Falcao

[The Great Mass Debater]

http://www.teamtalk.com/news/2483/9935559/John-Terry-says-unbelievable-Radamel-Falcao-will-be-Chelsea-star

Generally dismissed as a flop following his time with Man Utd. It will be really interesting to se what he does at Chelsea this year. If he does well, wonder how that will reflect of Van Gaal, considering Di Maria has also underperformed and they've yet to see the best of Mata

 

[Indy_Bones]

He's certainly a better fit for the Chelsea team than the likes of Remy is (or Torres was),but it remains to be seen if he's ever truly recovered from his injury and can regain his previous form and lethality.

Chances are that he'll be playing second fiddle to Costa for much of the season unless he manages to massively impress Jose both in training and in the games where he's selected.

As for reflecting on LVG, Falcao never really suited the way LVG wanted Man Utd to play, which is why I think we'll see a lot more from Rooney in a striker role this season, with Depay playing behind him as an additonal threat.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

He's certainly a better fit for the Chelsea team than the likes of Remy is (or Torres was),but it remains to be seen if he's ever truly recovered from his injury and can regain his previous form and lethality.

Chances are that he'll be playing second fiddle to Costa for much of the season unless he manages to massively impress Jose both in training and in the games where he's selected.

As for reflecting on LVG, Falcao never really suited the way LVG wanted Man Utd to play, which is why I think we'll see a lot more from Rooney in a striker role this season, with Depay playing behind him as an additonal threat.

Why do managers bring in players that dont fit their systems? (or why do clubs employ recruitment teams that target players that dont fit the way managers want to play? - Thinking Robbie Keane at Liverpool - though I still maintain if Rafa had played him they'd have crawled over the line that year)

 

[Indy_Bones]

In some cases I think a manager may think that the player in question is good enough to adapt to the system being used, in some cases they simply want a different option but then rarely setup in a manner which will suit this, and in some cases I also think the bigger sides sign players just to stop a rival having them.

One other point to consider is that there isn't a limitless supply of 6ft plus, strong, skillful, target men to fit the current x-x-1 formations that are favoured at this time, therefore many clubs are often forced to sign players that are sub-optimal to how they want to play just to remain somewhat competitive.

 

[The Great Mass Debater]

The age old dilemma - arbitrarily pick a system then try to shoe-horn your players into it (maybe even with your fingers in your ears singing la la la la la) or pick a system that suits your players (moving Wes to the tip of the diamond springs to mind).

Revolutionary thinking might be to pick a system then acquire players that will suit it (or, as you state, if those players are too hard to acquire - pick a different system!)

 

[Indy_Bones]

Generally speaking, the best managers choose the system they want to play and then sign the players needed to acheive this.

It's often when it's instead based on signing players and hoping to shoehorn them into a system that doesn't really suit, that the problems start.

A good example of the first option has been Jose's return to Chelsea, he didn't have the players he wanted to correctly fit the system he intended to play, so out went the likes of Luiz, Ba, Torres and Mata, and instead in came Matic, Willian, Fabregas, Costa and Drogba (again). In fact, the main issues Jose has had at Chelsea have been when Abramovich started interefering and signed players that Jose didn't want and had no intention of playing (e.g. Cuadrado).

If you look at pretty much ALL the top sides in the game, they play to a set system and acquire players that will more than likely fit well within that existing framework (be this Barca, Bayern, Chelsea, Arsenal or whoever),and it's generally the less succesful teams that instead focus too much on the quality of player rather than how well they will work with the existing squad and intended style of play.