But again, you’re assuming that TAA will have to provide that width. He was at his best tucked in, in a midfield role. And this is where Fede should be unleashed up on the right to use his ball progression. Tactics are fluid, it doesn’t need to be objected to the traditional limitations of pigeon holed roles.
He walks out of the field with his shirt and kit shining white like he just came on. He's an empty calorie player does insignificant thing incredibly well so he looks much better than he actually is. Can't create at a high level, can't defend even with a weapon on him. Not a player I think is bad, just insultingly average.
It’s weird how much he affects you dude. It just is. It’s also weird that I’m defending him because he’s never been a player I’ve really enjoyed. But he has a role in the squad and again his absence this season after the injury did lead to a downturn in our play. That’s not insignificant. He was working very hard defensively and playing a role of connector between the backline and attackers pretty well. You are being overly harsh on the player. If we replace him with a younger player who offers similar traits then I’m fine with it but it’s no coincidence that our best play in this disappointing season coincided with him playing in the midfield more regularly. He was earning praise from a lot of us at that time, but the damn injuries again.
He's what I consider worse than a bad player, he's truly somebody that just goes along. He plays for TV and always has, always scuttles about and looks active but it's just his body language, moves a lot when he doesn't need to. Truly an odd guy.
Even Tuchel is saying this right this minute as England coach but..... what do those guys know, we know better
Yeah multiple red flags on this guy. Would probably not be as bad if he played on our strongest side, but he plays on a side where he will be left completely on his own
Regarding right side, that's still the only unknown part. Rest of the starting XI is looking like Courtois, Carreras, Huijsen/Asencio, Rudiger, TAA, Fede, Tcho, Jude, Mbappe and Vini. We don't know whether Rodrygo stays or goes. And if there will be 4 midfielder system with a starting level signing or whether Guler will start. Or if Rodrygo will be replaced with another winger. TAA has to defend better is a known criticism. Same could be made about Marcelo in his prime as well. Thankfully had the greatest in Ramos to cover that left side of Ron/Marcelo during counters.
Agreed, and I actually think we have the perfect player in Fede to complement what Trent had been doing under Klopp lately. It gives us a lot of interesting options and I’m sure Xabi will be eager to find an opportunity there. Even in a 4-3-3, playing Trent at RB offers us the opportunity to transition into a four man midfield when we have the ball (with Carreras then tucking into defence more for balance). In a 4-4-2, it can mean Trent coming into midfield, then either Fede going up to the right side, or Jude joining the attack. Trent’s flexibility offers a lot of creativity for Xabi.
Romano: Álvaro Carreras could also play his final game for Benfica today as Real Madrid plan to close the deal and sign him in the upcoming days. Full focus on the final… then official bid will follow from Real Madrid to advance on Carreras deal. 🚨⚪️ Álvaro Carreras could also play his final game for Benfica today as Real Madrid plan to close the deal and sign him in the upcoming days.Full focus on the final… then official bid will follow from Real Madrid to advance on Carreras deal. pic.twitter.com/ExqSzrj5Yb— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) May 25, 2025 Real Madrid have agreed EVERYTHING with Álvaro Carreras. Personal terms are CLOSED. The player has made A LOT of effort and he’s DYING to join. After the Portuguese Cup final, Real Madrid will work to fully CLOSE the deal with Benfica. @diarioas 🚨 JUST IN: Real Madrid have agreed EVERYTHING with Álvaro Carreras. Personal terms are CLOSED.The player has made A LOT of effort and he’s DYING to join.After the Portuguese Cup final, Real Madrid will work to fully CLOSE the deal with Benfica. @diarioas pic.twitter.com/fWyzfWkWIK— Madrid Xtra (@MadridXtra) May 25, 2025
https://www.realmadrid.com/es-ES/noticias/club/comunicados/comunicado-oficial-xabi-alonso-25-05-2025 Xabi Alonso arrives.
Fede is injured....arghh... good thing is that he will probably not play the internationals coming up. Now how do we convince Florentino to sign Stiller and Paz immediately for the Club World Cup? Give Fede and Jude a break till the season starts? It'd be fun to watch Stiller - Paz - Arda play together in the summer tournament while we rest our heavyweights for the start of official pre-season.
Carreras was doing a pretty good job defending Yamal in the limited time they played each other. Thats at least something.
Fede out for a week only which might be an injury to skip NT game lol. My guess is every team in CWC will take their best squad to the tournament. Don't see any of them leaving out important players.
He is of the most biased posters here. So one should not be surprised of the smoke and mirrors he uses to justify his opinion. Ceballos is a fine rotation player for his role. Just too injury prone and too inconsistent. He is arguing like he's a fraud Toni Kroos level player.
There is no way that you can empirically prove these statements, "empty calories", "plays for tv", "doesnt get shirt dirty", "does the insignificant things well"... what are the insignificant things and what are the significant ones?? There is zero analysis here, just cliche phrases and it screams personal dislike for whatever reason. As I said in the previous post Ceballos is not worldclass, but I think someone else mentioned the other day that there is a drought of this type of player. Midfielders nowadays are either a destroyer (example Tchou/Fofana), a deep lying playmaker (Lobotka/Rovella), a final third creator (Wirtz/Paz) or a box to box crasher (Bellingham/Valverde). Iniesta type midfielders are a dying breed. Just for the fact that Ceballos is this type of midfielder makes me forgive whatever intangibles he doesn't possess which prevent him from being worldclass.
Did you even read the conversation or did you just take the chance to jump in to be negative? Who was arguing the point that TAA was not great defensively?
I posted the output of his entire professional career here once put together and asked "what do you think of this players season?" and people said "seems decent". He produces nothing and simply doesn't work hard enough to justify it. His shot isn't a threat, his deep balls have zero pop or danger to them. Truly just somebody that receives the ball and passes it on, without any standout trait or attribute that makes him a worry for the opponent. Rarely passes the ball behind the line, isn't even close to being as much of a ball carrying assett as anybody else on the midfield. Can't remember a less threatening player in this kit. If you're an opponent and he has the ball, you can feel completely comfortable. I refuse to believe we can't find a player that does all that, plus puts in a shift. I think the club keeps him around as the last option, and he's comfortable with that. Just think he's not a winning player.
Tchouameni is a much less threatening player. I'd say Camavinga too since he has a tendency to run with the ball straight into trouble.
Tchouameni and Camavinga are good enough defensively to play as defenders. Ceballos isn't even good enough defensively to be a midfielder with defensive responsibility. Please behave. He puts interception and tackle numbers similar to Vinicius.
The Ceballos type of player is very rare and if you're a level higher at that type of player you would be Iniesta. Who coincidentally had similar numbers (G+A) as Ceballos.
Dude he's freaking average in every single way. Comparing him to Iniesta, i'd rather drink dishwasher fluid. Out of your mind.
Same type/class/role of player. Who should I compare him to? Apparently Tchouameni/Camavinga was not valid despite them also being CMs. And hes an above average passer and dribbler. So yeah, I hope you will be unneccessarliy seething for another year about his presence as a rotation player.
Is anyone here cool with Madrid paying Liverpool a couple mil so that we could get TAA early in time for the CWC? Also Rodrygo’s mysterious “injury” is sus to me. I feel he’s almost as good as gone.