Kun Aguero said:
I'm slowly coming round to Pep, thought he perhaps got lucky in the sense he had Puyol, Xavi, Inesta and Messi at Barca then allowed to not only have the best team in the league with Bayern but too then outspend every other team. I was also worried about him moving players out of position, for example I could see him moving Zaba in to a defensive midfield position, Milner(not that he'll stay) in to a right back and Sagna as a back up centre half and right back but according to his autobiography he focuses more time on defending than passing the ball. I also like his enthusiasm.
One worry would be he likes a core of 16 first team starters and with hopefully 55+ games a season we could run out of steam.
I've seen this idea that Pep would move Zabba in to defensive midfield more than once now, and I just don't understand why people think he would? The only possible explanation is that he's played Lahm at defensive midfield.
Let's put this in to context though. The head of youth development at Bayern for the last 20 years has said Lahm is by far the biggest talent he has seen come through the academy. This is an academy that in that time has brought through Haaman, Babbel, Hummels, Badstuber, , Alaba, Schweinsteiger, Muller, and Kroos. So not a bad crop.
Pep has also said Lahm is the most intelligent footballer he has ever worked with. Bearing in mind he's worked with Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Henry, Eto'o, Ibrahimovic, Yaya, Busquets, Pique, Muller, Robben, Ribery, Schweinsteiger etc, it's not too shabby a list he's worked with.
Lahm has won 6 league titles, played in 3 Champions League finals and captained a team to winning the World Cup. It's not a bad CV.
He's played in defensive midfield at times for Bayern, and his reading of the game, touch, pass selection, intelligence and technique has allowed him to look very good there against some of the top players of the world. To think Pep would try and play Zabba there simply because he's a full back too is just weird.
