News Roundup
by maddi on Aug 5, 2008 2:09 PM CEST
Email
PrintInjuries: Nothing major to report. Nihat is still inching towards recovery, and the October return date is still on target. Yesterday, Cani, Pires and Ibagaza sat out of practice, Cani with the aforementioned right knee issues, and Pires and Ibagaza showing their age. Just kidding. They are recovering from muscle soreness.
Pellegrini's experimentation: With the extreme shortage of strikers available to Pellegrini, he has altered his formation on the field. Rather than the typical 4-4-2, which he is so masterful with, he has been playing a 4-2-3-1. The new formation means having three playmakers - such as Pires, Ibagaza and Cazorla (or any other combination) on the pitch at once. This formation could probably work well with Rossi as a third playmaker as well, if Pellegrini continued to work with the formation into the season.
And, in addition to Nick's very-well-done focus on the loanees, Villarreal's quarry now goes much deeper, into the youth squad. Yesterday, four Submarine youth members were called up by Spain for an international U-19 tournament later this month: Mariño (keeper), Gaspar (fullback), Jordi Pablo and Luque (midfielders). The future looks bright...
Finally, the Olympics start up tomorrow - I will provide updates here on Jozy and Rossi.
4 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how the 4-2-3-1 works out. I have my doubts but would love to be proved wrong. To my eyes, the problem is that Cazorla, Ibagaza, and Piresare not the kind of prolific “nose for the goal” players that Nihat, Rossi, and Llorente are. But who knows, maybe this is Cazorla’s year to score 10 goals or Ibagaza’s year to score 6 goals.
I liked the Rossi – Nihat combination for the second half of last year but I must admit that I really like the idea of a Nihat – Llorente or a Rossi – Llorente up front. I would like to see Ibagaza on the pitch, but with a 4-4-s, and with Senna and Eguren virtually assured the central midfield positions, I can’t see where Ibagaza fits in. He doesn’t really play on the wings.
One super offensive possibility would be to make Senna the Eguren, and Ibagaza the Senna. That would be a turbocharged offense but it might be a little risky.
Pellegrini has lots and lots of options when it comes to putting a squad on the field and I look forward to seeing how he experiments.
by alex on Aug 6, 2008 1:05 AM CEST reply actions
Rossi injury? I just did a web search and didn’t find anything about an injury.
by alex on Aug 6, 2008 3:29 AM CEST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Twitter & Facebook
