NEW OFFICIAL: PSG sign Di Maria

B-Mac wrote:sports trying to underrate di maria now that PSG didn't make a farce out of FFP looool

The Franchise wrote:Why you say that?

I think it can work pretty well, but as a counter attacking team, not a pro-active one like Van Gaal would want.

Defences these days are so used to having a spare man at the back, playing 2 strikers and a 10 would throw them for a loop. You would have to forget about pressing and sit back, allow the opponents fullbacks time on the ball and try and exploit the space they leave.

Di Maria wrote:An open Letter from Angel di María to all the Real Madrid fans,

My time at Real Madrid has come to an end. It's impossible, in just a few lines, to put all I have gained here, but this letter is my way of explaining how I'm feeling now that I'm bidding the club farewell. Over the four years I have had the honour of wearing this shirt, I have felt nothing but pride about everything that has happened and all I have achieved together with my teammates.

Sadly, now I have to go, but I want to make it clear that this was never my wish. I've always wanted to progress, as anyone else does in their job. I went to the World Cup after winning the 'Decima' with the hope of getting some signal from the Club Management, but it never came. Many things were said and many lies circulated. They always wanted to pin the idea of leaving the club on me, but that's not how it was. Unfortunately, my football isn't to someone's taste. The only thing I asked for was a fair deal. There are many things that I value and a lot of them have nothing to do with my salary. I hope to find them at Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world, with which I'm hoping to make history.

I've been lucky enough to share a dressing room with some fantastic players, who have been even better teammates. I think that was the key to winning the Tenth Champions League. I want to apologise for the times I made mistakes, on or off the field. It was never my intention to do wrong by anyone. I sweated for this shirt every game as if it were the last. There were times when things went well, and times when they didn't, but what I can say is that I always gave it everything.

I want to thank Spain for everything it's given me and especially for being the country where my daughter was born. And I would like to send a very special thank you to the people at the Montepríncipe hospital, who will always be in my heart. My wife, daughter and I will be forever grateful. Also to my teammates, who always supported me, in good times and bad, to the various coaching teams I've worked with and also to all the people who work at the club on a daily basis, who I have a great relationship with.

I hope that Real Madrid have a great season and achieve the ambitions the club is always keen to push for. That moment at the Bernabéu in the 'Supercopa' when I came onto the pitch and was greeted with such great affection from the crowd will stay with me forever. Thank you so much. It still gives me goosebumps. I could not think of a better farewell for what turned out to, unfortunately, be my last game.

Hala Madrid! Always and forever!
Angel Di Maria

sportsczy wrote:

B-Mac wrote:sports trying to underrate di maria now that PSG didn't make a farce out of FFP looool

PSG were never willing to pay more than 60 mil (maybe 65) and FFP had nothing to do with it.  Man U got him because they offered 83.  Di Maria got scared that Madrid might keep him and he caved into his PSG demand. It's that simple tbh.

And yes, it's absolutely right to question his transfer fee  Other than Madrid and Barca being stupid, this is the most expensive transfer in history... now think about that for a second

Mr Nick09 wrote:i lol @you BC for just believing everything he is saying.

Yohan Modric wrote:4-3-1-2's similar to van Gaal's 5-2-1-2 imo, it's just an extra midfielder instead of a defender.

Tomwin Lannister wrote:I don't think United fans would accept that style at all tbh


The way I see it, is they'd end up trying to take the game to opponents as is their way, and get absolutely destroyed on the counter.

Not to mention a hell of a lot of their opponents have some serious pace on the flanks and as is the case with Juve, no matter how shit your opponents are they have plenty of opportunities to create a 2v1 against the lonely full back/wing back and go from there


As a plan B, or even the odd game in Europe it could be viable. But I don't see that 4-3-1-2 with this manager doing much for them. Maybe an improvement on this 3-5-2 abomination they're operating but really LVG will probably want to go to 4-3-3, which is what he apparantly wanted for the National team.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Why you say that?

I think it can work pretty well, but as a counter attacking team, not a pro-active one like Van Gaal would want.

Defences these days are so used to having a spare man at the back, playing 2 strikers and a 10 would throw them for a loop. You would have to forget about pressing and sit back, allow the opponents fullbacks time on the ball and try and exploit the space they leave.

Because width is more important than ever and in a 4-3-1-2 that is simply too narrow to exist in. It also means to CFs who usually do less tracking back than is normally required by today's standards. And while it's true that defenses are now used to having a spare man at the back the 3 man defenses are making a comeback so perhaps it wouldn't give them that much of an edge.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

Mr Nick09 wrote:i lol @you BC for just believing everything he is saying.

Yes because Marca and As are more reliable than the player himself?

The Franchise wrote:Football is football BC, width is as important now as it ever was. If your playing on the break, you dont need traditional width because stretching the defence laterally isnt crucial.

