Pjanic since he'll be going onto his territory. With a bit of practice, I have no worries about that working out. Osvaldo will be further away from goal on paper only, and I stress that point. In the end, his positioning will be exactly the same as it is now: starting from a slightly wider position for a striker, cutting in towards goal from the left, very Vucinic-esque. Borini is full of running, but I do worry for him in this position. Montella would want Totti closer to goal compared to his current position, and Osvaldo would end up in the box no matter what, so that puts someone like Borini in an unusual position. I think someone like Bojan may work out a little better in this position given the fact that he is better on the ball.

Another potential combination would be Lamela on the left in his preferred position and Borini on the right, as in this set-up, though he would have more freedom to venture forward given Lamela's characteristics.

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced that Palacio is the right man for this team.

I can't see Osvaldo working in that formation Mike he won't like tracking back all the time and he's no Vucinic in terms of creativity.

Lamela would be more suited to that position imo.

Probably 4 3 3 , because if we put Totti as a lone striker and he dropped down we will get some formation like 4-6-0 and thats not really interesting to me

Patrick Bateman wrote:I can't see Osvaldo working in that formation Mike he won't like tracking back all the time and he's no Vucinic in terms of creativity.

Lamela would be more suited to that position imo.

It depends on the opposition when it comes to who's more or less suited to that role as well.

And to be honest, Osvaldo tracks back as much as Vucinic used to, if not more, I don't see his defensive work rate being much of a problem here. This year, he even went back to defend on corners while Totti stayed up, that says a lot too. He presses the opposition when he has to, that's another thing that I hope continues despite the change in management.

And as for the "4-6-0", that could be very interesting. It's basically what we used to do in the Spalletti days when we used Taddei and Mancini on the wings and that was great to watch. Now, Montella has his own style and very different players, so it won't be an exact copy of Spalletti's Roma, but you could see that they share a lot of the same ideas.

i almost agree with Zonal Marking on spalletti subject http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/03/05/teams-of-the-decade-5-roma-2007/-if im not mistaking i think Everton used the same tactic as well with Cahill/saha

and basically thats why i thought the best for us is Jovetic , i know that seems not possible but ATM he is the only one that i know can do it , of course there is Messi and others but those are impossible

Yup, not a bad article at all. In a nutshell, having Totti in that lone striker position, therefore operating a sort of "4-6-0" leaves room for lots of creativity. With constant movement in midfield, this becomes extremely difficult to defend against.

Like I said, if Pjanic could master that role as an attacking midfielder, but provide the sort of running that Perrotta became known for, this sort of system could still work. If Pjanic is unable to do that, then I see Marquinho as a good fit. He knows how to time himself perfectly for a late run in the opposing box, he's got good technique and has a good left foot. Enrique at times used him even as a trequartista, showing that he could take over that role that Perrotta used to fill.

Someone like Osvaldo I'm sure could adapt to that Vucinic role that the article points out. If not, we'll always have Lamela who's naturally a left winger/ attacking midfielder.

ErPupone wrote:Yup, not a bad article at all. In a nutshell, having Totti in that lone striker position, therefore operating a sort of "4-6-0" leaves room for lots of creativity. With constant movement in midfield, this becomes extremely difficult to defend against.

Like I said, if Pjanic could master that role as an attacking midfielder, but provide the sort of running that Perrotta became known for, this sort of system could still work. If Pjanic is unable to do that, then I see Marquinho as a good fit. He knows how to time himself perfectly for a late run in the opposing box, he's got good technique and has a good left foot. Enrique at times used him even as a trequartista, showing that he could take over that role that Perrotta used to fill.

Someone like Osvaldo I'm sure could adapt to that Vucinic role that the article points out. If not, we'll always have Lamela who's naturally a left winger/ attacking midfielder.

