19 | Julian Alvarez - 2023/24

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its clear we try to keep him happy in case Haaland opts for the Real Madrid option. (wtf Mbappe, Haaland, bellingham, Vinicius in same team...)

its a nightmare for Txiki if Alvarez asking for a transfer due to lack of gametime and we sell him and 6-12 months later Haaland comes out with childhood dreams of playing for Real...

but bit of a headache how you fit both of them in he line up when Haaland doesnt offer much off the ball, while Alvarez nowhere near midfielder but does well off the ball but loses the ball fair bit, doesnt control our tempo well enough something Gundo did very well.

against most weaker teams we can get away with these issues, where we dominate the hell out of games, but teams that can fight back, counter us, hurt us, it will backfire a few times.
 
Blue Bogey said:
Ok, my bad.

I realise fans would mainly prefer Foden, Bernardo centrally and I can see very good reasons for that, since De Bruyne being back leaves only one other place. I believe the issue is the right sided forward position. Mahrez played there last season mainly and left, Palmer could have filled that void and left and Doku I assume was bought to fill that right sided forward role, but has disappointed on the right and now mainly plays on the left. I think Pep is struggling to know who is best placed on the right and out of all the options Phil fulfills that best.

Personally I would play Haaland and Alvarez as a 2 up front and have an attacking midfield 3 of any 4 from Foden, Bernardo, Grealish, Nunes and De Bruyne.
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The best option is Bernardo to start on the right and midfield 3 of Rodri, Kev and Phil. In fairness Phil and Kev were swapping positions a lot so I don't think the issue was Phil being out of position. I think Pep was reluctant to play Bernardo because of the knock he had in midweek.
 
waspish said:
Not the lads fault he always gives 100% and his goal assist contribution is fine.. wonder why pep never plays him wide out of position like he does with foden?
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Good question. I reckon not because he's slow as molasses.
 
nellyonthewing said:
So a conclusion might be drawn that we have some great players but they do not come together as a fully functional unit . That is a recruitment and selection issue.
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Honestly I've had that concern with the team ever since last season.

They've signed great players that they were right to sign when the opportunity was there (and Alvarez would have been amazing in the 4 3 3 False 9), but when you have a chance at Erling Haaland, you have to swing.

But stylistically, feeding into a single primary goalscorer doesn't really mesh with what Pep has been building here and you can see some teething problems. There's been so many games where they're missing Haalands runs.

They've tried 2 up front when Aguero was here. Would wonder if that was maybe something they could consider again.
 
jamielowndes said:
They've tried 2 up front when Aguero was here. Would wonder if that was maybe something they could consider again.
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I could be wrong but I don't remember us ever playing two up front under Pep. The last time I remember us doing it consistently was the Aguero/Dzeko/Negredo days.
 
jaiguruKun said:
I could be wrong but I don't remember us ever playing two up front under Pep. The last time I remember us doing it consistently was the Aguero/Dzeko/Negredo days.
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In 18/19 we flirted with a 3 5 2 for a while at the start of the season. I went to the home opener against Huddersfield and Benjamin Mendy was playing a full on left wing. Aguero and Jesus were up front.

Once things got serious they leaned on the 4 3 3.
 
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