Recoba as central midfileder?

19/3-2004

It was a surprise for many of those who watched yesterday afternoon's friendly match against Azzate. But it wasn't for Alberto Zaccheroni, Alvaro Recoba and the Nerazzurri technical staff.

In the first half of the 14-1 victory, Il Chino was used in the position of central midfielder, with duties of dictating play and distributing balls.

"It was an idea we had had for some time, both myself and the coach," said Recoba . "This is why I had already tried out this new role during previous training sessions. A test was needed to have a more agonistic assessment and I think the experiment went quite well."

The Uruguayan continued: "At the moment there are a lot of champions at Inter capable of scoring. But no one, and I often repeat this, can win a match on their own. You need to reason as a team and if this experiment helps the team win I will be happy."

But it's clear that playing in midfield requires helping out more in defence and moving with the team more than playing in attack. Recoba is well aware of this and he also knows that the pace of an official match is rather different from that of a midweek friendly.

"But if you don't try you don't improve," admitted Recoba . "You need to have the courage to do it and not be afraid. This is the spirit with which I took on this tactical experiment. With a more technical player in midfield it's possible to increase the amount of ball possession and increase the quality of our attacking play. I think this why we have often spoken with Zaccheroni about this possible change of role, and if Inter win then I'm happy, whatever my position."

[inter.it]