"Kroos'ing to la undécima"- The Official Welcome Toni Kroos Thread

I have been praising Kroos so what agenda?

My agenda is against blind stuoidity and hypocrisy. Stop that shit.

 

That's because James has been working his butt off although it's not his forte. We really aren't seeing the best James because he is expending so much effort on defense.

The irony is James is a better passer shooter and dribbler than Kroos but he is asked to carry more of the defensive load so Kroos can look good doing those things.

 

I don’t buy it, Kroos’s good performances are due to a shift in attitude not who he is partnered with, let’s give credit where it’s due.
James is better shooter but he is neither a better passer or a better dribbler than Kroos, he makes more daring passes ( ie through balls ) but in terms of being accurate with passes that’s nonsense.

 

Sounds like you're describing Pogba.

 

I didn't say it was solely the reason. I said his form got better but Valverde was a supreme catalyst.

You're a fanboy. You don't even care about the facts so I don't know why I bother.

 

In which world? He has less tackles, less interceptions and less clearances per game than Kroos but more lost balls and more mistakes. Passing is worse in almost every single metric and he also has less successful dribblings. If he's working his ass off defensively he isn't doing a good job.

 

So you didn't watch the games. Look at the heat maps maybe.

Like I said Kroos doesn't run, so he doesn't get tired and as a result his passing in the 90th minute is just as crisp as in the 1st.

Plus he makes lots of 5 meter passes, I'm sure James could track up some nice "stats" just passing it back and forth with the cb's all game long.

 

I know some people watch different games based on the players they like but you actually watch Madrid and Toni Kroos play and honestly say this is all that you see?

 

I know you know how to read but you want me to answer your question anyway.

I don't say that's all I see. I inferred that passing the ball back to the CB is an easy way to inflate passing stats and that if James made as many backward passes as Kroos does then he would have similar stats.

I'm glad he doesn't. I like that part of James game in comparison to Kroos.

In that respect James' creative genius is more like a Messi or Ronaldo, who regularly go for the spectacular rather than the safe play. While Kroos is kind of like a Lucas Vasquez, a safe pick that delivers the basics. I'm not saying Kroos is limited to being an average player like Lucas, but that his "style" is the equivalent.

And in Kroos' defense, Barca had a whole team including GK putting up those kinds of numbers and if you've got 11 players doing what Kroos does its almost impossible to get the ball.

 

I’m glad he doesn’t too, as I’ve stated numerous times even though I like the player, I don’t particularly like James as a CM, I don’t really want to see him anywhere near the CB’s unless absolutely necessary , I find he’s less effective on the pitch when he is asked to play as a CM,

too much time spent defending, too far away from goal where I think he’s most useful in terms of creating and scoring chances and too much work for him which always leaves him gassed by the 60th minute or so, two completely different players IMO, even though James has been forced into that CM role, no point in even bothering to compare them as far as I am concerned

 

Oh dear....

 

True, but the point still stands. He needs the other two midfielders to do a lot of work.

 

They reiterate because some are too slow mentally or too bias to understand when told the first hundred times.

Pogba is another who needs a DM and a workrate midfielder but I have never seen you defend him when people rip him when he doesn't have the right pieces around him.

 

What do you know about player quality?

For you the performance means less than the name on the back of their shirt.

 

I'll quietly wait for you to produce the data.

I'll bet I can find GK stats that will show guys with 0 back passes on a season making Kroos and his every game back passing look like amateur hour.

 

Far too often Kroos plays a safe pass rather than advancing the ball to attacking players. We discuss it all the time. Kroos has been better in his last 3 or 4 games overall but it's been an issue for a very long time. We lack creativity and directness in transition and Kroos has been part of that problem.

 

It will all look better if we don’t have players ahead of him who either just turn the ball over trying stupid dribbles or making rubbish passes themselves, stand around waiting for ball to feet instead of making runs who are then instantly covered by one or more defenders, or receive balls passed forward to them and promptly pass the ball right back to him instead of heading towards goal, maybe with those options it’s better to make a safe pass, or I could say “without” those options a safe pass is the best thing , either way same thing, who knows

 

Fair but it's also fair to say often runs in advanced positions are ignored for safe lateral passes. This is one of the reasons Fede has been so impactful, he will make a direct pass that otherwise isn't happening.