Quote:
Originally Posted by whomario
Some disagreements here, hope you donīt mind 
Oscar was on the right wing basically all game, Neymar in the middle but sometimes drifting out. Was a conscious decision by Scolari to switch that up. Problem was that Alves had a craptastic game on both ends and kept on missing the holes on offense that Oscar kept creating, who in my eyes had a really good game.
Imo it is a good decicion, because that way you have Neymar where he can do the most roaming without hurting the stability of the formation and also can be most easily hidden defensively (especially with Fred dropping back considereably at times). And i thought Neymar had a really good game, even aside from the goal. Not everything worked (a few too many easy mistakes trying to deliver passes or running at the defense), but he definitely stepped up and made himself available to his teammates and didnīt shy away from putting in the work.
I personally think that Hulk is the weak link in that arrangement, he seems kind of out of place on the left wing (as opposed to the right, where he played a lot previously)
I did not see Gustavo/Paulinho getting run all over, at all. The croatian midfield had a strong game, but mostly on defense imo. On offense their main weapon was getting the ball to the left early and often (again, Alves was unbelievably bad) to Olic and then try to cross it.
Paulinho was definitely not all that good, but imo Gustavo had a flawless game in the role he has to play. I would swap Paulinho for Ramires personally. |
Fair enough - I fast-forwarded thru the lineups so I didn't realize the Oscar/Neymar switch was deliberate and not a result of Neymar drifting inside and Oscar covering for him. Makes sense now that you mention that. Not sure I like it (for reasons I'll go into below), but where I saw them makes more sense. And I thought Oscar played alright, but again (back to my earlier point) the team lacked width in general. Too much "get the ball to Neymar" and not "overlapping down the wings with your WBs and AMs".
Agree on Dani Alves. Thought he offered nothing. Marcelo got forward into good positions a couple times, but again his final balls were lacking.
I thought Neymar played fine. I just think the offense looked incredibly one-dimensional/reliant on him, and I'm not sure I like him in the middle as much as you do. It makes him easier to mark out without sacrificing defensive shape with MC's dropping back and a DC stepping up, where if he's playing on the wing or even as a forward then he can drag the opponents more out of position and open spaces for the WBs and other midfielders.
I can't say I noticed Paulinho/Gustavo much at all. Now part of that is "that's their role" in a sense. I did notice a couple Paulinho gaffes and have no issue with swapping him out, but IMO given the other guys you have on the bench I don't think Gustavo did anything to lock-down his starting spot.