You Was talking all that shit about Barca becoming a juggernaut during the summer and then you acted like you didn't know.
I promise you that probably the best midfielder in the world is not done. There is no midfielder that can distribute the ball as well as Kroos does and dictates play as he does. Absolutely agree that you need to dynamism to your midfield, but that doesn't include replacing Kroos. You can do that by playing Fede and Camavinga more, and continuing to add to your midfield depth. One bad game does not make a player done.
It's our biggest issue because we play three midfielders that can't carry the ball out themselves, and often have little outlet from the wing backs to do so either. Replace one or two with dynamic ball carriers or upgrade your full back to players that can do that, and your problem is much less a problem. But you don't fix one problem by introducing a second one. It's like saying we failed to score more than 1 goal for 4 games, Vini and Benz are done instead of saying that RW spot is a dead end.
Modric can and does carry the ball forward. Also, what you said doesn't make sense. You just said "replace one or two with dynamic ball carriers". Well, of the three midfielders, Casemiro is the one with the more specialist DM role which definitely can't be replaced by Kroos. You seem to be advocating for Kroos to be replaced but at the same time defending him....
SMS is the best option for the next 5-10 Years as a midfielder. He knows spanish already. He got the technical skills and efficiency to please the socios and he is the kind of player Real Madrid needs right now to rotate with Modric Kroos and Valverde. He will be a star.
Modric doesn't carry the ball at this point of his career. He deceives to get out of pressure, but isn't a ball carrier in any sense of the word. Casemiro playing against every opposition isn't the smartest idea either. Strategy is quite simple, shut off Kroos who is one of the world's best passers out of pressure, and press the hell out of Casemiro the minute he gets the ball. Any above average press team wins the ball back with quite ease in our own half. But you have no alternative to Casemiro at the moment, no one that can occupy that space with anything similar from the defensive perspective.
Lukita just needs the same turn over that was used between 2016 and 2018 to be in full shape for the Big games. He Plays too much. But now with the lighter schedule i think he will perform well in the return against Paris.
Simply can't play Kroos and Casemiro at the same time, leaves Modric to cover too much ground on his own plus connect with the front 3. 2017 this trio was in their prime and it was an issue then, tack on 5 years and a lot of miles and it's a recipe for disaster now. If Carlo is hellbent on KCM, then he's going to have to abandon 433 and add another midfielder in there to help them out.
Os tiene bailando el Bild pic.twitter.com/yOc2rwMK1j— Andres Martinez (@LosSublimes) February 20, 2022 Bild today... "Is this storm really Real?" Or something along those lines...
Really?, who is a better DM than Case that puts out fires and covers ground, it's like all people see is the errors he makes on the ball, that's all they watch for, and even then i can't think of a DM that scores as much as he does, without the ball i can't think of a better DM ,Case covers lots of ground closing spaces and winning the ball, Do we need to refresh the middle, yes, we've already begun to, but reading some of the posts you'd think this team with this midfield has been winning nothing and finishing midtable for years, it's pretty odd
These midfielders are about to win more ligas in 3 seasons than Ronaldo r9 Raul Beckham Figo Zidane won together while being spanked by Juninho's Lyon left and right. People have a short memory.
And that Galactico era was an absolute flop from the moment Beckham arrived. Most of those players spent more years not winning trophies than they did winning. There's more fantasy around the Galacticos era than reality.
Lol, Vinicius is completely undroppable the way he's played in his breakout season. For a 34-year-old Benzema, age is just a number. He's a top 3 striker in the world & shows no signs of decline. For comparison, a 24-year-old Raul was finished as a world class player. Although I think Haaland is better than Benzema, I don't mind passing up the Norweigan to sign a player who's a much better fit alongside Mbappe to maximize his strenghts. During CR7 era, Benzema was never rated as a world class #9 like Suarez/Lewy/Zlatan/Higuain/Cavani/Falcao/Kane/ etc. The Benzema thread on RMBS is proof of it. However, he was a fantastic fit to Cristiano and it's why the Frenchman stayed at Madrid despite being treated as a meme by RM fans. Real Madrid needs to build around Mbappe, just like the club did with Cristiano. Alexander Isak would've been an ideal singning if it wasn't for his €90m release clause. His skillsets is extremely similair to Benzema and wouldn't earn tons of money. Although Haaland is levels above Isak, the former is a bad fit next to Mbappe. The latter has publicly complained of playing with poachers like Giroud & Icardi. Haaland & Mbappe could have same on-field chemistry issue like Higuain & Cristiano had.
