I will concede you Juve but RM was in their joke phase then. Overall the run was against weak teams though, much like our 2011 run.
isnt it far too early to be making judgements about this german generations mental ability? the last tournament didnt help in that department.
That's true to some degree although my theory is that the players can't achieve something if they are not given the platform to. They look distrustful in Löw's system. We know they had the ability to beat Italy last summer. They weren't a weaker team but the way Löw lined them up, without practicing the formation or embedding any tactical flexibility within the team, when pressured they looked uncertain. I think a player's strength is derived from the system and the ideology that informs it and consequently them. Right now Germany are held back by the manager so it's a tough call whether these guys are up to the task mentally because we are seeing a lot of them compete very well for their clubs.
Let's not let British media fappery completely negate Wilshire's value. You're talking about a 21 year old who's had injury problems versus Kroos who is two years older with twice the number of professional appearances and a 24 year old who is rapidly becoming one of the standouts of his generation and has spent the last four years playing at the top level for club and country. Wilshire remains a very gifted player with a significant upside. The truth is, none of you know can possibly know his career and development trajectory at this point. England getting collective wrist strain over a performance against Brazil and proclaiming him the "new Gazza", doesn't automatically turn him into Gareth Barry.
beyond tactics, isn't there also something to say about a collective rallying behind the leadership and charisma of a talisman? when italy seemed unsettled, they turned to pirlo to provide them with a sense purpose in how they play. who's that guy for germany?
Barca won't even go after him. The problem with Wilshere is that he needs to develop in the next year or two, to be worth what he would cost and he probably wont kick on at Arsenal. If anything, we should be looking to poach more of Barca's kids. There must be someone coming through now who is staring at Iniesta, Fabregas and Thiago thinking 'there's just no way' and that's who we need to snap up at 18 or 19. But as we've been saying, our CM problems right now may be finding a partner for Carrick but in the medium term future we've got to consider replacing/upgrading him and adding another 2 quality players to that area as we'll be done with Scholes, Giggs and Carrick will be on his last legs. If we don't make a move in the next couple windows, we'll be looking at needing 3 United quality central midfielders just to stay afloat. ********ing hell.
He is being lauded as a world class player and not now since his debut season which was good but nothing great, he missed another season and now he is having another okay season nothing to write about. I am not sure where his trajectory will go, will he develop a shot, a goal threat, long range passing and I am not hopeful he will at Arsenal, lets see, currently Kroos is way ahead and that is the way I will gauge it until Wilshere surpass him, both are young for talented midfielders.
Pretty much this, it can seriously go wrong, finding one good midfielder that suits us is hard enough, imagine 3. The negligence has been criminal.
https://twitter.com/Coral/status/304273961653518337 https://twitter.com/SimonTorresPike/status/304203739970035713 2 Results of winning a million dollars.
I agree that Tom isn't top quality. But that's right now. My gut tells me that he's going to be a very good player, but very good isn't really enough to carry the midfield on his own and that's what he'll be doing if we don't get him help. Part of it may be just the type of player that he is right now. He shouldn't have to shoulder the midfield before he/we know what he really is as a player as that may still change. The list of players we've missed out on in the last couple years is growing but the three that would have set us up for the better pat of a decade are glaring: Hazard, Martinez, Vidal
Jumping in: pretty much what sir Man said. Our lineup will start looking like this; Neuer Lahm hummels boetang(bads) schmelzer Khedira kroos piggy Muller Ozil reus We have benders who can sub in anywhere, Gundogan who will be our future starter in the middle, gotze schurrle who can rotate between any of the attack.. I think they'll keep Gomez as back up. Plan B.
Add Lucas to that, okay hazard was expensive greedy and a modern footballer but were we sleeping when bayern was in for martinez, what he cost 30 m euros, and missing out on Vidal was criminal. It is so stupid what we have been doing with our midfield and if we don't act now a lot of happy clappers will be in for the shock of their life. Alternative midfield of what we missed on or who we allowed to leave ----Carrick---Martinez (Vidal)--- ----------pogba(Cleverley) Edit: Yeah I am very hopeful about cleverly being very good.
If we had 2 deeper mids of the quality listed in that suggested line up, it would be horses for courses. Against teams who bunker, Cleverley would get the nod. If teams are expected to play open we cry havoc and let slip the Pogs of war. Yes. That's the main reason I'm upset he's gone. I don't get to say that on a regular basis.