for the game i went watch back the bayern vs inter game of the 2010 champions league final.
both teams played very similar tactics and setup. the difference would have then be down to the quality of the team and players. the inter team had been built up for 3 years so they did gel up much better than bayern. for individual quality of players shown on the field, the 2010 inter team can arguably be better also. olic & altintop can't match the quality of eto'o & milito. the game was eventually determined by the incapability of demichelis. he was firstly overpowered by milito in the air and let him pass sneijder a hoof ball from the goalie, and then immediately let milito over-run in front of him down to his back to pick up a return pass from sneijder and chiped it into the goal. when the game restarted in the second half the whole inter team sat very deep to park their bus inside out their own box and punished bayern of their second goal with a counter. the game then finished.
for this game i think mourinho will play in a similar way by employing the same setup and tactics. i bet he would start the game by putting out more muscle in their midfield so will start either ramires or mikel to partner matic. fabregas will either start at the bench and definitely will come in for the last 30 minutes, or to start the game by replacing oscar in his role. costa definitely will start. mourinho only used brazil as an excuse to rest him for 10 days to prepare for this game. apart from hazard in the left i bet he would start schurrle on the right to bully us with his muscle inside our box. ivanovic will also start on the right to after diMaria.
back to ourself, we are being under a similar situation as bayern in 2010 and could be even worse. we have just gathered a new team for 5 games and are playing a very different way than we used to be. we could probably have more quaility in some individual players but our squad is still hanging in balance, and our team is yet to gel together. so playing the same tactics as bayern did in 2010 will not benefit us in any way. so i bet we will opt for a 442 diamond setup to enhance our midfield. i will deploy diMaria into the no 10 role. he can do the play-making in the central area and also explore the wide left. i will pick herrera and young behind him. these two players should provide the most working rate in midfield with our current players available. keep blind in deep and leave the width to the two wide defenders to overlap. considering the possibility of schurrle to play on our left, i will pick a bigger defender to provide more muscle to counter. by playing rojo on the left can also give additional advantage that this allows us to switch to a 352/532 setup effectively even without any substiution. if falcao is not available i might choose mata to go partner with vanPersie. and i won't refuse the possibility that lvg shall give us a surprise by starting wilson.
so here is my line up: deGea, rafael, jones, smalling, rojo, blind, young, herrera, diMaria, falcao, vanPersie
subs: amos, blackett, fellaini, valencia, mata, januzaj, wilson
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