I think i've solved the di maria puzzle
Di maria is struggling because of Van gaal's current system, it's too disciplined for him
Looking back at the start of the season, the team played more free flowing football...
This coincided with di maria's blistering start...
After the leicester disaster, van gaal's obsession with balance grew more and he made the side alot more disciplined with our attacking play
Notice that leicester game was the last game that di maria really shined?
That's why...As the team's style got more and more disciplined, di maria became more and more mediocre...
People say its position but it really isn't...di maria is versatile enough to play anywhere in midfield
Looking at his last season at real madrid, they played some free flowing football and that's where di maria excelled...
Real madrid under mourinho were more disciplined and di maria, under mou, was very inconsistent...kinda like now...
At a point, he was benched for callejon(sorry if i didn't get his name right)...kinda like ashely young benching him..
Di maria will need to adjust his game to thrive under this new system...
I hope you agree with this analysis...it just hit me...
I think after the Leicester game LVG just realised that we wasnt good enough to play openly. We was scoring goals going forward but couldnt keep them out. We had a defence that had just lost 3 key senior players in Rio, Vidic and Evra. Over night Evans went from squad man to most senior defender.
LVG realised that he had to make us hard to break down as a TEAM. Attack and defend as a team. Players sticking to positions, to cover as much ground as possible. Imagine a circle around each player say 10-15 yards in diameter with the player in the middle. That is each players area to protect. If one player moves, so does his circle of space, so the nearest team mate also has to move in order to not leave any "free" space between their respective circles. If all the team does this all over the pitch, there is very little room that the opposition can work with or exploit because there will always be a player within 5 yards or so of a ball being played. A lot like zonal marking, but the emphasis is on managing the space rather than marking a man in your "zone". If you notice, we dont really tackle, its more interceptions by each player managing their own space. When an opposition player plays a ball, its should in theory be no more than 5 yards away from a choice of 2 players. All it takes is just one of those players to read that pass and we have the ball. Carrick and Blind are excellent at this.
It took a while but slowly its starting to click. Teams cant break us down. But what he has got into the players is its just as effective attacking in the same way.
All the players move as a unit up the pitch, all still keeping this circle of space around them, and shifting as the ball does. When a player has the ball, if his team mates all follow and stick the the 10 yard circle theory, the player "should" have at least 2 options for a pass to a player no more than 10 yards away within his peripheral vision. Thats the 5 yards radius of the player to the edge of his circle of space and then the 5 yards from the team mates edge of circle to the player himself. So we are attacking up the pitch in triangle passes.
Opposition teams just follow the ball, and as our passing stretches the team, we will eventually create space for the more advanced players to exploit.
As far as Di Maria goes, he just cant get his head around staying in position. But a position isnt just a dot on the pitch or an area to cover. A position in LVG's team is in relation to the ball and how all your team mates have positioned themselves. If our player has the ball in the left back area of the pitch, he should have a CB about 10 yards directly to his right, a CM/DM 10/15 yards infront towards the centre of the pitch, and then the left winger (Di Maria) about 10/15 yards directly infront. This creates 2 triangles for a pass. The LB-CB-CM and the LB-CM-LW. So just Di Maria being out of position ***** up 2 triangles for passes. If the LB plays to the CM, the CM can only give it straight back or play it to the CB, unless he turns on the ball but then could be closed down and lose possession.
I dont think Di Maria can get this into his head. In the Arsenal game (FA Cup), first half Di Maria just stood near the half way line with his back to Arsenal's net. When the ball came into him he just gave it straight back where it came from. When he tried to turn with it to go forward, he was closed down because he was too slow and was either tackled or tried to play the first forward pass he seen and gave possession away.
Di Maria needs to have the ball at his feet and have time to get his head up, have a look and then run with the ball. But by doing that he's either running away from team mates, that are sticking to the plan and what LVG is trying to do, and then either having nobody to pass to nearby so has to play a longer pass or gets tackled. If we keep playing this system now, I cant see Di Maria ever getting it into his head and fitting in.
I dont see any reason why LVG would change this system seeing as its working. He's kind of stumbled on the perfect way to play by accident for us. He's gone from just trying to make us a solid unit and hard to break down to finding a complete way of playing football that works going both ways.
I would have said this summer LVG would have concentrated on getting in a quality defence that he can trust to be left to do their job, and then go back to playing a more fluid system allowing Di Maria license to roam with Rooney. Now it looks like if we ever do play like that again, it will be a back-up system, and we dont need a £60m "back-up" option. And if he gets Depay I cant see a future for Di Maria.
