cgf wrote:treiz wrote:cgf wrote:
Pjanic is a very smooth talent to facilitate their possession and the other two bring a lot of running alongside their skill to help shelter him against the physical play that can put him off. Against a normal midfield I don't see why that trio wouldn't be very effective. I would have my doubts if they were facing a giant and physical midfield (like Pogba, Matuidi/Vidal and Matic/Xhaka/young-Xabi); if only because of how vulnerable Pjanic is to being muscled out of a game; but if they're not overpowered that trio should be pretty dang effective.
That's exactly why, you summed up the position on Pjanic and Florenzi isn't exactly the biggest guy in the world and he misses too many tackles (one of the reasons people are against him at RB), Ninja is the only one capable and yet having him sit deep is nullifying his attacking prowess and all around game.
But like you said against smaller teams it should be fine on talent alone.
Yeah, it's certainly vulnerable to bigger sides that can just overpower them in puckbattles with no De Rossi or Strootman; but the more I think about it, the more I like the fit in matches where they can get away with it. Florenzi isn't huge but the kid covers a ton of ground and puts in a ton of work. Nainggolan as you say has the strength as well as the running to shelter Pjanic; who would need to play a more pirlo like role as the metronome who their counters and attacking-movements flowed forth from, mostly hanging behind Ninja-Florenzi as they burst forward to join the front three in either pressing or attack. With Nainggolan and Florenzi having to do a lot of work coming back against the ball when pressing up the pitch fails so that Pjanic doesn't get taken advantage of defensively.
Again, I don't think it would work too well against big strong midfields that they can't just outclass, or top sides...but without Strootman and De Rossi I like it for matches that they can get away with it.
Don't get me wrong I love the energy and work of Florenzi, but unless Roma has the ball most of the time (which tends to be the case against smaller teams, not so much against the bigger teams) this works out pretty well because as you said having Pjanic be there and dominate the ball will help nullify the opponents threat since they can't score if they don't have the ball. But having Pjanic do any defensive work is a disaster waiting to happen.