Yeah, the wrong players would struggle with the tracking back. But we talking system rather than individual players. Different players change the capabilities of all systems.

As for 3 man defence, there arent that many and I think if you force some teams into playing it to match up with you then your the one with an advantage straight away.  The rare teams who do play with 3 at the back sure would take some of the edge away, but thats where the chess game comes in and if your have flexible players, change formation on a fly.

Mr Nick09 wrote:actually you cant trust any of them. it's just naive to me to assume that money wasnt a big issue for him. He can say whatever he wants, but this is a guy who has been asking for a raise every year he has been in madrid. I dont fault him for that anyway

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Football is football BC, width is as important now as it ever was. If your playing on the break, you dont need traditional width because stretching the defence laterally isnt crucial.

Yeah, the wrong players would struggle with the tracking back. But we talking system rather than individual players. Different players change the capabilities of all systems.

As for 3 man defence, there arent that many and I think if you force some teams into playing it to match up with you then your the one with an advantage straight away.  The rare teams who do play with 3 at the back sure would take some of the edge away, but thats where the chess game comes in and if your have flexible players, change formation on a fly.

I think the width thing is more of an issue when defending rather than to stretch the opponents defense. For example Argentina went into the WC playing counter attacking football with a formation similar to the 4312 but as the competition progressed our FBs (predominantly Zabaleta) were getting exposed because of a lack of support and Sabella was forced to change into a 4411. Most teams nowadays play with a winger/inner forward and a FB that pushes forward. If you play with a 4312 in which the top two are RVP and Rooney I think the FBs would suffer a similar fate as Zaba did in the group stages.

The Franchise wrote:

Tomwin Lannister wrote:I don't think United fans would accept that style at all tbh


The way I see it, is they'd end up trying to take the game to opponents as is their way, and get absolutely destroyed on the counter.

Not to mention a hell of a lot of their opponents have some serious pace on the flanks and as is the case with Juve, no matter how shit your opponents are they have plenty of opportunities to create a 2v1 against the lonely full back/wing back and go from there


As a plan B, or even the odd game in Europe it could be viable. But I don't see that 4-3-1-2 with this manager doing much for them. Maybe an improvement on this 3-5-2 abomination they're operating but really LVG will probably want to go to 4-3-3, which is what he apparantly wanted for the National team.

I agree totally. I just dont agree that 4312 is outdated.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

Anyways, Di Maria's letter to Madridistas:

Di Maria wrote:An open Letter from Angel di María to all the Real Madrid fans,

My time at Real Madrid has come to an end. It's impossible, in just a few lines, to put all I have gained here, but this letter is my way of explaining how I'm feeling now that I'm bidding the club farewell. Over the four years I have had the honour of wearing this shirt, I have felt nothing but pride about everything that has happened and all I have achieved together with my teammates.

Sadly, now I have to go, but I want to make it clear that this was never my wish. I've always wanted to progress, as anyone else does in their job. I went to the World Cup after winning the 'Decima' with the hope of getting some signal from the Club Management, but it never came. Many things were said and many lies circulated. They always wanted to pin the idea of leaving the club on me, but that's not how it was. Unfortunately, my football isn't to someone's taste. The only thing I asked for was a fair deal. There are many things that I value and a lot of them have nothing to do with my salary. I hope to find them at Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world, with which I'm hoping to make history.

I've been lucky enough to share a dressing room with some fantastic players, who have been even better teammates. I think that was the key to winning the Tenth Champions League. I want to apologise for the times I made mistakes, on or off the field. It was never my intention to do wrong by anyone. I sweated for this shirt every game as if it were the last. There were times when things went well, and times when they didn't, but what I can say is that I always gave it everything.

I want to thank Spain for everything it's given me and especially for being the country where my daughter was born. And I would like to send a very special thank you to the people at the Montepríncipe hospital, who will always be in my heart. My wife, daughter and I will be forever grateful. Also to my teammates, who always supported me, in good times and bad, to the various coaching teams I've worked with and also to all the people who work at the club on a daily basis, who I have a great relationship with.

I hope that Real Madrid have a great season and achieve the ambitions the club is always keen to push for. That moment at the Bernabéu in the 'Supercopa' when I came onto the pitch and was greeted with such great affection from the crowd will stay with me forever. Thank you so much. It still gives me goosebumps. I could not think of a better farewell for what turned out to, unfortunately, be my last game.

Hala Madrid! Always and forever!
Angel Di Maria

Wonder who he could be talking about

Also loool to all those that said he demanded an 8m salary and would accept nothing lower, clearly the issue is not just money

Casciavit wrote:

farfan wrote:angel di uglia was just too damn ugly for florentino i guess .
shades of makelele circa 2003