Yawn... He is a great coach and has done better than any coach maybe in any time during his 4 year course, but this has nothing to do with it. Oohh look, I can manage to point out something obvious and yet that statement had nothing to do with what I was talking about. His titles are moreso despite his signings rather than more due to them. Many of his big signings have been duds and based on the list shown, it shows exactly that (instead of your bs 99%). Next time maybe you will get a little less pissy because most of what you wrote was non-relevant crap regarding to what I was talking about. Perhaps now I should thank you for making a U-turn on a conversation talking about things I wasn't even mentioning as a total waste of time. Good times.
Non relevant to you because it contradicted your preconceived notion ... pretty much researcher's bias on your part Your argument stands and is infallible ... so, there is honestly nothing more to add. You rule ...
EQ - looking only at Pep's numbers will not give you the historical context under which Barça operates. You need both and then, ideally, you would look at the change in spending patterns to see how much of a departure Pep's approach is from previous. Same goes for Mourinho, except that you'd need a bunch of club's #s to do it right. Without the perspective all you get is confirmation bias.
I think because it shows that Barcelona are into habitual spending. They're a club which spends a lot regardless of who is in charge, which leads you to think this is more of a management thing than anything else. Anyways, Pep spends. But its not like every other CL winning coach is not spending millions either. Regardless, I think if you include the La Masia guys, Pep has done a great job balancing the team. I think that if he does come to Bayern he'll do very well and make good use of our budget and our youth academy.
Dont think Robbens position was changed, he was just given a free role to switch with Muller and Shaq
-------------------Manzuvkic (Gomez) Robben(Shaqiri) ------- Muller(Kroos) -------- Ribery ------Schweinsteiger------------- Martinez Lahm--------Dante---------Boateng-------Gustavo (Alaba) -----------------------Neuer A few things to be noted: Manzuvkic-Muller would make a killer combination, look for Muller to have a big year playing along Manzuvkic. Gustavo needs to play, he covers a lot of ground and works extremely hard in defense, he would probably our No. 1 utility man. With this lineup, the domestic competitions and making it to the semi's of the UCL should be givens...
I appreciate your effort but this formation is very, very unlikely. Should everybody stay healthy and in form I suppose this will be our Starting XI for the big games: ------------------------Mario Gomez------------------------ 1 ---Franck Ribéry-------Toni Kroos--------Arjen Robben--- 2 --------Bastian Schweinsteiger----Javi Martinez----------- 3 -----Alaba------Badstuber-------Boateng------P. Lahm--- 4, 5 ----------------------Manuel Neuer------------------------- 1: Mandzukic and Pizarro will try to put themselves into position for the time Gomez returns. There certainly is a good possibility that Gomez will be seriously challenged in the fall / winter. 2: Shaqiri or Müller will definitely try to challenge Kroos on the OM position. Should Schweinsteiger keep his bad form Kroos might play CM so a position might open up for one of them. 3: Kroos might play for Schweinsteiger if our vice-captain doesn't find his mojo sooner rather than later 4: Dante might challenge Boateng but Badstuber will definitely be in the Starting XI because he's not only a good defender but an excellent buildup player on top of that. Neither Dante, Boateng nor van Buyten are anywhere near being on par with him in that crucial area. 5: Alaba and Lahm will stay on their fullback positions because they were world class in the CL campagne last season. Gustavo is no full back, especially no right back and will be only a roleplayer / substitute for very offensive opponents or in situations where we need additional defensive capabilities.
I could see Gustavo at left back until Alaba is healthy. He's played there before, and very very well I might add.
