Modric

Except we usually dominate most sides in terms of possession.

Barca can't really play Cesc, Xavi and Iniesta since neither of them play in the DM area. Alonso's more physical and better at tackling than them as well.

I guess it would be Modric, Alonso and Khedira/Essien in terms of Mourinho's 4-3-3. I'm hoping we get a pure DM once Alonso gets sold/benched and play Ozil and Modric as the 2 CM's.

Mourinho seems to be using Modric in a 4-2-3-1 currently. Modric wasn't only bought for a 4-3-3.

Modric played in a 4-2-3-1 at Spurs, alongside Brave Scotty Parker, so it's not a new position for him.

@Yohan
as long as Mou is a coach, I don't think he'll ever going to bench Xabi, Pepe and Ronaldo.

But possession isnt important...You can have high possession and still turn the ball over alot, forced to press alot. Which is what happens in your games.

I would argue Xavi can easily play in the DM area with the ball, so if we are pressing there is no reason why he couldnt do it. The problem is he cant defend well enough...and neither can Alonso, I have never seen it, so thats the only conlusion I can get.

A pure DM? Who? Ozil at CM?....He isnt Iniesta and Modric isnt Xavi...this isnt going to happen.

Kizu wrote:Modric played in a 4-2-3-1 at Spurs, alongside Brave Scotty Brave Scotty Parker, so it's not a new position for him.

@Yohan
as long as Mou is a coach, I don't think he'll ever going to bench Xabi, Pepe and Ronaldo.

But Brave Scotty Parker can defend....Alonso cannot.

Yohan Modric wrote:Except we usually dominate most sides in terms of possession.

You dominate them because you are better than most teams, not because you play possession football. 4-3-3 isn't your strength.

Kizu wrote:
odric played in a 4-2-3-1 at Spurs, alongside Brave Scotty Brave Scotty Parker, so it's not a new position for him.

Spurs have not played a 4-2-3-1 formation in decades. They used 4-4-2 and 4-4-1 with Redknapp mostly

Not true at all imo..Last season in la liga we lost alot of midfield battles due to fact that our midfield was either overrun or under the pressure. However we managed to outscore everyone. Madrid was missing Modric at the time who could bring the ball forward at ease.

The Franchise wrote:But possession isnt important...You can have high possession and still turn the ball over alot, forced to press alot. Which is what happens in your games.

I would argue Xavi can easily play in the DM area with the ball, so if we are pressing there is no reason why he couldnt do it. The problem is he cant defend well enough...and neither can Alonso, I have never seen it, so thats the only conlusion I can get.

A pure DM? Who? Ozil at CM?....He isnt Iniesta and Modric isnt Xavi...this isnt going to happen.

And that's where Modric comes in. He helps us retain the ball and we have a playmaker at CM, instead of a B2B DM.

Top midfields can dominate Khedira and Alonso.

Even though we aren't the best possession side out there, Modric improves us. We're most likely primarily a counter-attacking side, however we usually dominate most teams in terms of possession. We need to make the most of the possession we have.

Alonso is a better defender than Xavi. He's simply more physical, a better tackler and more used to that DM area. I'm sure there's a stat out there about him being our best/2nd best tackler or something. Xavi's a natural box to box playmaker CM, while Alonso's a deep lying playmaker.

I'm not sure about the DM, but we missed out on Javi Martinez. I'm sure sure Ozil is capable of playing CM alongside Modric. He can offer a lot more deeper in a different style.

4-3-3 with modric, alonso, and khedira or essien.

we have used this quite a few times, but now that khedira is hurt and we have been using essien as a LB we have had 0 options in the midfield. we have HAD to use alonso-modric, purely from lack of players.

lets not get caught up in formation though, the key is that he is being used, its not like he has been parked on the bench all season. and additionally he has played well, adjusted to the team and la liga very quickly.

so as far as i am concerned, from what ive seen (and ive watched every match so far) he has exceeded my expectations. (so far)

You outscored everyone exactly because you didn't have possession. Quick counter attacks. More possession means slower attacks, more build up play.

Don't assume you're going to have it all at the same time.

Yohan Modric wrote:

And that's where Modric comes in. He helps us retain the ball and we have a playmaker at CM, instead of a B2B DM.

Top midfields can dominate Khedira and Alonso.

Even though we aren't the best possession side out there, Modric improves us. We're most likely primarily a counter-attacking side, however we usually dominate most teams in terms of possession. We need to make the most of the possession we have.

Alonso is a better defender than Xavi. He's simply more physical, a better tackler and more used to that DM area. I'm sure there's a stat out there about him being our best/2nd best tackler or something. Xavi's a natural box to box playmaker CM, while Alonso's a deep lying playmaker.

