Rodger that, over and out - OTT [R]

I have no issue with giving Tom that time to see how far he can go. But as we all know, it would be better if Tom and Ando had to fight Carrick and minimum one quality CM for PT. We have had far too little competition at CM for far too long.

Wilshere is still a logical target for me. Mostly because he ticks a lot of our boxes. He's English, at a smaller, selling club that he will eventually be unhappy with, and there is no serious interest from money clubs. Given our transfer policy, we should have made overt moves on him before, and I think if we wait much longer we risk missing out.

It would be typical Barca to nick yet another CM to add to their stupendous CM stockpile. Half the bloody problem with getting a top quality CM these days is they all play for Barca.

 

He would cost more than two as good German midfielders, Bender for 12 m and Gundogan for around 20-25 m (in pounds)

 

Cleverley is a good player but top quality he is not, I am not sure if Kroos suits Guardiola style, Deco was never his style player either, atleast Gundogan can happen get him but we wont, lets renew Giggs and Scholes contracts for 5 years, there is also Eriksen who would fit an AM role while still being a midfielder, maybe Daehli will or Januzaj, Pogba could have but we need to sort the deeper midfield positions, we got Carrick and nobody and Carrick is 32 at the end of the season, if not corrected soon we are in for some serious problems.
Alot of fans I have seen want the physical bruiser in Wanyama type of player, for what reason I am not sure.

 

Kroos is not tactically flexible enough for us tbh. And i have even more doubts about him adapting to the PL and more faster/physical game than Gundogan.

Would take Wilshere ahead of him, even if given the choice. He has that extra bite in his play too and can play both roles given the right players alongside.

 

The pot calling the kettle black.

 

Did you watch him at Leverkusen?

 

For me Kroos looks more like an attacking central midfielder as opposed to an out and out AM.

He has a great shot on him as well.

 

That is the point, Gundogan can do attacking runs from midfield and he can shoot as well as he can pass, Kroos can easily play deeper does not lack physicality, neither does Gundogan, it is a midfield that takes care of itself attacking and defending, put two excellent WFs and a elite striker and that for my money is a challenger in Europe.

 

Oh I'm sorry, I was reading it upside down and thought you placed Kroos at AM.

 

Little bit but not much. Why ?

I have see and read lots about him since his youth days though.

 

Because he can easily play DLP as well as AM.

 

No you were not, Kroos to play ahead of Gundogan and Carrick but to make it 3 in midfield not 4411, Kroos to play AM but not SS, he already has 9 goals in the season I think.

 

Anyway Kroos wont move away from Bayern, so no point, Wilshere would be too expensive, but there are plenty of talent for AM role, need to fix the deeper positions first.

 

Works great in a midfield three this ability to play deeper, can cover at times for a midfield partner attacking, perfect 3 man midfield player.

 

Ozil LW coming in ? Would need a LB who runs the wings, would have loved Alaba to be German or the inverted Christmas tree two AMs, three midfielders, again fullbacks get imporant Lahm is great but the other side I am not sure.

Edit:
What is your opinion on Gundogan by the way?

 

But I am not sure if Loew is good enough or tactically flexible enough, surely we cant win nothing with this generation.

 

Maybe his stats are good at AM but he doesn't look all that comfortable or natural there for me.

For me he looks like a central midfielder who dictates play and then arrives late in or outside the box to score.

When I think AM I think Oezil, Riquelme, Kaka etc...not Kroos.

----------------Gomez
--------Reus
<-------------Oezil------------->
-------Kroos-------Khedira
---------Schweinsteiger
LB---------------------------RB
---------CB--------CB
--------------GK
*shrugs*

 

drop gomez. he just doesnt fit in that lineup. just play reus up front with kroos and oezil behind, and just a little deeper.

 

-------Backfive--------
-------Schwieni-------

-Khediera--Kroos---
-
-----Reus/Oezil----
-Muller---------Reus

 

Is it really a debate whether Kroos>Whilshere?

 

Yeah I wasn't sure who to play with/ahead of Reus tbh.

Very interesting...

 

Part of Kroos' appeal is his flexibility. He played AM, winger, wing-forward, and CM in his career so far. It's the only thing that helped him progress his game and make him valuable as opposed to burning out because inherently he is a traditional trequartista.

In modern football though, Özil is still the superior #10 because of his movement on and off the ball and better vision. Kroos will continue to play a deeper role for Germany and possibly for Bayern as well if Guardiola has his way.

To be honest, Kroos is not my favorite player for the AM role in a 4-2-3-1. His best work is when he can transition from midfield into attack and not have the responsibility to get forward all match long. That's why I've always favored a 4-3-3 for him.

Having said that I think this current crop of German players can play in just about every league, such is their mentality and technical ability.

The future for Germany lies in playing without a striker like this:

---------------------------Backline
Khedira(L.Bender)--Gündogan(Schweinsteiger)--Kroos

Müller(Götze)----------------Özil-----------Reus(Schürrle)

Löw tried it twice. Once in a dull match against Netherlands in which neither team was bothered and again in the second half against France two weeks ago that yielded a much better result. Löw isn't a great tactician so he's coming around to it slowly and possibly won't implement it next summer but it's the natural progression of this team, without question. I think a large part of his plan will depend on what Guardiola and Klopp continue to do with their respective teams.