Transfers & Rumors Discussion Thread Vol. XVIII - FIFA mode on the Pepstation

Tymo started what, 5 games all season? The main reason Thiago is leaving is due to lack of playing time. Tymoschuk is a defensive midfielder, Thiago is more of a central midfielder/attacking midfielder.

and lol at Goetze being a striker, his finishing is as good as mine. A striker taken out for an attacking midfielder who can play in the wing is a 1 for 1 deal for you? So if I understand correctly, if you can play central midfielder or attacking midfielder, that qualifies you as a world class winger, striker, CB, LB, RB, goalkeeper and defensive midfielder? #moderera

 

One would even argue that had it not been for those injuries (Gomez, Gustavo, Badstuber, Kroos), that some players may never have seen the time they ultimately earned and important role they played in the season.

 

Boa wa injured too wasn't he?

 

Oh Dear...

 

Perhaps. My point is even with a lot of injuries last season, there are still plenty of players that are sitting in the bench. Lets not forget Badstuber missed half a season, Gomez more than a 1/3rd of the season, Gustavo half a season, Kroos the last 1/3rd of the season. That's a pretty bad injury situation, and Bayern's depth already handled it well. Now add 2 players that are seen as likely starters and one left (Gomez wasn't one last year), the balance is a hysterical mess.

But yes, the more the better. FIFA might be allowing Bayern to play with 17 players next season, which makes my ramblings rather pointless.

 

Huh?

 

Come on Equi you should understand it in the context of what Guardiola plans. We're going to lay an enormous emphasis on possession football like in the Van Gaal days and we get away from the traditional #9 even though that's still an option.

What this means is simple. Our demands changed, we do no longer need a second solely defensive thinking central midfielder next to Gustavo but rather a creative player. Therefore this replacement makes sense.

The same is true for the Götze for Gomez swap and as you should see, I called Götze a versatile offensive player, not a striker. Still Guardiola needs this kind of player to connect the offensive play instead of another poaching finisher in the old system. We still got Mandzukic, Pizarro and maybe even Müller for that job.

In this context all those transfers make sense.

With regards to playing time, of course there will be cases of hardship but that was the case last season, too. That's just normal for a European top club. Plus I wouldn't rule out that at least one player will flee from the competition later this summer.

 

Kroos has very vocal in the past about ensuring that he has a realistic starting spot or he wants to leave.

 

That would have been a legitimate reason if Pep would already have a season under his belt and had assessed the players over that time period. Thiago probably wouldn't be available for cheap next season, and he is supposed to be a special talent, hence the FO is willing to heed to Pep's demand.

 

You're missing my other point. This will push several players away, Bayern having so many massive injuries last year was the only reason the team was content with playing time. Now a back up has left and 2 players that want to be starters have come instead. There already would have been time issues last year had we not had so many injuries, this season it will be much worse.

Frankly, possession or not I don't want to see a player like Gustavo leave. He offers something different tactically which is needed esp for certain games. I don't know what will happen with one of Muller or Kroos, esp Kroos since he still hasn't signed that contract extension, and he's a better player than Thiago by quite a distance. Pep will be here for 3-4 years, and Kroos could be here for 10 more years. The thought of having Kroos pushed out of the team due to Pep doesn't sit well. Or Muller for that matter.

 

Isn't Lewandowski supposed to come next season as well? Oh that's lovely, I wonder where all these guys are going to play but rotation!! :S

 

Well I think we can't plan our squad on the assumption that the likes like Ribéry, Robben and Schweinsteiger will stay healthy all season. That's not how it works. I don't know whether the injury situation was really "massive" as you called it. Plus I feel Robben won't be part of Bayern München after 2014 so that will ease the situation on the offensive end.

However I agree that there are a lot of starting lineup material players in central midfield but we'll apparently see a system with three CM's so that should ease the situation a little. The catch is that Martínez might very well drop into central defense after today's presser and that leaves enough of playing time for everybody...well aside from van Buyten and Kirchhoff perhaps but those aren't players I'd heavily depend my planing on.

Luíz Gustavo is a tricky case because I don't see how he really fits into central midfield under Guardiola. Luis van Gaal said that he sees him as a central defender and the Spaniard won't lower his footballing standards for CM compared to the Dutchman I fear.

Plus no matter the Thiago transfer, there is a realistic scenario in which Gustavo asks for a transfer in case he's only the reserve player for Javi Martínez and who could blame Guardiola for preferring Javi? Remember the last interview he gave to ESPN talking about his future? Perhaps those talks are further developed than we know behind closed doors.

Nevertheless it's clear that Guardiola has now a gigantic task ahead of him. Keeping everybody happy won't be easy and it was him who wanted Thiago Alcantara so he as to be held responsible should it not pan.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

After some time thinking about it I came up to this:

Considerations:

- I know that this system probably isn't the one Pep will use, but it was easier to ilustrate in the 4-2-3-1 ...
- I let Badstuber out because he probably won't return this season anyway ...

So, well have this team going in the season:

------------------------Mandzukic (Pizarro)
Ribéry (Shaqiri)---------Kroos (Götze)-------Müller (Robben)
------------Schweinsteiger (Thiago)-Martinez (Gustavo)
Alaba (Contento)-Dante (Kirchhoff)-Boateng (Buyten)-Lahm (Rafinha)
---------------------------Neuer (Starke)

So, it basically is 2 players for each position ... I guess if a major rotation scheme is used by Pep, everyone will have a chance of playing ...

As the next season is concerned, Piza will probably leave, but we'll get Lewandowski and Buyten will probably leave (finally) but Badstuber will be back, so we'll still have 2 guys for each position ...

I just hope that Can and Hojbjerg see some action this season too ...

 

The point is that those players were injured, Robben missed a large part of the season and Kroos as well, and they were replaced well. This year we added 2 other players on top of that. There really isn't much other than you and others hoping things magically fit together while reality is that we have far too many players already fighting for playing time and adding Thiago will not make it any better.

 

The 3rd placed striker? My, yeah that sounds great

 

Thiago Alcantara will be an awful transfer if we get him. Our midfield is already too congested with talent.

 

Well, I understand what you're saying. First of all I think Tymoshchuk already before this season started knew what his role in this squad was, he already knew that other players was in front of him in the line. Alcantara is not coming because it's funny to stay on the bench like Tymoshchuk did, he's coming to play as much possible and let's just say that he's another type of player and more talented. We're already occupied in the offence positions in form of Robben, Shaqiri, Muller, Kroos, Ribery, Mandzukic and Pizarro. Then we sold Gomez to Fiorentina and earlier we've already bought Gotze - let's just say another young talented player. Where's the thinking about the Alcantara transfer? It's not like we need him to fix our system, it's not like Gotze or the other young guys in the team can't fullfill their role on the pitch. I am not saying that Alcantara isn't reinforcement for the team and he could probably be a starter for a lot of elite clubs out there, but personally I don't see where and why Alcantara should be a player which could fix ''Pep's thinking about his style of playing football''.

 

We'll have him beat your ass again this season, and then he can go wherever he wants ...

 

I'm really starting to get excited about next season.