I'm not sure about the DM, but we missed out on Javi Martinez. I'm sure sure Ozil is capable of playing CM alongside Modric. He can offer a lot more deeper in a different style.

No...

Top midifields will dominate more if you play Alonso and Modric, because none of them can defend and those top mids will have an easier time passing through you.

Alonso being somewhat better defensiively than Xavi isnt saying much, fact is Alonso isnt good either and therefore he cant play alone. Again, has he ever even played the position alone? The one time he did he got owned.

Also, having the 2nd best defensive stats dont mean anything...he plays there, someone has to get them...you do see the flaw in your arguement right?

Martinez isnt a DM either, so dont know why you named him. He didnt play there for Bilbao so....

Ozil deep aint going to happen...the fact none of this has been done yet says something to me. The rare hints of it that have been used have failed so I have no clue why you want to go further with it.

Anyway, whatever. Pointless discussion I think.

My opinion is you dont need Modric because he doesnt have a natural fitting position in big games and you surely only spend 40m on players who do play those types of games.

What exactly will Khedira do to stop people passing around him?

With Alonso and Modric we have a better chance of succeeding in midfield in terms of possession.

Alonso plays alone in the DM area anyway. Khedira goes B2B, he doesn't play strictly and purely next to Alonso.

If Alonso has the stats, then it shows he's kinda succeeding in the DM area.

I'm sure Martinez started out as a DM and overall is probably a natural DM. That's where he plays for Bayern as well I think. He played CB for Bilbao last season, however I think he's a natural DM.

Ozil deep hasn't happened much because of Alonso and Mourinho. And he's done fine when dropping deep. He can offer a lot more instead of staying high up all the time.

I agree that Alonso isn't a pure DM and he does need some kind of a DM next to him, but since Khedira is played as a B2B CM, I'd rather we played a playmaker CM there instead of defensive B2B CM.

We either lose out defensively by playing Modric, or we lose out attacking wise by playing Khedira.

Yeah, we really lost out attacking wise while playing khedira last season..Oh wait!!

Khedira - Modric - Alonso - Essien

Where is the creativity? Where?

Madrid should have signed Moutinho instead in my opinion. At least he would have fit in the current system while allowing Madrid to have more possession. On top of that he's Portuguese and would have been a better fit.

After reading this thread I can only conclude that I am right. The fanboys will defend the idea but at the end of the season or when he gets sold I will bump this thread and the tears will be salty.

Future Inter legend.

Yohan Modric wrote:
We either lose out defensively by playing Modric, or we lose out attacking wise by playing Khedira.

Considering you have Ozil, Di Maria, Cristiano, Benzema/Higuain and Marcelo...what do you think you need more? Especially against other strong offensive teams?

Those players you mentioned are ineffective against any defensive or offensive teams if RM fails to take over the midfield. Modric can cope with both of the terms, or you can just play 4-3-3.

What games are you ever dominated in midfield? Just one...and those players are still effective in that game.

The Franchise wrote:What games are you ever dominated in midfield? Just one...and those players are still effective in that game.

how about every single Barcelona game?

The Franchise wrote:What games are you ever dominated in midfield? Just one...and those players are still effective in that game.

1/3 of the games in la liga last season for example...This seasons, Dortmund, Sevilla, Getafe etc...

dortmund, bayern last season, barca of course.

its not so much domination but we are vulnerable to quick transitions because we have players who get caught too far forward combined with the fact that xabi isnt very mobile and khedira is rather slow.

having an extra midfielder like modric kinda cleans that up a bit.

eroticfishcake wrote:Future Inter legend.

One can only hope

vanDEEZ wrote:dortmund, bayern last season, barca of course.

its not so much domination but we are vulnerable to quick transitions because we have players who get caught too far forward combined with the fact that xabi isnt very mobile and khedira is rather slow.

having an extra midfielder like modric kinda cleans that up a bit.

So you bought 40m Modric to play in those games, yet he still doesnt (didnt start the Barca game, had to be removed vs Dortmund) because he cant defend....so again, how did it help?

I'm not sure why Mourinho bought Modric. I'm not sure why he didn't start him vs Barca either. Maybe he just preferred Khedira or something.

But the reason why I think we needed Modric was because we needed a playmaker at CM. Someone who's quick on the ball and isn't slow like Alonso and Khedira. Someone who can keep the ball and be a B2B playmaker.

Ever since Mourinho took over, we've needed a CM playmaker. E.g. that game in 2011 vs Barca I think, Mourinho played a 4-3-3 with 3 DM type players. We could have used a CM there.

As long as we score goals like against Ajax last season, to hell with possession.