As soon as we get a decent attack, if Carlo is still here he should replicate what he did with Pirlo and play the KFC. Kroos in the Pirlo role flanked by Fede and Camavinga. The KFC will be a welcome change to the Burger King era.
Not this years version of Casemiro no (he’s still the last mid of the 3 I’d drop), which isn’t entirely his fault considering he’s had zero rotation since 2016 in a physically demanding position. Anyway it’s not his job to get forward and that’s where Modric needs help with another shuttler. Kroos doesn’t offer that, so again drop Kroos for Fede or add another mid, there’s no way around it.
The problem is that KCM fit so well together, you can’t swap one or two out and expect that Fede/Camavinga can play well with whom ever remains. Expecting Camavinga and Fede to play with Casemerio as the same level of Kroos/Modric is not reality. Carlo’s hands are tied. We’ve adapted the tactics to play those 3, for good and the bad. Truth is we’re going to play KCM for another season. Modric will get his extension and Kroos may decide to hang it up next year with him in summer of 2023. Casemerio will still get minutes after, even though he’s a complete liability, and his contract runs for two more years after so there’s that problem since he’s not able to play with Fede/Camavinga. I don’t see where we are going to add any MF to the squad this up coming summer, apart from another teenager that won’t play (like Camavinga)
Well if we win the league, what a tragedy that will be, having to play even one of these KCM losers again next season, i say sell all of them, fresh start, then we don't have to play any of them, So that's Eden, Vallejo, Gareth, Isco, Marco, Ceballos, Mendy and Rodrygo ( flops) Carva always injured, Mariano, Jovic, Marcelo, Toni, Case, Luka. am i forgetting anyone?, and buy a whole brand new shiny team who can compete at the highest level, first task, if we win the league this season, win the league to at least start on par
Nobody is saying this. Quit being dramatic with these extremes and stay on topic already. You either believe we can compete on all fronts with KCM as is or you don't. So if not, what's your solution? I'm all ears.
completely disagree here. Benzema is 34, and is starting to show his age with regard to injuries. He’s been fit for most of his career but he’s been logging minutes and now playing for the FNT and with a winter WC, expecting him to play every game is not realistic. Buying another Jovic is a foolish roll of the dice. Benz is so gifted technically he could probably play until he’s 40, but at the expense of our counter attack. Looking Mbappe and Vinny and playing with Haaland we could have a really fun counter attack again back to the BBC days. No one really knows, but to assume Haaland and Mbappe cannot play with each other like Higuian and CR7 is not the same. Higuian was the problem, he’s had issues everywhere he’s played. Based on their styles I think Mbappe and Haaland would compliment each other quite well and we could have a devastating counter attack with Vinny. Haaland is the current generational talent that looks like he could have a career at the top for the next 10 years. Missing out on him could set us back as we toil away with an aging and possibly oft injured Benz and the Jovic de jour as the back up.
Well no one really knows how compatible a Vinicius-Haaland-Mbappe frontline is. But I bet my money everyone here wants to see it.
I don't think Benzema's injuries has anything to do with age. He doesn't get any rest whatsoever because Ancelotti is extremely stubborn to play his favorites no matter what. A 29-year-old Luka Modric was injury prone in 2014-15 season because Ancelotti refused to give him rest and Real Madrid completely collapsed at the end of that season. Speaking about injuries, I find it much more concering that a 21-year-old Haaland can't stay fit. This season, he missed more games than a 34-year-old Benzema. Given to his injury history, I assume you don't want him? Haaland is an phenomenal poacher and Mbappé is also mainly a goalscorer. For this to work, one would have to sacrifice his scoring numbers like Benzema did for Cristiano. But I don't see that happening because they are both too focused on their stats. Like I previously said, we already saw it happen in Real Madrid with Cristiano and Higuain. Higuain is a poacher and Cristiano was too focused on his stats to play a supporting role for Higuain. Everywhere he goes, Cristiano needs to be the main finisher on his team. When he signed to Juventus, Higuain had to leave again and even explained that Juventus asked him to go to make room for Cristiano (you can look it up he talked about it in an interview). Anyone seeing one scarificing his stats for the other?