Playing without a Trequartista

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AC MILAN haven’t played with a real trequartista this season.

It is a testament to the coaching skills of Allegri that we won the title this year without a crucial player to Allegri’s tactical system, a trequartista.  In Allegri’s preferred formation, a 4-3-1-2, the attack is linked by a traditional #10 who is responsible for creating chances, as well as distributing the ball around the offensive half of the field.

Ronaldinho was a master of this earlier in his career.  However, upon his move to Milan, we began to see the “old” Dinho, by which I mean the one who goes clubbing, partying, and has lost his desire on the field.

And now the renewals…
Milan confirm interest in Taiwo and Ganso

Because of this, Leonardo found space for him on the left of attack, giving us a sort of question mark-shaped formation (which Galliani dubbed the 4-2-fantasia) which lead to most of our attacks flowing through Ronaldinho, who more often than not, killed the pace of the game, and as a result, slowed our attack. Sometimes this worked to great effect, such as the first game of Round 2 in 09/10 against Siena where Ronaldinho was absolutely unplayable and pulled the strings of our attack.

Allegri’s free flowing system meant that Dinho was going to be afforded less time to play around on the ball, and that tactical difference, as well as off the field factors, led to the departure of the Brazilian in January.

Allegri had a solution to this personnel issue that is becoming more and more popular across Europe, putting a box-to-box midfielder behind the strikers in the Trequartista position.  What this does is allows a previously “immobile and old” midfield, and injects it with pace. As we began to play Boateng behind the strikers, we would create more chances.

Putting a box-to-box midfielder like Boateng in the AMF role achieves three main functions for the team:

  • He serves as a target for Abbiati on goal kicks
  • He provides a running threat that often attacks ahead of Ibrahimavic, allowing him to flick on headers and balls to running midfielders as well as strikers.
  • It allows us to pressure further up the pitch – Boateng says he has always played behind the strikers, but if you take a look at the Ghana matches from the 2010 world cup, Boateng was deployed in almost a holding/DMF/creative role sitting in front of the back four.  He has the technique to press and shut down attacks, as well as the finesse to create them. This prevents our “front 3” from being totally disconnected defensively from the rest of the team, and additionally provides extra support both offensively and defensively.

It should be noted, that in order for a box-to-box midfielder to work in the trequartista role, that someone else has to supply the passing necessary to keep the team going. We need a metronome: a Xavi, Pirlo, Seedorf, or the excellent signing of Van Bommel.

In the traditional 4-3-1-2, the trequartista can play in one of two manners, that of Kaka’ who was most famous for his slalom runs and who served as a magnificent final-ball player.  There is also the type of player who sits back in the AMF role and simply creates.  Ganso is seen as this type of playmaker,  as is David Silva,  and Samir Nasri (who often drifts to the wing when Fabregas plays but can play as a traditional #10) to name a few.

Whether or not we sign Ganso, Lamela, or any of the other trequartistas we are linked to is up to Berlusconi and Galliani. Allegri has demonstrated an ability to change tactical setups to fit personnel and a system that allows the speed and technique of our team to shine.

Congratulations to all fans of the 2010-2011 Italian Champions AC Milan!

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rossonero23

Boateng has done a decent job as the Trequartista.

Giancarlo

Boateng did fine there actually… and then Seedorf was tried there ,but was more effective as a midfielder. We still need someone I agree for that position.

Derrick

BOATENG has been the surprised signing of the year.nobody thought a big club like milan can pick up a player from a relegated team like portsmoth and suddenly become a no.1 favorite..he’s really hardworking, very dynamic and his type of midfielder is quite rare in italy…what i remember him most was his superb goal against the USA for his country Ghana in the world cup…he has such a lion’s heart which can be found in only Gattuso,Ji sung park,and van bommel…bravo prince

Bone chronic

At the world cup, prince played in an advanced role, not as a DMF, that role was played by amoah

APM

with all due respect to Max’s invention of Boateng as trequartista, i think it is the excellent defense (that Max emphasized) that won us the Scudetto. in Serie A, a team with best defense tend to win the league.

Vano

did Boateng moonwalk or made a tatoo???
i also agree that he did great as both a midfielder and tranquista

zac

he said he would moonwalk at san siro, so next weekend

sherbini

waiting for ganso!!!

Ouch!

U know this guy has defintely won me over, defintely one of my fav players currently in the milan squad 😀 next season the prince shall be crowned king! when milan conquor europe. forza milan.

Gaurav Garg

i think we should go for david Silva instead of Ganso…he is top class player hold d ball..killer passes ,,wonderful touches

makAveli

boateng played the essien role in ghana since essien missed the world cup..in a 4-2-3-1 formation,he and annang(rossenborg/schalke) sat infront of the defence whiles tagoe asamoah(incredible at udinese) and ayew(marseille.son of the legendary abedi pele) played upfront behind gyan. milan tried to sign ayew’s father in ’93’when he destroyed milan with marseille..i wish we consider ayew one day.he is frenh citizen anyway

Giancarlo

Boateng was always an offensive minded central midfielder, far more than Essien. Kwadwo ASamoah (who we have been linked with) is also another central midfielder. While some may argue it was our excellent defense that won us the Scudetto, we had to score goals and we needed to have a player that could build up plays. That’s why I love Robinho and Boateng… as both were clearly capable of doing this. People often underestimate the importance of both in this squad, especially with the regard of Robinho. Oh and I forgot, Robinho played as a trequartista in some games to… Read more »

rossonero23

Boateng’s passing is poor.

