For any football fan, Marchisio is perfect kind of footballer who can adapt to any given role and do a great job at it. As evident from the last two seasons at Juventus, Marchisio played a variety of roles, from being a creative midfielder, wide midfielder, attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder and he did an admirable job in all these roles. He has all the attributes to excel in all. Growing up in the Juventus youth system , he played primarily as a trequartista and later shifting to a more central role. He had opportunities to work with a number of great coaches since his first stint at training with the first team in 2006. Though limited, he had the opportunity to learn from coaching greats like Cappello, Deshchamps and Ranieri. Thought Marchisio is known for his verstality and consistency, he hasnt reached the true potential he is capable of. This is primarily due the varying roles that he has been asked to fill in for the last two years. Never once has he spoken against any of those decision, but it has definetily contributed towards the slow progress he has made. Being 25, he has a few more years to peak, but the 2011/12 season could be critical in making him from a footballer who can be good at a variety of position to one that is great in his position. He is often compared to one of the Italian greats in Tardelli, which he has the capability to emulate and this author thinks that would be a perfect role for him.
In the current Juventus setup, the role of Filipe Melo is that of a destroyer. His athleticism, hard tackling ability and the ability to shield the defense has been phenomenal this past season, but he lacks a partner in the mold of ala Xabi Alonso, Busquets who can be a link (A fast link unlike Aquilani) between him in defense and attack. As examples, first Xabi Alonso and Mascherano at Liverpool, then Xabi Alonso and Khedira at Real Madrid. Similar pairing of Pique/ Mascherano and Busquets at Barca though both Pique and Masch played as defenders. Thiago Motta and Wesley Sneijder (More of an attacking playmaker) at Inter. The commonality in the above comparison is one (Masch, Khedira, Thiago) are good readers of the game and stopping attacks and passing the ball to other. Its the job of Xabi, Busquets and the Snieder to bring the ball forward for the attacking players. This role seems like a perfect fit for Marchisio at Juventus. Now with the addition of Pirlo to the Juve, Marchisio has one of the greatest deep lying playmakers of his era to learn the art from. Marchisio can be one better than Pirlo with his athletism, hard tackling and good reading of game along with his passing skills. With Pirlo in the decline, the Italian national team will appreciate a player of his mold (I don't think Montolivo is that player).This at the same time will free up Aquilani to play an advanced role that he excelled at Roma and link up with the attacking talent present with Juve. This is one of the biggest shortcoming Juve had last season. With Aquilani playing deep, there was no link up with Matri in attack. With the emphasis on spreading the ball wide to wingers and moving them central towards Matri for linkup played in horribly with the one dimensional attack of Krasic and lack of skill from Pepe and Martinez.
As evident from Rafa Benitez's episode at Inter, its best for a Coach to adapt his strategy based on the talents at his disposal rather than molding his players to suit his strategy. With the current squad Juve has, a 4-2-3-1 system seems ideal. With Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci, Sorensen, Reto Ziegler, De Ceglie and a couple more quality full backs in front of Buffon, the defence area looks strong. With Melo and Marchisio/ Pirlo in front of the defense and Quagliarella/ New winger , Aquilani/ Del Peiro and Krasic adding the attacking threat along with Matri would make the team strong in alomost all dept and hopefully challenge for the Scudetto.
The biggest piece of puzzle for all this requires an essential conversion of one football player from being a jack of all trades, king of none to king of deep lying playmaker.
In the current Juventus setup, the role of Filipe Melo is that of a destroyer. His athleticism, hard tackling ability and the ability to shield the defense has been phenomenal this past season, but he lacks a partner in the mold of ala Xabi Alonso, Busquets who can be a link (A fast link unlike Aquilani) between him in defense and attack. As examples, first Xabi Alonso and Mascherano at Liverpool, then Xabi Alonso and Khedira at Real Madrid. Similar pairing of Pique/ Mascherano and Busquets at Barca though both Pique and Masch played as defenders. Thiago Motta and Wesley Sneijder (More of an attacking playmaker) at Inter. The commonality in the above comparison is one (Masch, Khedira, Thiago) are good readers of the game and stopping attacks and passing the ball to other. Its the job of Xabi, Busquets and the Snieder to bring the ball forward for the attacking players. This role seems like a perfect fit for Marchisio at Juventus. Now with the addition of Pirlo to the Juve, Marchisio has one of the greatest deep lying playmakers of his era to learn the art from. Marchisio can be one better than Pirlo with his athletism, hard tackling and good reading of game along with his passing skills. With Pirlo in the decline, the Italian national team will appreciate a player of his mold (I don't think Montolivo is that player).This at the same time will free up Aquilani to play an advanced role that he excelled at Roma and link up with the attacking talent present with Juve. This is one of the biggest shortcoming Juve had last season. With Aquilani playing deep, there was no link up with Matri in attack. With the emphasis on spreading the ball wide to wingers and moving them central towards Matri for linkup played in horribly with the one dimensional attack of Krasic and lack of skill from Pepe and Martinez.
As evident from Rafa Benitez's episode at Inter, its best for a Coach to adapt his strategy based on the talents at his disposal rather than molding his players to suit his strategy. With the current squad Juve has, a 4-2-3-1 system seems ideal. With Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci, Sorensen, Reto Ziegler, De Ceglie and a couple more quality full backs in front of Buffon, the defence area looks strong. With Melo and Marchisio/ Pirlo in front of the defense and Quagliarella/ New winger , Aquilani/ Del Peiro and Krasic adding the attacking threat along with Matri would make the team strong in alomost all dept and hopefully challenge for the Scudetto.
The biggest piece of puzzle for all this requires an essential conversion of one football player from being a jack of all trades, king of none to king of deep lying playmaker.
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