Time to move up?

Italy have practically qualified for the World Cup following their more than fortunate win away to Georgia (thanks to our very own Kaladze) and their impressive win against Bulgaria. In the first match the Azzurri were poor lacking any creativity whatsoever. That was until Lippi pushed Pirlo up into the trequartista role. With Pirlo playing in this more advanced position Italy looked dangerous again.

Then in the next game against Bulgaria, Lippi deployed Pirlo in that same position but this time from the very start of the match. This move by Lippi resulted in Italy completely dominating the match, creating numerous goalscoring opportunities and effectively wrapping up the game before half time following Iaquinta’s strike and Grosso’s Pirlo assisted goal.

In truth, I have not seen Pirlo play so well in a long time. We, the fans, are all too aware of Pirlo’s declining form over the last season or so. It seems that Lippi may have just uncovered the secret to getting the best out of Pirlo again. That is to play him in his more natural position, the position that he played when helping Italy’s under 21 side conquer Europe in 2000.

With the current problems in the Milan side, all available options should be considered by Leo in order to get the team back on track. Like Cafu said earlier in the week, Milan will not succeed this season by relying on Ronaldinho. Dinho’s career looks over. The Brazilian is finding it difficult to regain his form and I am sceptical as to whether he will find it at all again. Therefore I believe it may be a valid option to play Pirlo as our as more advanced playmaker.

There is much sense in making Pirlo our new trequartista. It is Pirlo’s natural position. Ancelotti was the coach that invented his position as a deep-lying playmaker and in this role Pirlo excelled much to the benefiit of Milan and Italy. Up until this move by Ancelotti though, Pirlo always played as a trequartista.

It is clear that Pirlo seems to be struggling in the middle of the pitch now and I attribute two reasons for this. Firstly, Pirlo has never been a physically strong player. Now at the age of 30, having past his physical prime I believe that Pirlo will continue to struggle phyiscially in the middle of the park. Secondly, never has Pirlo been a great tackler and for years it was Gattuso who covered for Pirlo, doing to work of two players in midfield. However time is also catching up with Gattuso now and for this both Pirlo and Milan are suffering.

Pirlo’s natural ability is to create play, to be the playmaker. As the match against Bulgaria showed, when Pirlo is left with only the responsibility to create play he can excel. With Dinho struggling for form, Leo should consider taking the hint from Lippi.