I don't understand his deployment. Tactically, I'm for the most part clueless, let's be clear, this is a post of trying to understand rather than assert knowledge. But from what I understand Mancini wants his playmakers to stay in tight and let the overlapping fullbacks bomb down the wing instead (i.e. Telles), with Melo dropping in as the "bully" to assist the CBs if possession turns over. But that deprives Perisic of exploiting his key skills. From what I witnessed of him at Bremen, he is a good natural winger. Oodles of pace, good crossing, high workrate. But I don't see the point if Mancini bought him to shoehorn him in a system that asks him to play more centrally than at Bremen.
But presumably that isn't it, because I don't believe Mancini would spend 3 months pursuing a player to buy him and then ask him to change his role. What am I not understanding here? What is he up to?