Massive interview with Flo on AS

Bale and Ronaldo both cant cross when playing inverted wingers imo. Ronaldo isnt even a great crosser in any situation so it comes down to this question what will Ronaldo and Bale do when they get the ball?

1.Cut inside and shoot.

2.Pass it to striker and make run behind the CBs

3.Pass the ball to wing backs and crash the box for header..

Bale played everywhere this year at Spurs and even quite a bit on the right... he also crossed from there and pretty well.

The idea is not that you want to cross it in the air... you just need players that push the sideline and the corner flag. They can pass it to the pk spot of even to the top of the box. Heck, you can even push it back to the midfield.

They key is that your attack is a threat from everywhere and the defense has to respect that. It opens up the middle automatically.

Ribery doesn't cross most often... he cuts back. Same with Robben. Same will Mueller. At Juve, Asamoah and Lichsteiner often look for the midfield trailer and not the forwards when they attack wide. etc.

Also keep this in mind... Bale is excellent in the air. So CR7 will have someone to cross it too and so will Bale. If the fullbacks attack more, it allows both CR7 and Bale to go into the box.

The idea is the shape of the attack and you want that shape to be as wide as possible so the defense has to aggressively cover the whole pitch.

I remember how everyone was saying that Ronaldo will flop. Can't wait for next season.

the comparison to Ribery and Robben is a good. For one, those two are so far ahead technically that it's not even funny. they can play the game at different speed and dont need to be running at full speed to take on players. also, both are very capable passer of the ball and they play nice through balls whenever they cut in. another point, they link up extremely well, which i havent seen from Bale yet. they can also bring the others into play, specially Ribery. He is not a bad player of course that Bale, he is very good actually, i just cant understand the money we are willing to pay for him. just sends a poor message about who we are but then again, Perez seems convinced that signing the best players make you win. how has that worked for him in 8 years?

if carco is coach, this is what i expect
-----------------benzema
------Ronaldo
Ozil------------------------Bale
---------CM-------CM-----------

a bit like Ibra anchors the attack and Lavezzi has a free role behind him to run at players and go into space. Ozil playing the pastore role as vs Barca and Bale like Lucas running up his flank to bring up the ball.

Bale, the few times I've seen him collect on the right (never actually seen him play the majority of the game there, the closest he came to that was probably in the 2nd half against Chelsea) cuts in sharply.

The thing about Ribery and Robben, they do what you say - they take on guys go inside/outside.....because they have options if they go that way. Ribery moreso, but even Robben as though he's one footed, he can take on his guy if he runs into a corner.

Bale to me, doesn't do that. He sticks to space and his left foot. Even if a defender over commits on the inside and a running lane opens up to the right of him - he doesn't take that option because it would mean doing something with his right foot. We've seen this problem played out with Di Maria quite a bit.

The difference is - Bale can score - and find a way to be productive. So yea, someone will have to cover him. But when that cover is central and not wide, and Ronaldo's cover is central and not wide, we're just making it very easy for teams to stay compact and augment their effectiveness.

@Nick - I don't like it for Ozil - I think playing on the left would cutoff his vision and give him less options when running. Once again, in this context I prefer Ozil - just from a skill standpoint has the range of qualities needed to utilize the space on the right and take advantage of all the opportunities it affords.

just telling you how PSG played their best and most tactically rigorous game this season vs barca. that formation, save you from CR outwide at the expense of Ozil, but Ozil himself is another liability on the flank and he will play at half his abilities +inconsistencies lol

Problem i have with the whole thing is defensively. Bale or CR7 is going to need to be an animal on defense if one of them is going to no exist there. Ozil also needs to play defense.

If we also decide to play Modric as a CM, we're dead defensively lol.

i think Bale will do his job in defense more willingly, he isnt a spoiled brat like CR

can you imagine wingers that play no defense, a AM that plays no defense, a CM that plays little defense... and then Marcelo and Carvajal as the fullbacks? If I'm the CBs and the DM, i ask for a raise

Flo is running for office... he's well versed in plausible deniability. Except that there's nothing plausible about him saying that we haven't made an offer for Neymar in over a year lol.

Everyone lies in footy. It's a fact.

I believe him with Neymar. He said we negotiated and made an offers - but it was difficult and would have been too expensive. Basically said we dodged a bullet

He definitely made a trackback on Isco to save face though.

hala falling victim to perez asenine crap on radio

So he confirmed that we are after the players that haven't rejected us

Mr Nick09 wrote:i think Bale will do his job in defense more willingly, he isnt a spoiled brat like CR

I wish the rest of our squad were spoiled brats like CR...

Ronaldo has an exceptional talent at scoring goals and curling his hair tho, that's why he gets away with being a diva and not consistently defend. I dont think Callejon can afford not to defend for example.

One thing I noticed in the forums is we more often than not move away from the main point of discussion(going by Topic heading).

Best thing to do is for the Admin/Moderator to direct the users to related forums and close repetitive discussions/threads. Perhaps it is difficult to Moderate off topic discussions.

you cant shackle us, pls go

We are like wild horses or a leaf on the wind. We should cherish our free spirits

Bale's agent is pimping him hard though. Bale himself doesn't have to say anything atm.

Bale is not going to say anything, he is not going to act like Modric and asked to be sold. that's not happening, so unless Perez agrees with Levy, Bale will make 0 pressure for a move.

If we get Bale, then playing a 4-3-3 may be a better idea compared a to a 4-2-3-1. Bale and Ronaldo would just be inside forwards/goalscorers, while Ozil, Modric/Gundogan and the DM can run the midfield.

With Bale and Ronaldo in a 4-2-3-1, we'll be playing counter-attacking football again.

Anyway it looks like Perez is just getting Bale just because it'll help him with the elections and because Bale is the latest 'popular, hot etc' player. We haven't even got a manager yet. Perez should at least wait until he appoints a manager and then discuss transfers with him.

Although Perez may have already discussed with Ancelotti I think.

Ozil is not a CM when are you ever going to learn that