This Preseason Squad should be our Entire Squad for 2011-12

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:

babun1024 wrote:
I don't really know either. Actually, Mourinho is known for buying countless CMs and B2B midfielders for all purposes. Our team is his only one that focuses on attackers too much. Hmm, if we play double pivot most of the games the depth may not be such a big issue...

I think 4 quality players for 2 position is a must if we stick to the double pivot. now we only have 3, and only 2 of them playmake from deep. You know how corny we would look if we play a team just sitting, and we cant build up.

in attack we have 6-7 players for 4 positions, good.

no balance.

You didn't get my post. Double pivot when at least 1 DLP and Khedira are healthy or Alonso+ Sahin combo. If a playmaker and Khedira are injured-> trivote with the other playmaker+DM ( Pepe, Varane, Ramos or whoever)+ Coentrao. I don't see any kind of depth problems there as long as Ozil and one other attacker help the midfield out with creativity
You're getting too greedy, my friend

I like midfield control, and im also thinking about that bloody clasico. Barca's midfield is a reality we are going to have to deal with for a long time, specially now that we know they will eventually sign Cesc.

Imo we arent going to get any break, and while we can beat them out of sheer work ethic, It's my understanding that developing more control from the midfield is more than welcome for the future. They like to keep the ball, I think it helps to have just as much all around players in the midfield to make sure we are able to go push them, and exert as much control as we can from the midfield.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I like midfield control, and im also thinking about that bloody clasico. Barca's midfield is a reality we are going to have to deal with for a long time, specially now that we know they will eventually sign Cesc.

Imo we arent going to get any break, and while we can beat them out of sheer work ethic, It's my understanding that developing more control from the midfield is more than welcome for the future. They like to keep the ball, I think it helps to have just as much all around players in the midfield to make sure we are able to go push them, and exert as much control as we can from the midfield.

Buquets-Xavi-Iniesta vs. Alonso-Khedira-Sahin
Messi false 9 Benz or CR7 false 9
Sanchez helps out Ozil helps out

They seem stronger. Also, if they decide to play 3-4-3 then there's no way for us to control the midfield, we'll have to attack their defence directly

Agreed, fair point. dont wanna argue over the line up too much.

Not a fan of Alonso in the clasicos, and if one of those 3 are out = problems. I know coentrao is the joker of course... bottom line i would still get one mid.

so how much damage, and how good compared to barca do you guys think we are this season.

xavi,iniesta,thiago,fabregas

how are we going to stop that?

The Madrid One wrote:so how much damage, and how good compared to barca do you guys think we are this season.

xavi,iniesta,thiago,fabregas

how are we going to stop that?

they will lose thiago within a year lol

One more midfielder? We're filled to the brim already LOL

We have all the ingredients for a win if you ask me no need to add anything major to the squad.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Agreed, fair point. dont wanna argue over the line up too much.

Not a fan of Alonso in the clasicos, and if one of those 3 are out = problems. I know coentrao is the joker of course... bottom line i would still get one mid.

You know, if Mou has got guts, I'd line up a 3-4-3 against them with high emphasis on pressing:

----------------Casillas-----------------

--------Ramos------------Varane-------
------------------Pepe-------------------

Khedira---Alonso----Sahin-----Coentrao

--------Ozil---------------Marcelo--------

------------------CR7---------------------

Sub Di Maria for Ozil or vice versa Key people are Pepenbauer, Khedira and Coentrao. Pepe offers a lot more than your average CB, I mean a whole LOT more

There is not much to add. We have a young, skilled squad. It would just be a waste of a career with one more.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:

The Madrid One wrote:so how much damage, and how good compared to barca do you guys think we are this season.

xavi,iniesta,thiago,fabregas

how are we going to stop that?

they will lose thiago within a year lol

tahts wishful thinking

have a feeling cesc will be a flop

thats wishful thinking too

so its granero/sahin/alonso/khedira/altintop/pepe/coentrao

who will have to try to stop

busquets/xavi/iniesta/thiago/fabregas..

gulp

The Madrid One wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:

The Madrid One wrote:so how much damage, and how good compared to barca do you guys think we are this season.

xavi,iniesta,thiago,fabregas

how are we going to stop that?

they will lose thiago within a year lol

tahts wishful thinking

have a feeling cesc will be a flop

thats wishful thinking too

No im serious, they cant sustain Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc and Thiago. Pep is acting like an idiot. They will lose one of the two within two years, and since Cesc is far better and will request much more playing time, Thiago wil go within a season. That much im pretty sure of, that's why barca fans that dont want cesc realize as well. Mazinho will take his son in another within a season, you will see.

thiago is like iniesta

cesc is like xavi

they have their midfield master duo for another 10 years in there, there is no way barcelona will be stupid enough to let go of that opportunity.

not happening.

babun1024 wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:Agreed, fair point. dont wanna argue over the line up too much.

Not a fan of Alonso in the clasicos, and if one of those 3 are out = problems. I know coentrao is the joker of course... bottom line i would still get one mid.

