Thiago Alcantara

[johnmc]

Ok purely looking at the squad in a 4231 at present our preferred 2 infront of the defense would be yaya and fernandinho. There replacements/cover would be Barry, Rodwell or Garcia. Barry is coming to the end of his contract and not getting any better. Garcia is not suited to the prem/our style of play and Rodwell whether you like it or not is injury prone. Therefore with loss of form, injury and overplay there is plenty of room for Thiago and he would get plenty of games. For me if he came in Barry and Garcia should be sold and we would still be stronger with a big reduction in wages. Also if we play 433 Thiago would be a guaranteed started. Simply Thiago gives us choices. Barry and Garcia do not

But it's impossible to have a surplus of top players in every position. That's why a Milner is required. Doesn't moan when he doesn't play or is played out of position. An ageing Barry is happy to pick up the pay check and be injury cover and a cup game player. Guidetti and Razak want a chance chomping on the bit on the sidelines.

The rags have done it for years. Wes brown, O'Shea, Phil Neville, Cleverly, Park, Welbeck, Cleverly etc. players who know their place and are happy to come in and do a job and they have been successful at keeping decent players playing as bit players in a successful side.

Thiago is leaving because he didnt play enough. If we buy Thiago and Isco we have a surplus of players who will moan if they don't start most games.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Ok purely looking at the squad in a 4231 at present our preferred 2 infront of the defense would be yaya and fernandinho. There replacements/cover would be Barry, Rodwell or Garcia. Barry is coming to the end of his contract and not getting any better. Garcia is not suited to the prem/our style of play and Rodwell whether you like it or not is injury prone. Therefore with loss of form, injury and overplay there is plenty of room for Thiago and he would get plenty of games. For me if he came in Barry and Garcia should be sold and we would still be stronger with a big reduction in wages. Also if we play 433 Thiago would be a guaranteed started. Simply Thiago gives us choices. Barry and Garcia do not

If we play Thiago in that position, he will get bitched. He is an attacking player who can't defend for shit.

 

[argyle]

The Daily Fail say he has agreed terms with the rags.

 

[taconinja]

Ok purely looking at the squad in a 4231 at present our preferred 2 infront of the defense would be yaya and fernandinho. There replacements/cover would be Barry, Rodwell or Garcia. Barry is coming to the end of his contract and not getting any better. Garcia is not suited to the prem/our style of play and Rodwell whether you like it or not is injury prone. Therefore with loss of form, injury and overplay there is plenty of room for Thiago and he would get plenty of games. For me if he came in Barry and Garcia should be sold and we would still be stronger with a big reduction in wages. Also if we play 433 Thiago would be a guaranteed started. Simply Thiago gives us choices. Barry and Garcia do not

If we play Thiago in that position, he will get bitched. He is an attacking player who can't defend for shit.

Just to clarify, are you suggesting a central pairing of Toure and Fernandinho with Toure playing the defensive role? Toure has been remarkably ineffective for us doing that.

 

[Mad 4 It]

Ok purely looking at the squad in a 4231 at present our preferred 2 infront of the defense would be yaya and fernandinho. There replacements/cover would be Barry, Rodwell or Garcia. Barry is coming to the end of his contract and not getting any better. Garcia is not suited to the prem/our style of play and Rodwell whether you like it or not is injury prone. Therefore with loss of form, injury and overplay there is plenty of room for Thiago and he would get plenty of games. For me if he came in Barry and Garcia should be sold and we would still be stronger with a big reduction in wages. Also if we play 433 Thiago would be a guaranteed started. Simply Thiago gives us choices. Barry and Garcia do not

But it's impossible to have a surplus of top players in every position. That's why a Milner is required. Doesn't moan when he doesn't play or is played out of position. An ageing Barry is happy to pick up the pay check and be injury cover and a cup game player. Guidetti and Razak want a chance chomping on the bit on the sidelines.

The rags have done it for years. Wes brown, O'Shea, Phil Neville, Cleverly, Park, Welbeck, Cleverly etc. players who know their place and are happy to come in and do a job and they have been successful at keeping decent players playing as bit players in a successful side.

Thiago is leaving because he didnt play enough. If we buy Thiago and Isco we have a surplus of players who will moan if they don't start most games.

I respect your views mate but I dissagree, if we get Isco and now have Navas I would suggest that Nasri will go along with Sinclair (if we can offload him). If Thiago came in Garcia and Barry could be sold. We would actually have less players and still be stronger

 

[johnmc]

I would definitely consider loaning Giudetti to another PL club. Not sure we're getting Cavani, and Dzeko is better off the subs bench that puts four attack-minded mids for two positions, which isn't that bad.

I realize if we get Thiago, we'll have to make several tough choices about who to keep and who to sell. His potential is worth that.

If Aguerro gets injured that leaves us with Dzeko as our only striker. And he isn't happy being on the bench all the time. Fact is we need another top striker which adds another person expecting to play most of the time.

I wouldn't be confident of keeping Navas Isco Silva and Nasri happy fighting for two spots. If Nasri were to go maybe its workable. Silva would expect to play 80% of games so really it cold be 3 forward thinking midfielders for 1 position. And Isco wants game time which is the reason he is likely to choose us over Madrid.

 

[taconinja]

I would definitely consider loaning Giudetti to another PL club. Not sure we're getting Cavani, and Dzeko is better off the subs bench that puts four attack-minded mids for two positions, which isn't that bad.

I realize if we get Thiago, we'll have to make several tough choices about who to keep and who to sell. His potential is worth that.

If Aguerro gets injured that leaves us with Dzeko as our only striker. And he isn't happy being on the bench all the time. Fact is we need another top striker which adds another person expecting to play most of the time.

I wouldn't be confident of keeping Navas Isco Silva and Nasri happy fighting for two spots. If Nasri were to go maybe its workable. Silva would expect to play 80% of games so really it cold be 3 forward thinking midfielders for 1 position. And Isco wants game time which is the reason he is likely to choose us over Madrid.

I suppose being a worse team so that those we do have will be happy is an option.

 

[johnmc]

I respect your views mate but I dissagree, if we get Isco and now have Navas I would suggest that Nasri will go along with Sinclair (if we can offload him). If Thiago came in Garcia and Barry could be sold. We would actually have less players and still be stronger

Fair enough. But it's not just a question of let's sell Barry, Sinclair, Nasri and Garcia is it. Once they are here they are harder to shift. That would be on top of Tevez Dzeko Kolarov possibly Lescott and Kolo has gone. Wide scale changes that could be too much at once.

Also I might be wrong but Lescott might want to go as he wants a World Cup spot, sell Barry and Sinclair and we might be stuck for homegrown players.