There are some rumors that Heynckes might employ some sort of 4-1-4-1 for Javi. But we are going to see soon enough anyway. Stuttgart game is too earlier except for a short sub due to his birthday and arrival and then there is the BL break already anyway
I am sure everyone will get a fair amount of playing time. Gustavo will be just as useful as ever, just now he is not a guaranteed starter. He'll serve as our Tymo for the next few seasons. Certainly excited we got one of the best midfielders in europe, even if it is at a high price (30 million should have made the deal sealed). I don't know why several commentators seem to think Kroos is only a CM. for me, he's an absolute starter as an AM. As for Badstuber, his position is in jeopardy for sure. Dante started there, while he was pushed to the unyielding vacancy left by David Alaba. Dante is faster, more experienced, stronger etc...However, Badstuber is still the best at what he does - sleek anticipation and movement, and not to mention a left footed defender who can give that great cross. He'll just have to prove himself more than ever this season. All in all, this is a good squad. I wish we didnt spill so much cash on players, and wish we had our own tello or cuenca, but there you have it.
We have the money. This is the price we have to pay to significantly improve our squad. And we do have our own Tello or Cuenca, his name is Thomas Muller. And we have another coming through the youth ranks named Oliver Markoutz. I really wish you would quit whining about wanting to have Barca's youth system when you don't even pay attention to ours and the progress it has been making.
I have paid attention to ours, and have mentioned the introduction of Alaba, Mueller, Kroos and Badstuber as hallmarks of our progress. We have a better youth system than Madrid, Man Utd, AC Milan, Inter. We're looking pretty good. All I want is for us to get better, every season we should have a new player from our youth system lined up who will get some playing time. Emre Can seems to be the next in line, but I doubt he'll have much of an impact. Thomas Mueller is already a seasoned international, you cant compare him to Tello, Cuenca or Thiago. Barcelona however, have hit gold with their youth academy, and I hope Bayern reflect on this to improve.
Badstuber's place in the starting XI is not in danger as far as I can see. Heynckes tested Boateng and Dante as CB because he needs to decide who'll play alongside Badstuber and that would be difficult when only one of them could play at a time. On top of that all our three left backs were injured so who should have played fullback if not Badstuber. It has nothing to do with him being in jeopardy of losing his place in the starting lineup.
Maybe, we'll see. I think Heynckes has a lot of faith in badstuber, and for good reason. At this point however, Boateng is also very good at what he does. They're both tremendous center backs, especially given their age, so this will be interesting.
Well it just doesn't make sense to remove Badstuber as long as Dante and Boateng aren't clearly better than him defensively. Let's assume they are all three almost at the same level defensively which I can't say for Dante because it's just too early for that but Boateng and Badstuber are defensively on a similar level with different qualities that add up well. However what Dante and Boateng both lack is a sharp and precise vertical buildup. Badstuber is our first buildup player. I just don't want to imagine a central defense with two players who are both more or less average passers. Especially in our possession oriented stile of play.
Dante is actually a very good passer. He built play from the back for 'Gladbach last year very capably.
Maybe, we'll see. I think you place a lot of emphasis on Badstubers passing, usually he goes for the safest option (though he has produced a few tremendous passes in his short career). We'll see what Heycnkes thinks of it, all I am saying is Badstuber is on a short leash now. Bayern want him to start for sure, he's our player and we've moulded him into what he is.
Well that remains to be seen. My first impression of his low vertical buildup was poor. He seems to do what Hummels likes, too. These half high trashing passes which may be precise and fast but hard to control. Well it's still too soon to tell for sure but I certainly didn't see the quality buildup of Badstuber's quality thats for sure.
Wouldn't be surprised to see Martinez next to Badstuber by the way against the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid with Gustavo in the central midfield. Would certainly be a hell of a defense.
We have a better youth system than virtually everyone except Barca and maybe Arsenal. It's too early to judge Can, he is just 18. But I can tell you this, he will be a 1. Bundesliga player. All he has to do is adjust to the speed of the game at the top level, which is a big jump from the Regionalliga. His ball control, physical strength, pace, tackling, and passing are already there. Weiser (18), Markoutz (17), Raeder (18), and Wein (18) all have the potential to play 1. Bundesliga footy as well. Friesenbichler (18), Hojbjerg (17), and Zingerle (18) aren't too far behind. We've got something of a production line going. Sure I can. Thomas Muller is only 1 year older than all 3 of them. He had already become top scorer at the World Cup by their age.