You know, if Mou has got guts, I'd line up a 3-4-3 against them with high emphasis on pressing:

----------------Casillas-----------------

--------Ramos------------Varane-------
------------------Pepe-------------------

Khedira---Alonso----Sahin-----Coentrao

--------Ozil---------------Marcelo--------

------------------CR7---------------------

Sub Di Maria for Ozil or vice versa Key people are Pepenbauer, Khedira and Coentrao. Pepe offers a lot more than your average CB, I mean a whole LOT more

It does look good, it just requires tremendous discipline. we will see, still not comvinced about the depth, but hopefully it works out. My point was just that we can improve in that aspect by getting rid of kaka because we dont need him.

but how are we going to play against them so that we are not at their mercy?

is there anything madrid can do to find a way to open them up, counter attack, make them uncomfortable and really become dangerous as to make like 3 goals on them if theyre not careful?

what is madrid going to do to become barca's worst nightmare? we have to do something other than just try to hold the defense tight and hope for a goal.. it might work sometimes, but if we really want to make our own history, we have to fight fire with fire...

The Madrid One wrote:thiago is like iniesta

cesc is like xavi

they have their midfield master duo for another 10 years in there, there is no way barcelona will be stupid enough to let go of that opportunity.

not happening.

none of them is like Xavi, they attack too much. Iniesta is the best AM in the business, he is immovable, Xavi, the best CM in the business, immovable himself. They played a ridiculous amount of games last season, and if you want to take the load of them, you sign one player, not two. Specially not one that is starter level, and one of the most ready youngster on the planet. It's going to go straight to the gutter. There is no way they can sustain it.

Think about it, you have Ronaldo-Raul in their prime as starter. But you go out and you sign Sheva and a young blossoming Etoo. what do you think will happen? one is gonna leave.

might happen might not. these guys are all from barca's institution, they have barca dna in them and its not that simple.

if it were to happen, it prob would be thiago to leave, but thats the "minimal percentile" outcome. imo

what you want him to be our next figo-seque steal?

Im not thinking about it, im just saying that he will go. Why do you think Mazinho is talking about Thiago succeeding in another team? why now? the timing is precise because cesc situation is going to unlock soon. He is warning barca that if they treat Thiago like a second class citizen he will be gone soon enough. You cant keep four players of that level happy enough for long. Xavi wont retire in advance just to be nice; maybe with Villa gone next year things might open up, but Thiago is still going to be behind Iniesta and Fabregas. Even if Xavi retires, he will be on the bench.

The truth is, Thiago is too good to be on the bench for more than 2 seasons. He has too much talent to keep playing second fiddle. Too much talent doesnt always end up well.

k for the record i really hope you view on it is the one that ends up happening.

seeing how many players have spoken out on pep, hope thiago is the next. but with all this hype going around him, he is after all a JEWEL i still dont think it will happen.

so anyone got an answer to my question on how we are going to become barca's nightmarE?

Mazinho pimping his son to other clubs was a warning we'll have to wait to see if he's serious or just bluffing.

Zealous wrote:Mazinho pimping his son to other clubs was a warning we'll have to wait to see if he's serious or just bluffing.

I look at how full of confidence Thiago is, and i know it's coming from his dad. Imo he is no joke, he will act on it.

Just for the record guys, I dont wanna make it sound like we have it bad, I think we have a great squad, i am happy with it. We are spoiled, i think some teams would die to have the kind of quality we have, so im well aware that we have some very good players.

But like with everything i like i have some reserves. What i am trying to express is that, looking at all areas of our team, from keepers to forwards, the area i like the less is the midfield. I'm a sucker for midfielders, I watched Dortmund this season just to watch Sahin play, when he got injured, i dropped them, and im not sure i will watch much of them again, Unless Ilkay gundogan is awesome as well. I went to watch freaking Sochaux to see Marvin Martin play lol. So maybe this is my little obsession.

I think we can do better in terms of depth, in such a sensible area. I'm backtracking from my previous stance on this, at one point i thought it was ok, but not so much, maybe injuries are nagging me too much. Here is simply my thinking process. In all part of the squad we have great depth, but the midfield is the only place where we need to think of players in other areas for depth. Gives me the feeling we can do better, nothing beat a natural, well versed midfielder. And then i look at the attack and i see a player out of his depth, and i cant help but think that we are wasting one valuable spot in the team here.

That's just my piece.

well can u name a guy in the market out there that we could have bought and we missed on?

mou knows what hes doing, the midfield in his madrid is vital but i think he feels he has the right players for any circumstance, i just hope sahin/khedia/alonso stays healthy.

and then whos going to replace alonso..

I think the current squad is more than enough for us to go and compete in all three competitions this season. All positions have excellent backups. I think the only player now left to see is Sahin and I'm pretty confident he'll do great.

Even though I hate the idea of getting Adebayor I pretty much think he's the only player needed, just for Mou's sake. He'll be great as a 3rd striker but I hope he doesn't eat up both Benzema's and Higuan's playing time now that they're both in good physical conditions.

As for us becoming barca's nightmare I'm afraid that would only happen with time as our squad gains enough experience dealing with them. This year we already played them 4 times, now we'll have another 2. The team just needs to not use all its energy in one half like in the Copa Del Rey but to divide it up for the whole 90 minutes.

welcome h.a.

what we have to do is find a way to absorb their attacks, become an inpentrable fortress from barcelona, and then push them back and score with beautiful counter attackking football.

The Madrid One wrote:welcome h.a.

what we have to do is find a way to absorb their attacks, become an inpentrable fortress from barcelona, and then push them back and score with beautiful counter attackking football.

Thanks,

I think now that we have Sahin we'll have a more creative mid but Mou needs to use him , if he'll use pepe as a false CB he definitely needs to restrict his movement and not ruin the counter by stupid passes. I think we'll nail the beautiful counter attacking football this year but we just need to find the perfect balance, not being too defensive but at the same time offense. What we need in front of barca is just a better midfield that knows how to handle the ball to send it forward for Ronaldo & co.