goon wrote:
Tactics wrote:
Of course you can, but whether it's great from a tactical point of view is another matter. It's akin to playing say, Messi in a midfield 3. The only way you could make it work IMO is by having 2 dedicated holding midfielders (both strong defensively) and at least one hardworking midfielder outwide who could tuck in when needed.
Players like Ozil, Mata etc are best kept away from any CM duties, they should be considered as part of the forward line IMO.
Why is it a tactical issue when in essence the only difference is he’s just an extra man in there as opposed to playing him further up as a ten?
Ozil in a three is nowhere near as bad as Santi in a two and that worked for us for long periods. City play KDB and Silva in there and don’t have any issues either.
Because the midfield is the engine of the team, if you are always a man short there you'll spend the rest of the game chasing shadows. Teams overload the midfield these days , I can hardly think of a top team that doesn't play 3 in the middle. Those that play 4-4-2 have midfielders outwide who constantly tuck in .
Watch Santi, Silva, KDB without the ball and you'd see why the first 3 can be relied upon to carryout CM duties and Ozil can't . It's simply not in his nature IMO. He's no better defensively than Bergkamp was for example, and i can't remember us ever playing Bergie in midfield.
Mourinho always shifted him outwide in the big games, and that's despite having hardworking players like Di Maria, Khedira etc in the team.
