The Closest British team to Barcelona

^ Kyle Runner is a sprinter mate, not a footballer.

He can't dribble in 1 vs 1s....and that's why he isn't like Alves.

Deny Walker space and he'll be useless. can't recall him dribbling past a fullback in a 1 vs. 1 situation or a tight angle.

Horrible player.

Love the Colo = Puyol part though

rwo power wrote:Hm. With a 4-1-2-3 I have my doubts for a German version. Fortunately the players are pretty versatile... Actually I wonder what would happen if Löw would try that one day

Neuer(Valdes)

Höwedes(Alves) - Hummels(Pique) - Badstuber(Puyol) - Lahm(Alba)

Khedira(Busquets)

Schweinsteiger(Xavi) - Kroos(Iniesta)

Götze(Pedro) - Reus(Villa) - Özil(Messi)

Drop Badstuber and everything will work fine

How about trying Goetze at CM in the Iniesta role . imo in terms of style he is very very similar to Iniesta..Oezil lacks stamina to play there but how about Goetze though tbh I havent really seen much of Goetze(barely played last season) so i dont know if he can play a deeper role,just gave it a thought in the end,thats about it.

Naw. Badstuber stays where he is

About Götze as Iniesta - I thought about it as I'm not happy with Kroos there anyway. Then one might put Schürrle in the Pedro position, and could drop Kroos altogether.

EPL team

Swansea City

The closest the Premier League has to Busquets is, by far, Carrick. He organises the midfield well, distributes the ball effectively and efficiently, maintains a strong position so he doesn't have to run like a headless chicken, and is intelligent all-round. What a season he just had, and what a game he had against Italy, alongside Lampard. My midfield trio would consist of Carrick, Allen, and Nasri (Premier League).

Anita is the closest thing to Busquets in the premier league

Also Colo despite his looks plays more like Pique than Puyol.

Taylor is our Puyol

Also Cabaye is nothing like Xavi, infact Anita is more like Xavi than Cabaye is

So who would be France's Xavi Mole ?

Surag wrote:So who would be France's Xavi Mole ?

I'm serious when i say this but i genuinely believe that M'vila would make a better Xavi than Cabaye would he just simply isn't that type of a player.

Even Pogba lol, it was said in the Euros that France have no one like Xavi and it's true.

Pogba is basically Busquets 2.0 except with a much superior technique.

I dont know maybe i havent watched him enough but in the few Newcastle games i watched last season Cabaye was pulling the strings in midfield for you.

ALves(Alves)-Thiago(Puyol)-Luiz(Pique)-Marcelo(Alba)

------------------- Lucas(Busquets)--------------

------Ganso(Xavi)----------Oscar(Iniesta)---------

Hulk(Villa)--------Nerman(Messi)------Lucas(Sanchez)

#saveourNTpep

Maybe the tactics last season of deploying Cabaye so deep has confused me into what he actually is.

But he seems a b2b mid with extremely good technique, hopefully the defensive shackles are released this season so i can figure it out one way or the other.

But i wouldn't see him as a DLP currently if i'm honest.

mtfootball wrote:Ganso is Xavi?

No,Ganso is better than vagi

I've yet to see Pogba play Surag, however surely you exaggerate when you claim that he has far superior technique to Busquets?

It's an interesting idea, if I were to apply the idea to Italy and Germany as have been done with others in these threads I'd probably produce these line-ups.

Azzurilona

Buffon (Valdes)
Maggio (Alves) - Barzagli (Pique) - Chiellini (Puyol) - Criscito (Alba)
Pirlo (Xavi) - De Rossi (Busquets) - Montolivo (Iniesta)
Borini (Pedro) - Giovinco (Messi) - Destro (Villa)

Santon might easily be introduced on either side, though I'd be more inclined to adjust Maggio's position even though Santon is used primarily on the left for Newcastle. Criscito may not be quite like Alba, however he's a player who is in his element on the ball and linking up with short quick passes and the best fit for such an idea out of all of the Italian players.

In midfield, I believe it's important to capture the essence of Barcelona's play as a unit, rather than focussing on the individual similarities between players. The manner in which the players cover each other's weaknesses, compliment possession, the pressing phases and their ability to get forward and support the forwards means more to me than whether a player is similar in nature precisely to Xavi or Iniesta. I haven't seen enough of Verratti live yet to slot him into the team, however should Pirlo need replacement his name instantly comes to mind. I also appreciate the inclusion of Poli by Surag.

Insigne, should he explode, will hopefully take hold of the 'Messi' role, whilst I originally included Rossi for Pedro but excluded him on the basis of injury to see what we could summon right now.