He lacks that ” final ball “….

Shervin

thats why i want kaka back despite his 29. Even if he was 34 years old i would give him the chance to play again for us. His final pass was so important for milans attacking football.

Ganso can come, but i doubt hes as good as kaka when he was 21. we can only watch and see when/if ganso comes. Kaka must return, we cant let real madrid threat our legend like they do.

rossonero23

Boateng’s passing lets him down so much. He only has 3 assists despite playing in a advanced role. To be honest, I can’t think of a single ” killer ball ” from Boateng. Pirlo, who has 16 appearances this year, most being short cameos has the same amount of assists as Boateng. I’m sorry, but that’s unacceptable. Our Trequartista has to be more involved. As for Kaka, he’s the past. We need to look to the future. The future is Ganso. If Kaka were to come, we might as well sign Pirlo,Amborsini,Gattuso,and Seedorf to brand new deals! This is what’s… Read more »

Milanista

Boateng’s passing is arguably just as bad as Gattuso’s. They are inaccurate and the ball is not even smooth on the ground. The ball just bounces the whole time. I see everybody have a hard time receiving his pass.

rossonero23

i completely agree with you Milanista.

Giancarlo

I would only take Kaka on loan… but not if we need to pay 25 million for him. Anyways, I hear Real Madrid wants Frank Lampard, so that means Kaka could be on his way out to Chelsea.

They may do a swap of players… I don’t know why Madrid wants Lampard… but they do.

More here:

http://www.milannews.it/?action=read&idnotizia=51955

It seems like it could happen.

makAveli

like THE ARTICLE SAID..he played a dmf in the ghana set up and that is when milan discoverd him.dont draw conclusions by thinking he is FAR more offensive minded than essien. essien played an in advanced midfield role in Bastia and lyon,whiles m. diarra played the defensive role.he was their joint top scorer in champions lge when chelsea bought him.even in ghana he played as an 8. he was made defensive by mou in chelsea bcos of lampard bt played at the right side of attack when mou played makelele.boateng is not a good passer of the ball and isnt… Read more »

Giancarlo

That’s rubbish. I know for a fact that Boateng is more offensive minded than Essien. Essien is used mainly as a DMF for Chelsea. Boateng was never played as a DMF at any club he played at. He has the tendency of going forward too much. So why don’t you not talk about something you know absolutely nothign about? I know plenty about Boateng. I followed him as a player even when he was playing at Portsmouth. I thought he would be great for Milan and he needed a big team to join. And show me where I said he… Read more »

batk0807

There he goes again! The idiot King Gian apparently followed Boateng at Portsmouth and thought he would be great for Milan!!!! Now if that is not made up then I don’t know what is! What a liar!! Just to prove he is right once again he’s now making stuff up!!

HAHAHAHAHAHA…LOSER!

rossonero23

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kittanning

That’s because football has change and you need at least four mildfielders who can cover the entire field. Look at Barcelona they really don’t even have a striker, they have 3 attacking mids.

makAveli

last i checked u were sticking your nose where noone asked u to comment. am surprised your encyclopaedia brains did not discover who essien was to u earlier so u think you know everything..do u know mikel’s actual position?i thought as much. He actualy plays a number 10 role,usually behind the striker.at chelsea however he is a defnsive one but revert back to attack when with nigeria..thats how essiens story at chelsea is u moron. like i said dont comment when you dont know.

Giancarlo

I didn’t use an encyclopedia. I leave that to you. You use wikipedia, and that’s just bad. You’re wrong about everything. Essien is a DM. He’s not a number 10 player… not at Chelsea. I know this because I watch the Premier League, you clueless douche.

batk0807

That’s the story of King Gian on this blog! Everyone’s an idiot and only he knows the truth! Why dont u just shut up and not comment on other peoples’ posts when they dont want to know what u think??

Giancarlo

Oh here we go again… barf bag is back… lol. This guy needs to disappear completely. .This moron hates facts.

rossonero23

David Villa’s a attacking midfielder? Since when?

shyamalotti

My thoughts on a tactical roundup of Milan season

http://footiemagic.blogspot.com/2011/05/ac-milan-crowned-italian-champions.html

Have a read and leave comments too!

Forza Milan!

Miguel sensacion

I wanted Milos Krasic 2yrs ago for this position. Boateng has done a very good job though. He was good @ Portsmouth too. David “El chino” Silva is at Man. City and I’m sure he won’t come to Milan. Luca Modric /Niko Kranjar/Mario Goetz/Nuri Sahin/ Sessegnon from Sunderland/Freddy Guarin from FCPorto & my favorite EDEN HAZARD would be perfect for this position. We have the ability to draw anyone of these promising youngsters. We need to act soon.

Yehez Kiel

essien is a squad player.. he can be played in many diffrent spots.. rb, cb, dm, cm, occasionally rm and am, he has the strength stamina and experience to play all those roles.. but its obvious that boateng is a more attacking minded player than essien..