Rodgers had never won anything either amd still hasn't. He probably never will. Still doesnt downplay the club amd lower the level.
3-5-2 can be effective. Look at England in Euro 96. But your wide players need to be wingers first and foremost, but with a good work ethic (like McManaman and Anderton). 2 of your back 3 should be naturally able to play fullback (Neville and Pearce), and your holding midfielder should be able to drop into defence (Southgate, who was a defensive midfielder at Crystal Palace). When you're defending, the formation becomes more like 4-4-2, with the holding midfielder dropping very deep. When you go forwards, the DM stays fairly deep, and your wide centre-halves advance, so it's almost a 1-3-4-2. That was Venables' approach, and we did ok with it.
Totally agree. We played it quite a few times last season, with good effect. It's all about the personal like you say. Young and Valencia, simply haven't got that in their game hence it's not working. Hypothetically - If you had someone like Mascherano sitting in front of those back 3, occasionally dropping back so you had a back 4 it could work very well. I think Barca are mad playing Mascherano at CB - when for me the WC proved he's probably the best DM in world football. Perhaps Barca will play him there now since buying a new CB.
Mascherano has become an excellent player. When at Liverpool, I thought he was a bit of a liability, a glorified thug. To be fair to him, playing alongside the elegant Alonso probably made him look more uncultured than he was. He's wasted at centre-back. But Barca have got previous for wasting players by playing them out of position (Yaya Toure, Henry). I suppose when you've got the likes of Xavi, Iniesta and Messi you've just got to try and fit the rest in where you can.
That's true, but I think Mascherano is partly to blame for his current situation. He was so desperate to leave Liverpool and join Barca, whereas Barca didn't seem all that keen to have him when you consider how they went after players like Cesc and Neymar. Having spent so much effort forcing the move, he can hardly complain when they tell him to play wherever the **** they like!
It was a bit like the Song transfer, someone they fancied but didn't desperately need. Needless to say, the Argentinian has worked out a much better deal.