Deutschelona

Neuer (Valdes)
Lahm (Alves) - Hummels (Pique) - Hoewedes (Puyol) - (Alba)
Schweinsteiger---MIDFIELD---Kroos
Schürrle (Pedro) - Oezil (Messi) - Reus (Villa)

For the German midfield, I can't decide whether to use Schweinsteiger as a 'Xavi' or 'Busquets' figure. I don't believe Khedira is a suitable fit at all for such a unit, though I believe Piggy would do an admirable job in many roles in the midfield. I'm tossing up throwing in perhaps Rolfes to play a disciplined role as opposed to Khedira, or keeping Schweinsteiger back and introducing perhaps Holtby into the midfield?

He has fantastic technique though Dost(Yeah i kinda admit i'm overrating him a bit the last few days).You dint watch the recent friendly between Juve and Milan ? He had a fantastic game.personally my MOM.

Also Dost if there's one Centre Back who shares similarities to Pique in just about all aspects it has to be Bonucci.Even they share similar weaknesses as well(prone to concentration lapses etc).

I agree with you though ,collective influence of midfield is much more important while trying to copy Barca's style although i tried to make it as similar as possible in terms of individual styles as well.

I was too tired to get up for the friendly, especially when I saw that no youngsters were going to be given a run out. I'll be interested to see how he competes for game time when the real season begins.

I dropped Bonucci for someone more conservative in possession, though his willingness to charge up into midfield with the ball does remind one of Pique, I feel my partnership is still capable at moving the ball out and playing out from the back. Given that Bonucci has been on a steady upward curve since about February however I'd be happy to have him in the line-up, particularly as he matures.

dostoevsky wrote:Deutschelona

Neuer (Valdes)
Lahm (Alves) - Hummels (Pique) - Hoewedes (Puyol) - (Alba)
Schweinsteiger---MIDFIELD---Kroos
Schürrle (Pedro) - Oezil (Messi) - Reus (Villa)

For the German midfield, I can't decide whether to use Schweinsteiger as a 'Xavi' or 'Busquets' figure. I don't believe Khedira is a suitable fit at all for such a unit, though I believe Piggy would do an admirable job in many roles in the midfield. I'm tossing up throwing in perhaps Rolfes to play a disciplined role as opposed to Khedira, or keeping Schweinsteiger back and introducing perhaps Holtby into the midfield?

If you want to play keep ball, you can't go past Badstuber as CB. That guy has an immense passing accuracy. About the Xavi position - when fit then Schweinsteiger would be the best choice there IMO. About the Busquets role... Hm. Dunno if Holtby would fit in there. He is better used a bit more forward IMO, then making it more a 4-2-3-1

there's Hummels in the lineup no need for 2 ball playing CB's Hoewedes is good enough on the ball anyway plus he's a better defender

Schweinsteiger as Busquets

Kroos or Gundogan as Xavi

Goetze or maybe Oezil as Iniesta.

IMO

-----------------------------------Hart(Valdes)----------------------------------------

Johnson(Alves)------------Terry(Puyol)------------Jagielka(Pique)---------------Gibbs(Alba)-----

------------------------------------Carrick(Busquets)----------------------------------------

-------------------Wilshere(Xavi)----------------------Oxlade(Iniesta)-------------------------

Walcott(Pedro)---------------------------Rooney(Messi)-----------------------------Young(Sanchez)

Holtby was an idea should Schweinsteiger be deployed in Busquets' holding role for lack of a better option, though ideally I'd have him running the show with Kroos.

I know that Badstuber has a more impressive passing percentage than Hummels, however considering the different tactical instructions they are under I still believe that Hummels is worthy of a place in the line-up, particularly with consideration to the height of the defensive line.

dostoevsky wrote:Holtby was an idea should Schweinsteiger be deployed in Busquets' holding role for lack of a better option, though ideally I'd have him running the show with Kroos.

I know that Badstuber has a more impressive passing percentage than Hummels, however considering the different tactical instructions they are under I still believe that Hummels is worthy of a place in the line-up, particularly with consideration to the height of the defensive line.

Well, one can always play both Hummels and Badstuber as CBs. The problem with Germany is usually the lack of a Lahm clone, or everything would be perfect.

Ganso wrote:
ALves(Alves)-Thiago(Puyol)-Luiz(Pique)-Marcelo(Alba)

------------------- Lucas(Busquets)--------------

------Ganso(Xavi)----------Oscar(Iniesta)---------

Hulk(Villa)--------Nerman(Messi)------Lucas(Sanchez)

#saveourNTpep

It's nice to dream...

Who is the guardiola of British footy then? Also ox reminds me of sanchez.