How Will Rafa Play It?
It's funny how quickly things change in football. Three weeks ago we had so many injuries that there was a very severe shortage of competition for places. It almost like if you were fit then you would play! But now it seems we are turning a corner in terms of injuries (Benayoun and Riera being the obvious exceptions). Suddenly with players like Agger, Aurelio, Gerrard and Aquilani we suddenly have competition for certain places and it will be interesting to see how Rafa plays it.
The first decision he will have to make for the weekend will be for the left back position. With Aurelio coming back does this mean a bench role for Insua? It will certainly be harsh on the young lad since he has generally played well and has always given a 100% for the team. Yes his defence and lack of height has cost us sometimes (mistakes are part and parcel of the game) but he has provided us with some memorable moments as well (the strike against Arsenal was a gem). Aurelio though provides Rafa with different options. He certainly has a better delivery on him and he is blessed with a very good positional understanding defensively, something I am sure Insua will learn as he grows.
The second conundrum the Rafa has is with his midfield especially given the injuries to Benayoun and Riera, which limit our width in the team. I think with Aquilani and Gerrard both fit a change in formation is called for. I would love to see us play with two attacking midfielders/supporting strikers in Gerrard and Aquilani just behind the main striker. I don't think they will get in each others way at all as Gerrard will for the most part be in a more advanced position than Aquilani. It will be a sort of Xavi/Iniesta partnership with Aquilani occupying the Xavi role.
Of course what this will also mean is that we can continue playing the two holding midfielders that Rafa likes and thinks adds balance to our team. Of course one of them may have to play a bit toward one side but I don't think that should be a problem, especially with Lucas as he is a mobile player.
This does leave one midfield slot open and ideally it would go to someone like Benayoun but since he is injured perhaps we could either push Aurelio there, as he is good attacking and defending, or even give someone like Spearing a chance and of course there is always the option of playing Kuyt in a slightly right sided role but that might be a bit unwise.
The onus will be on Johnson and the left back, whoever that may be, to provide the width but I don't think that should be a problem as Johnson is awesome at attacking and both Aurelio and Insua do a credible job.
So for the Man City game I would like to see us play like this:
Reina
Johnson Agger Skrtel Insua
Mascherano
Lucas
Aurelio
Aquilani
Gerrard
Torres
When we play against stronger opposition we can always drop Aquilani back to shore up our midfield and play our more orthodox 4-4-1-1 formation. But the different combinations we can play seems very exciting. There's just the small matter of getting all the players fit
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