Kovacic worked great as double pivot in flat 442. That is his best position i would say. If we are gonna go that way, Kova and Casemiro can secure the midfield for years. Sometimes I like him more than the semi paralysed Kroos.
Superior my arse. Kroos is better footballing brain and passer. Kovacic much better dribbler superior pace and quickness as well to go with a very good motor. Mateo can be as good as Modric if he puts it all together. Kroos could never get on Modric level.
Yes, superior as you have noted yourself in what we needed to compliment our other two midfield players in order to help win 3 CL’s back to back and at least 1 La Liga title amongst others, footballing brain, an absolutely necessary component for any midfield, someone to organize the play of the team, in the last three seasons I don’t think Kova and Case and Godric is as good a midfield trio as Godric Kroos and Case on any level and I love Kova, but he’s just not as disciplined or organized as Kroos, who although he has been a bit lazy last season is excellent IMO on both sides of the ball, IMO Kova is not the replacement for Godric, not that he can never be as good with playing time but as i (and few others) see it, he is just a different kind of player, I really hope he stays though, a very good player who I enjoy watching but I still am not sure what his best position is.
Kovacic is best compared to Pogba. It's been unclear for both what their best position in midfield is and how to set it up, and the best attribute for both is their ability to run to ball forward at pace.
We need to try to loan him and wait it out until Modric declines (shouldn't be more than a year or two).
I think both Kovacic and Pogba thrive in a the man midfield; talk much one being covered by Casemiro and partnering one if not the best midfield player of all time. It's just a different style and more dynamic... something people who love 80% possession and millions of backward or sideways passes probably won't like.
His best position is playing deeper where Luka plays. Mateo doesn't have Luka's footballing brain but he is great at protecting the ball and having those bursts of speed with the ball to get out of pressure. Mateo although a good passer doesn't have that great killer ball like Luka does to release an attack. So many times Luka starts the attack with a little faint or dribble to release a perfect pass to start the attack. Kovacic uses his excellent tight control and dribbling ability with burst to do this.
I don't have any problems with Kova wanting more playing time and even wanting to leave, but this particular rationale struck me as kind of BS. If starting in el clasico and CL knockout rounds isn't enough to get you into the starting midfield for Croatia, his problem is with his manager, not the club.
Club wont let him leave. He needs more minutes in La Liga tho, 10 games is not enough. He can easily play 90% of the games where I prefer him above Casemiro.
Man...we have to keep Kovacic..he's supremely talented. I also think all the recent trophies make him look at the situation like "I've won everything at Madrid...what else is left?". I think Julen will need him. It's a brand new Real that we're going to see...I hope Kova realises that this is a new opportunity for him to be more important. I don't think we should look at him as a Modric replacement ...I think they can play together. We'd be foolish not to try.
Definitely. There is no midfielder out there better suited to take over from Modric. Yes I know Mateo is not the same player in terms of controlling the game and intelligence, but he compensates with that pace.
That is a different type of player so in reality he is not suited as Modric replacement. I dont think #10 are made.. their vision and high IQ skills are well defined at a young age. Ozil was already showing the world how great he was at 22 in South Africa and James too at the same age in Brazil.. Modric was also probably this good when he played at Tottenham or in Croatia.
Marca is reporting that his buyout clause is 300 mil which makes sense because we never put low buyout clause in any player's contract. We apparently rejected a 70 mil bid for him last season.
Pretty much, also the next tournament (Euro) will be in 2 years time, and by then he'd be a starter for sure.
Except that Modric doesn't play as a #10 and Ozil/James are even more dissimilar to him than Kovacic. If you have a better proposal for a Modric replacement than Kovacic go ahead and share it. People who say 'oh but they're different' think they stumbled upon some great secret wisdom. Duh, of course they are not the same. But in that role, what you need is technical ability AND motor, which both Modric and Kovacic have. They don't have to be literally the same player other than that.
http://www.marca.com/futbol/real-madrid/2018/06/24/5b2e8f0eca4741a47c8b465e.html Marca are mentioning Eriksen.
I'll be clear: I'd rather have Kova than Eriksen (especially as the latter is likely to cost more than we'd get for selling the former). But that wouldn't be the worst outcome on earth. Still, I think he stays. And I agree with @Hendrix22 's basic point -- Kova and Modric are very different players with very different strengths, but Kova can play Modric's "role" in a midfield three, so you can think of him as a "replacement" in at least that sense (and you can construct an effective midfield three in a variety of ways -- obviously you don't want 3 DMs or 3 attack-minded mids or 3 pure passers but there isn't a totally "set" formula). That's the special thing about Kova, though -- he can probably play any role in a midfield three, especially if there's an elite distributor next to him. Jack of all trades -- the criticism (that I don't buy) is that he's a master of none.