While some of your points are pretty good I have to completely disagree with the Osvaldo positioning and reasoning. Osvaldo may have tracked back and defended this year however he is not a midfielder/winger. He was practically out of position this year as a wide striker. Him dropping back into midfield would not benefit anyone, including him. Vucinic has more pace and is very comfertable and creative on the ball, while Osvaldo appears slightly clumsy. In that formation you posted I see Lamela or Marquihno in that position and Osvaldo on the bench. If the game needs a change or we need something fresh Osvaldo comes in for Totti or Totti drops back and Osvaldo fills the striker role. I really dont want him on the ball in our half of the field, hes a striker. Pure and simple.

Under Montella I was thinking something like this: (Kinda based on what hes done with Catania this year and what I think could suite this squad. I left out defense because I really hope its completely different next season)


Borini and Lamela operating more as wingers who can also get in behind the back line, Especially Borini. If Totti is injured Play Borini as lone striker and have Marq. in his place or some new signing. Pjanic can operate as the forward moving playmaker. He is comfertable on the ball and has great vision. He could open up some passing lanes and work one twos with Totti. If Totti drops back deep Borini can make angular runs into the middle to open up space for Totti and Pjanic to find passing lanes.

DiRocco wrote:

ErPupone wrote:Yup, not a bad article at all. In a nutshell, having Totti in that lone striker position, therefore operating a sort of "4-6-0" leaves room for lots of creativity. With constant movement in midfield, this becomes extremely difficult to defend against.

Like I said, if Pjanic could master that role as an attacking midfielder, but provide the sort of running that Perrotta became known for, this sort of system could still work. If Pjanic is unable to do that, then I see Marquinho as a good fit. He knows how to time himself perfectly for a late run in the opposing box, he's got good technique and has a good left foot. Enrique at times used him even as a trequartista, showing that he could take over that role that Perrotta used to fill.

Someone like Osvaldo I'm sure could adapt to that Vucinic role that the article points out. If not, we'll always have Lamela who's naturally a left winger/ attacking midfielder.

While some of your points are pretty good I have to completely disagree with the Osvaldo positioning and reasoning. Osvaldo may have tracked back and defended this year however he is not a midfielder/winger. He was practically out of position this year as a wide striker. Him dropping back into midfield would not benefit anyone, including him. Vucinic has more pace and is very comfertable and creative on the ball, while Osvaldo appears slightly clumsy. In that formation you posted I see Lamela or Marquihno in that position and Osvaldo on the bench. If the game needs a change or we need something fresh Osvaldo comes in for Totti or Totti drops back and Osvaldo fills the striker role. I really dont want him on the ball in our half of the field, hes a striker. Pure and simple.

Agreed that Vucinic may have been more creative. Of course, Osvaldo is most dangerous in the box. But I think with the likes of Pjanic, Totti, Gago, De Rossi, etc also on the pitch, we wouldn't have to rely on Osvaldo for creativity. He would just bring a certain level of physicality that we would need when charging forward. Ideally, we would want him in the box, but starting him from further wide hasn't been a disaster this year by any means. He could be frustrating to watch, I very much agree, but I think it's an experiment worth attempting. Given that he his a hard worker, if he's surrounded well, I think he could pull it off.

Btw I'm not suggesting we completely replicate our Spalletti formation, just an adapted version of it in terms of Totti's positioning and the general movement in midfield. Osvaldo would naturally stay further up than Vucinic, but still start from wide. I'm not saying that this will absolutely work, but I think it should be attempted because it very well could work.

What I think DiRocco's getting at here is with Osvaldo as a wide player yes he'll work hard and can provide presence on that flank, but I can't see him cutting in from the flanks to cause trouble. He lacks the guile and technique on the ball to get the better of seasoned tacklers. His strength, predatory instincts and hold up play are features to his game and of course those features come to the fore when he's played centrally. His link up play with his fellow attackers has been a mixed bag as well.

He'll need a lot more in his locker to do what you're envisioning, Mike, but I do agree with you in that it's worth a shot.

Id see Lamela switching to the right at times. Then cutting in and shooting with hes left. He has a killer shot on him.