BBZ defending a "workhorse" with no technical ability, what else is new.
I am defending a balance.
You only need a certain level of "power" in each line: defense/midfield/attack.
For example, if you play against Getafe at home, 4 defenders will be enough to form a very strong defense.
If you play 8 defenders, you won't improve THAT much in defense, and yet you will lose midfield.
(If you have a glass which can be filled with only 1 litre of water, it is irrelevant whether you will use 1 litre or 10 litres of water to fill it. In both cases, only 1 litre will stay in a glass in the end).
Imagine that in 442, you have:
Defense 90% strength
Midfield 90% strength
Attack 80% strength
If you suddenly play 8-0-2 to strengthen a defense:
You will improve defense from 90% to 100%.
But your midfield will drop from 90% to 0%.
Plus, attack will suffer due to no midfield, and it will drop from 80% to let's say 30%.
So, you see, my point is, you only need "a certain level" of power in attack/midfield/defense.
We already have Messi, who is an alien, and who counts as 2-3 humans, like normal attacking players from Arsenal, Tottenham, Borrussia and similar.
So, to have a good attack, you don't need 7 Messis and Coutinhos in the team.
You can be very good with only 2-3 of them, if your other lines (midfield and defense) are well balanced also.
This is just my estimation, but this is what happens in numbers with our team when we go from 442's to Dembele-Coutinho mode currently:
EV's 442 with Iniesta-Rakitic-Busi-Paulinho/Gomes:
Defense: 95%
Midfield: 90%
Attack: 80%
Iniesta-Coutinho-Rakitic-Busi:
Defense: 70%
Midfield: 70%
Attack: 90%
Iniesta-Coutinho-Busi-Dembele:
Defense: 50%
Midfield: 50%
Attack: 100%
So, you see, with "shiny" names, we are improving attack each time (but only by little), while we are losing way more in other areas, like midfield and defense.
On contrary, in a world WITHOUT Messi, I would want to see: Coutinho-Iniesta-Dembele on a field together, because we will lack an attacking power then (since now we have Messi who is worth like 3 normal attacking players).
So, imo, in a world where we have Messi, the best thing for our team is to build a strong defense and strong midfield and just add 1 or 2 attacking players alongside Messi.
We will almost never concede due to that setup.
And Messi and co will score 2-3-4 goals in 90% of matches.
Again, if you add Coutinho (paired with Iniesta) and Dembele in this story, we are just improving already world class attack, and we are ruining midfield and defense.
Imo, in this moment, we are losing more with these new shiny signings than what we are getting.
Again, if Messi gets injured, that is a different story.
Or of Iniesta gets benched.
So, you see, I am not calling for 11 players like Rakitic and Gomes in a team.
But we need a certain amount of them in a starting 11.
Especially since we have Messi.
Till then, let's wait for a match where we'll actually play well (or better than EV's 442 before Dembele and Coutinho) with Iniesta-Coutinho both on a field, or with Dembele also on a field.
[MENTION=20218]Origami[/MENTION] will like this, we didn't use that word for a few days: we lost an equilibrium
