There was an article in Marca yesterday suggesting which configurations Zidane would use.

It suggested 2 box to box midfielders, Pogba and Kroos, backed up with Casemiro and Valverde. Thus the sale of Llorente, and probably also Ceballos.

It had a 4-2-3-1

Pogba (Casemiro).    Kroos (Valverde)

Vinicius (Asensio).    modric (Isco).    Hazard (Rodrygo)

Benzema (Jovic)

And a 4-3-3

only difference was Modric  / Isco back a bit. Plus in this later they had Lucas rather than Asensio.

Obviously a lot of this depends on signing Pogba (or Ndombele) and retaining Modric and Isco, but it does explain the sale of Llorente / Ceballos plus the trial of Vinicius on right. Also why Eriksen is not getting considered. I would assume if one of Modric or Isco goes either Asensio or Ceballos would provide that backup role?  By the way, with this suggested lineup, Lucas looks like the extra, i.e. squad player!

But, I don’t like this as it suggests Nick was right and I wrong re Jovic vs Vinicius as starter!!!

Kroos Pogba double pivot

Not in a million fcking years

If Pogba (or Ndombele or Eriksen) and Kroos playing... you need a 3rd CM (preferably a holding mid) NO QUESTION. Hazard and Benzema are obviously going to start up front. You then have several players vying for the 3rd forward spot... with Jovic having a clear step up there.

ZZ has always played with a 3-man midfield whether it is a 4-3-3 or a 4-3-1-2

So we are either going to see:

or

Marca story today that Bayern has called Madrid and offered to take Bale on a loan deal where they will pay his salary. Sounds like no up front payment. Says they need winger as they will be without Ribery and Robben.

Likely BS, but this is probably best we can do.

On behalf of all Madridistas, Hans we would like to thank you for this charity offer!

vanDEEZ wrote:ZZ has always played with a 3-man midfield whether it is a 4-3-3 or a 4-3-1-2

So we are either going to see:

Jovic - Benz
Hazard

or

Hazard - Jovic/Benz - Vini

I’m waiting to see what happens to De Tomas. If he is sold or lent out, then that tells us no backups for Benz / Jovic and thus both won’t start.

Because I think we will probably switch between the two formations depending on the circumstance I don't think we will need 2 backups. Even if we don't retain RDT we have Mariano and potentially Rodrygo who can fill in as a striker. I think ST is decently covered now that we have Jovic.

In other news I really hope we wrap up the Pogba deal, because if for whatever reason we don't land him I don't think we will be able to rely on Ndom (Spurs rumors really heating up after his comments), and Eriksen won't wait around forever. And we really need some fresh blood in midfield because I don't think this whole thing works if it is run off the midfield of last season.

Mariano is leaving, Deez

Zidane has played 4231 last season and 442 in the past, most notably vs Bayern and PSG in CL. He tried a lot of formation and to some extent he hasn't been dogmatic about how we play.

This is why I wanted both Pogba and Ndombele, because of the potential juggernaut 2 man mid with Casemiro as a third option and Kroos to mix things up in a 3 man mid with the other guys when needed.

I still believe we are going to need to be more adventurous forward because a line of Hazard-Benzema-Vinicius is not good enough. If that's the attacking line it's shit.

We are gonna need to leverage the wings to create mismatch and scoring chances. While the Mercato has been good and we are obviously signing quality attackers, we haven't done a lot to address the fact that we have a lot of non scoring forwards and attacking mids.

Won't work Nick.  Hazard doesn't defend.  Neither does Benzema.  Neither does Jovic.  Vini doesn't know how lol.  Even if you can't defend 1v1, you need positional integrity and none of our forwards know how to do that at all. Can't defend with only 6 men.

Too unbalanced.  Won't happen.

PSG President Al Khelaifi comes out swinging in France Football interview: "I no longer want to have superstar behaviour... They will have to do more, work more… And if they don’t agree with this point of view, the doors are open. Ciao!" https://t.co/ndCHlBXLb3

I'm impressed, and I even agree with him. He spent a lot of money to become a powerhouse in European football but those he hired ended up disappointing him every season.

It was time for him to put his foot down. Still, something tells me that if Neymar and Mbappé were to threaten him to leave right now, he would be on his knees with two big bags of cash begging them to reconsider their decision.

Well, almost a billion dollars in player acquisitions and he finally gets it. Better late than never I suppose lol.

Now he should follow up by selling us Mbappe who blatantly defied the authority of the club and acted like a diva. Neymar is the way forward for PSG

I would so love to see Pogba join PSG. I suppose this is what they call schadenfreude in Germany He fits their profile perfectly. You guys might have missed it, but his wikipedia page has now become protected from editing after someone changed his middle name, Labile to "Liability", among other things

Mr Nick09 wrote:Now he should follow up by selling us Mbappe who blatantly defied the authority of the club and acted like a diva. Neymar is the way forward for PSG

Thimmy wrote:I would so love to see Pogba join PSG. I suppose this is what they call schadenfreude in Germany He fits their profile perfectly. You guys might have missed it, but his wikipedia page has now become protected from editing after someone changed his middle name, Labile to "Liability", among other things

Holy shit, this is gold

Lunin had just won the u20 WC with Ukraine and won best GK of the tournament.

Hopefully he continues to develop well. Not sure if being a backup works for him currently

With that calamity we have in goal hell have his work cut out for him

A funny sideshow for me is Man U... their fans specifically.  They think players like Neymar would ever consider going there

sportsczy wrote:A funny sideshow for me is Man U... their fans specifically.  They think players like Neymar would ever consider going there

Not sure what Man Utd fans you're talking to, but apparently not the ones at RedCafé

They don't sound neither keen on Neymar nor optimistic...

http://www.redcafe.net/threads/neymar-on-the-move.448353/

They make it sound like they have an opportunity to reject him lol

Yeah, Utd fans are still in denial of their position in world football. Still possibly the most famous club in the world but when it comes to the pecking order of transfers, they honestly gotta wait till the other bigger fish do their buying.

In any case, Neymar would be a terrible fit for both Utd and the EPL. That is not the league for him at all nor the football culture and definitely not the team. He also sold his soul to the almighty Euro so he is gonna stay in Paris for the foreseeable future. He better pray PSG develop a great team for CL runs.

Lol Ceballos.

Such disrespect.

With that attitude, he really isn't going to be a top footballer.

https://en.as.com/en/2019/06/17/football/1560752276_187371.html

Both sides have been disrespectful towards each other.

Zidane has never ever given him a fair shot.

Ceballos has not responded without temperament when Zidane didn’t reward good performances.

This happens all the time. Coaches have their favourites and can’t see some players perform better than their faves.

He has gotten his chances, to be fair.

He just isn't good enough.

In any case, when a coach doesn't select you this isn't the way to respond. You keep your head down and show them on the pitch, whether it's at this club or another.

It's the same with llorente, he is a decent player, I don't think he is good enough for Madrid, but he is ok.

He has kept his head down, put in good performances when given the chance and now he'll probably move to a good club and start there.

Ceballos will probably become another la Liga journeyman