On Monday’s game vs. Deportivo la Coruña,
Enzo Perez was given his 5th yellow card of the season. Not wanting to risk going down to
10 men, Prandelli took him off soon after, replacing him with Alvaro Medran.
Medran has not played many minutes under Prandelli, but he showed what he had: Sharp, incisive passing, lots of youthful
energy, although also a slightly off sense of positioning, both offensively and
defensively. While attacking, sometimes it looked like he didn’t quite know
where to be, wanting to be near the ball and affect play, but also wanting to
create space. Defensively, he would sometimes run a little too hard and become overextended. resulting in him getting bypassed a little too
quickly.
These issues might resolve themselves as he gets more game
time. He certainly displayed a lot of potential last season at Getafe, and it
might be unfair to try and project from the minutes played in Riazor.
In any event, Enzo Perez will not be able to play this
weekend against Celta, so Prandelli has an interesting choice to make
with the starting 11. Up until now, Perez has been an integral part
of Prandelli’s scheme, making up the double pivot in the 4-2-3-1 alongside Mario
Suarez. He has been key in playing the ball out from the back, due to Mario
Suarez’s technical limitations. Perez's absence will need to be accounted for tactincally in Prandelli’s game plan.
Prandelli has a few options of how to set up for the next
match against Celta.
The easiest option would be to simply put Medran in the
double pivot with Suarez and continue the usual 4-2-3-1 with Parejo as the no.
10. On one hand, Medran would be very involved in build up play. Thanks to
his dribbling and passing abilities, he would have no issue filling in for Perez
on the attacking side of things. However, Medran is not very big, and Prandelli might be worried that he won’t bring the physicality needed for defending. Also, as mentioned before, Medran lacks good defensive positioning, which will
not do against a team as fluid as Celta. Discipline will be required, and while Medran could be capable of this, it might be unwise to
take that chance.
Another choice without changing the 4-2-3-1 layout would be
to pull Parejo back into the double pivot and have Medran play as the no. 10.
Parejo has played in a double pivot before, and he would be a more dependable
player in both phases of play. Medran would have the freedom in attack to
create, and his running could be used to press while defending. However, he's
unfamiliar with the role as a pure 10, so Medran might be a little inconsistent
as he gets used to the position.
Should Prandelli want to change formations, he could switch
to a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Medran and Parejo side by side and Suarez behind
them. This way, all three players would be in their preferred positions.
However, this might be a departure from what Prandelli has been working on in
practice, so he might decide against it so as to not stop the momentum he’s built
in instituting his ideas.
The last viable option would be to switch to a 4-4-2, with
Parejo in the double pivot and to start Santi Mina or Munir up top alongside
Rodrigo, and to keep Medran on the bench. In terms of defensive structure, this
would be much more closer to the 4-2-3-1, but it could result in Valencia
being a little flat in attack, as they’d be lacking the extra player to help
move the ball from the back to the front.
Prandelli definitely has a tough choice ahead of him, and it
will be very interesting to see his decisions come Sunday.
Which setup do you think Prandelli should choose? Let us
know in the comment section below.
