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Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky
Well, it isn't rigid but Ronnie certainly played more centrally and further forward than Tevez and Rooney in general. It is an advantage of playing a 3 with the players we have, that you take advantage of their flexibility.
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I'm not disputing that Ronaldo played as a striker in a few of our matches towards the end of the season - heck, even as early as the match at Anfield he was switched up front for a spell - but certainly not in the Champions League final, where he clearly played most of the match as a pretty orthodox winger (and to great effect too, particularly in the first half, when he tore Essien to pieces). And I would disagree with your categorisation of Rooney and Tevez's positions here as well.
The matches in which Ronaldo started as a striker, from memory:
Birmingham at home. Ronaldo plays up front with Tevez, with Park and Nani on the wings in a 4-4-2. Rooney unavailable.
Roma away. Here we played the majority of the match with what was essentially a very deep five man midfield, with Rooney spending much of his time in effect playing as a left sided wing-back. Tevez on the bench.
Barca away. Tevez, on paper, is playing in the hole in 4-4-1-1, but in reality, after the first fifteen minutes or so - as Barca increasingly begin to dominate possession - ends up spending most of his time marking Yaya Toure as a fifth central midfielder. As in Rome, Rooney is again effectively operating as a wing-back, albeit this time on the right flank.
Barca at home. Ronaldo starts the match up front with Tevez in a fairly standard 4-4-2, with a team set out to begin very aggressive organised pressing quite high up the pitch. Rooney out injured.
West Ham at home. Ronaldo starts up front with Tevez, again as a front two, and again with Rooney unavailable.
04-09-2008, 08:54 AM
its the law of averages that keeps worrying me, they are due!
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£#%&!ing shitty stupid international football!!!
