Centre Midfield

manimanc said:
Get Kroos. He'd be the jewel in the crown. I'd say to Madrid name your price. A truly fantastic footballer, effortless the way he floats around the football field.
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This all day. A midfield 3 of Kroos Gundogan and Fernandinho would fucking boss the league
 
tolmie's hairdoo said:
Glad others have seen this. The kid has the eye of the tiger about him, as well as a pass.

There were glimpses of it against Chelsea last season.

I would put Manu Garcia, Angelino and Maffeo in the same category.

These kids are hungry and desperate to please a man they are in awe of.
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Those kids hit the lottery. Imagine coming of age under Pep. The timing for them is perfect.
 
Kroos would be the icing on the cake if we could pull it off. We'd boss the league and be a strong chance to win the CL IMO
 
Ric said:
To be honest, I agree with the OP. Fernandinho and Gundogan are both excellent, but I still think we need one more (unless Guardiola can get Toure back to his best, but that might be optimistic). I'm not convinced either Delph or Fernando are good enough and whilst Garcia is a great prospect, he needs time to develop.

The fact that Kroos was targeted suggests that the club also see it as an area we need to strengthen. It's odd that we haven't really been linked with anyone else, but I guess the club aren't going to spend for the sake of it. If the right player isn't available then presumably we'll just work with what we've got.
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Spot on. Gundogan's injury sounded pretty serious and sometimes these injuries lead to subsequent niggles. Delph is average and himself injury prone. I think the issue is our inability to off load players though.
 
ws01 said:
Kroos would be the icing on the cake if we could pull it off. We'd boss the league and be a strong chance to win the CL IMO
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They're not going to sell him though. I could understand it if they were bringing Pogba in, but without the Pogba transfer, they're not going to sell one of their best players. James Rodiguez seems to be the only midfielder available. He's class too, but probably not what we need.
 
I'm With Stupid said:
They're not going to sell him though. I could understand it if they were bringing Pogba in, but without the Pogba transfer, they're not going to sell one of their best players. James Rodiguez seems to be the only midfielder available. He's class too, but probably not what we need.
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Real Madrid have been quiet in this transfer window maybe they are up to something and generally with them it's something big could selling kroos help fund this
 
Edwin Edwin said:
Moving forward,Merlin will have to accept a deeper role where he may have to put in a bit of graft now that KDB is arguably the numero uno no.10..No chance on the wings with Marlos,G.Jesus,RS7,Roberts,Sané coming through..Can see Pep playing him deeper cause of his ability on the ball this season..alongside Fernandinho & Gundogan.
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If I'm reading this right there will only be one deep role, with 2 ahead. So potentially both Silva and DeBryune can occupy the 2 positions ahead of the deep guy. Unlikely due to their combined laxed work rate, but perceivable. That said, more likely than not, it will be Captain Dihno, Gundogan when healthy and one of Silva or DeBryune. The real question is who is the 3rd guy prior to Gundogan starting? Silva/DeBryune? Yaya? Nasri?

My instincts suggests the 3rd guy is actually Fernando. I think Fernando starts at DM until Gundogan is healthy. So Nando , Dihno and one of Silva, DeBryune will be the middle 3. That said I can see DeBryune starting outside in the beginning before the Nolito's and Sane's catch up. And then he moves to predominantly playing in the middle.
 
Dax777 said:
If I'm reading this right there will only be one deep role, with 2 ahead. So potentially both Silva and DeBryune can occupy the 2 positions ahead of the deep guy. Unlikely due to their combined laxed work rate, but perceivable. That said, more likely than not, it will be Captain Dihno, Gundogan when healthy and one of Silva or DeBryune. The real question is who is the 3rd guy prior to Gundogan starting? Silva/DeBryune? Yaya? Nasri?

My instincts suggests the 3rd guy is actually Fernando. I think Fernando starts at DM until Gundogan is healthy. So Nando , Dihno and one of Silva, DeBryune will be the middle 3. That said I can see DeBryune starting outside in the beginning before the Nolito's and Sane's catch up. And then he moves to predominantly playing in the middle.
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It will be fascinating to see what he does with Silva and De Bruyne. He's been experimenting so much with formations and hasn't really had the players available. Either or both players may have a ton of adaptation to do in order to accomodate all the wingers we've been purchasing. Pep wasn't shy about bringing a Coman off the bench so it wouldn't shock me if Nolito/Sterling and Sane are there to change the match but you have to figure with the number of wide attackers we have that they're here to play.

People need to forget about Kroos in a deep role IMO. It was very well covered in Pep Confidential that Kroos struggled to play that role. One thing that I think is true of Silva, KDB, or Kroos in a forward midfielder role is that while none of these players are great defenders, the idea of Pep's system is that they shouldn't have to press all over the pitch as the positional discipline should give them a more controlled area to press in. In particular, this is a big shift for our players who have existed in free roles but the defensive effort may be forthcoming with less roaming on the pitch.

But going back to the pivot, I have no idea who Pep sees there right now. I can't imagine Fernando has the passing skills for the role. He's been better in the pre season matches at hiding less and showing for his teammates but he still does it far too much for a Pep pivot. Fernandinho might be tempting but I just don't see him as a conductor and you lose a lot of his best attributes in pressing and winning the ball. Gundogan is very creative and needs to be further forward as well....it's almost like Pep Guardiola, of all managers, is setup to play without a pivot. I know he did experiment with double pivot a bit and maybe he's going to mess with that again which might free him up to play with Silva or KDB in a CAM role.
 
teddykgb said:
It will be fascinating to see what he does with Silva and De Bruyne. He's been experimenting so much with formations and hasn't really had the players available. Either or both players may have a ton of adaptation to do in order to accomodate all the wingers we've been purchasing. Pep wasn't shy about bringing a Coman off the bench so it wouldn't shock me if Nolito/Sterling and Sane are there to change the match but you have to figure with the number of wide attackers we have that they're here to play.

People need to forget about Kroos in a deep role IMO. It was very well covered in Pep Confidential that Kroos struggled to play that role. One thing that I think is true of Silva, KDB, or Kroos in a forward midfielder role is that while none of these players are great defenders, the idea of Pep's system is that they shouldn't have to press all over the pitch as the positional discipline should give them a more controlled area to press in. In particular, this is a big shift for our players who have existed in free roles but the defensive effort may be forthcoming with less roaming on the pitch.

But going back to the pivot, I have no idea who Pep sees there right now. I can't imagine Fernando has the passing skills for the role. He's been better in the pre season matches at hiding less and showing for his teammates but he still does it far too much for a Pep pivot. Fernandinho might be tempting but I just don't see him as a conductor and you lose a lot of his best attributes in pressing and winning the ball. Gundogan is very creative and needs to be further forward as well....it's almost like Pep Guardiola, of all managers, is setup to play without a pivot. I know he did experiment with double pivot a bit and maybe he's going to mess with that again which might free him up to play with Silva or KDB in a CAM role.
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My money is on Gundogan or Fernando. Can't see anyone besides those 2.
 
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