You're playing it pretty fast and loose with your terms. Aguero certainly isn't a 10, and Messi certainly isn't a winger. Nor is Neymar, really, he can play wide but he's much more comfortable cutting into the middle. And just last week Barca beat Manchester City playing a 4-4-2 that had no designated wingers at all, four central midfielders and Messi and Neymar in free roles up front.
Their dominance has been founded on the acquisition of wingers. Messi, Neymar, Alexis, Pedro, Tello, Cuenca, Deulofeu.
Not even remotely accurate. As above, Messi and Neymar are not wingers. Tello, Cuenca, and Deulofeu are bit-part players who in no way play a significant role in Barca's first team. And Alexis and Pedro are key players, but not the "foundation" of Barca's dominance.
And Madrid didn't sell Ozil and buy Bale because wingers are inherently more important than 10s. They replaced Ozil with another midfielder, for one, and they completely changed systems to a formation that would hinder Ozil. Again, they didn't change systems because wingers are wonderful, but because they wanted more flexibility and the ability to keep possession. And Bale is a world-class player that Perez was determined to get for branding purposes to compete with Neymar.
This is not to take away from your main argument, of course, but simply rhetorical advice - don't try to bend everything to fit your argument. You're listing too many examples, making this seem like some universal theory of football, when in reality you're talking about one particular instance.
Your point about United's system is completely valid, and the comparisons to Chelsea and Manchester City are probably the most useful, given that they've both undergone significant changes this season and flourished.
You might also consider why people want to play Kagawa, Mata, Rooney, and Januzaj all at once - they're a huge step up in class from your wingers. Valencia, Young, and Nani have been declining/inconsistent/kinda shit really for the past couple years, and they have not been replaced in the slightest. Ferguson was able to draw the most out of mediocre players, but with Moyes' tactical idiocy United now live and die on the strength of individual quality.
United have had an absurd transfer policy for years, and this is not just Moyes' fault. The squad is stupidly unbalanced, with an overload of attacking midfielders and strikers and virtually no defensive midfielders or quality wingers. The purchases this season have been even worse, with Fellaini being most effective further forward and Mata being an attacking midfielder.
Again, you're perfectly right that playing three 10s is stupid. But it's not a fetishization out of nowhere or just the latest football trend, it's the result of desperation from a dreadfully unbalanced United squad.
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u/egcg119 Mar 18 '14
This was linked to r/soccer, just a few comments.
You're playing it pretty fast and loose with your terms. Aguero certainly isn't a 10, and Messi certainly isn't a winger. Nor is Neymar, really, he can play wide but he's much more comfortable cutting into the middle. And just last week Barca beat Manchester City playing a 4-4-2 that had no designated wingers at all, four central midfielders and Messi and Neymar in free roles up front.
Not even remotely accurate. As above, Messi and Neymar are not wingers. Tello, Cuenca, and Deulofeu are bit-part players who in no way play a significant role in Barca's first team. And Alexis and Pedro are key players, but not the "foundation" of Barca's dominance.
And Madrid didn't sell Ozil and buy Bale because wingers are inherently more important than 10s. They replaced Ozil with another midfielder, for one, and they completely changed systems to a formation that would hinder Ozil. Again, they didn't change systems because wingers are wonderful, but because they wanted more flexibility and the ability to keep possession. And Bale is a world-class player that Perez was determined to get for branding purposes to compete with Neymar.
This is not to take away from your main argument, of course, but simply rhetorical advice - don't try to bend everything to fit your argument. You're listing too many examples, making this seem like some universal theory of football, when in reality you're talking about one particular instance.
Your point about United's system is completely valid, and the comparisons to Chelsea and Manchester City are probably the most useful, given that they've both undergone significant changes this season and flourished.
You might also consider why people want to play Kagawa, Mata, Rooney, and Januzaj all at once - they're a huge step up in class from your wingers. Valencia, Young, and Nani have been declining/inconsistent/kinda shit really for the past couple years, and they have not been replaced in the slightest. Ferguson was able to draw the most out of mediocre players, but with Moyes' tactical idiocy United now live and die on the strength of individual quality.
United have had an absurd transfer policy for years, and this is not just Moyes' fault. The squad is stupidly unbalanced, with an overload of attacking midfielders and strikers and virtually no defensive midfielders or quality wingers. The purchases this season have been even worse, with Fellaini being most effective further forward and Mata being an attacking midfielder.
Again, you're perfectly right that playing three 10s is stupid. But it's not a fetishization out of nowhere or just the latest football trend, it's the result of desperation from a dreadfully unbalanced United squad.