Luka doesn't have the speed of mateo but he makes up for it with his footballing brain. It's no coincidence Luka intercepts so many passes a season,
I don't mind haha To me, against a side like Barcelona/Bayern, I would be more comfortable with a midfield of Casemiro Kovacic - Kroos than Modric instead of Kroos. That's not because Kova is the better player. He is developing very well, and as he gains more confidence, he shines even more. However, as things stand today, off all other CMs, he contributes the most defensively. If he can fine tune his decision making even more (which is better than 1 year ago), he can be a monster.
Mateo is one of the few players who can actually stay with Messi hence why he did such a great job of shutting him down.
I think people in general underestimate just how difficult it is to play the position/role that Luka, Kroos, Xabi, Iniesta etc play on the field. I'd say its the most difficult position on the field. I would compare it to the QB position in Football. Our attack would grind to a halt if these guys didn't have the football IQ that they possess and as is evident there aren't many in the world who have that IQ. Just looking at the game from their perspective its amazing to note just the sheer number of things they do let alone their difficulty level offensively and defensively.
I love Mateo but I don't understand how you'd like him to start over the midfield that literally played Juve (among others) off the park a couple of months ago.
It may be a bit taboo to question Modric's place, but I agree with @Hsain85. There are certain matches where Kovacic fits better. His pace and stamina and work rate off the ball is better suited in a game where we're chasing the ball and hitting out on the break.
In my opinion, it's not even close I think Kova is very good, but, Luka's defensive game is underrated , his positioning is great and his tackling is not bad either, as far as I am concerned another complete midfielder, it's good to see Kova do well, but Godric is still a level above right now and that includes experience , Kova's time will come but if I had to choose right now my starter , everytime it would be Luka, no two ways for me, no matter the opposition
I'd still have Luka out there against basically anyone really, but it's amazing to be able to bring a 23yo onto the pitch who gives you a different skillset but one that is also very effective alongside Kroos and Megacrack.
I agree that Kova has a different style than Modric and brings different advantages, but even in a game where we're largely going to counterattack, I like Modric's intelligence and precision passing over Kova's energy if I have to choose. In that sort of game, I'd actually be tempted to go Modric-Kova-Isco before Kroos-Kova-Isco. If we're not planning on really holding possession anyway, I think Kroos brings the least. That being said, who are we going to face right now where we'd be expecting to spend most of the time counterattacking? As we're seeing in this debate, our midfield is just too overwhelming at the moment to think of too many games where we wouldn't see much of the ball. Second legs of knockout ties where we're up after the first maybe? Seems like a place where Kova's skills would fit perfectly and we'd be looking to rest one of the other three.
I'm just happy that we are even contemplating Kova starting over Lukita. That really goes to show how much he's improved and I really hope we give him the minutes and praise he deserves this season to possibly take that spot once our Croatian master wizard starts slowing down.
I see Zidane rotating the squad a lot more than last year. I see him taking a leaf out of Rafa's book and practically having 2 teams. The lads will play every other game with the exception of a few matches that will be reserved for the 1st team. He already showed in the tail end of last season that he has very little problem playing the B team and with the improvement seen in Kova, Asensio's continued rise, the acquisitions of Theo and Ceballos and the recall of Llorente and Vallejo, the B team is very strong.
I've mentioned this in other threads but Luka turns 32 in 3 weeks. Iniesta is a year older and looks down for the count as far as playing goes. Now I know everyone ages differently but Kova's time is defintely coming sooner than later.
The KovaBeast unleashed! From defence to attack via a quick tiki-taka. pic.twitter.com/DaWy9CHBm1— M•A•J (@UltraSuristic_) August 15, 2017
Iniesta had been irrelevant for years now, incredible really. It's almost like Kaka's decline, except Kaka wasn't pampered like Iniesta. Or am I being too harsh here? I've seriously forgot the last time Iniesta has even been relevant in a Clasico or important CL game. He's either been injured or subbed after 60mins. Luka at 31 is still fantastic, but I agree that Mateo (who I think is incredibly talented, probably the most of all our midfielders) will replace him in a year or two. He's so freakin good!
That was Kovacic's biggest strength and weakness summed up in one. He is amazing at those driving runs from midfield, but still needs to slow down and pick out the right pass. Mightve made more sense to move the ball wide with the way Pique was positioned next to Bale.
Well in all honesty he probably thought "I know Bale isn't the same anymore but surely, SURELY he can outrun Pique." Not so I guess.
Since Kovacic's arrival, Real Madrid kept 38 clean sheets, he played in 25 of the 38 matches (66%). He also started 38 games & team lost 0. That's actually an insane stat. We only kept 38 CS's and our sub middlefielder(not even first choice off the bench, that was Isco in previous seasons) participated in 25 of those 38 .