Zinedine Iniesco

I think i already said this earlier, Cavani is not joining Madrid. Madrid arent after strikers. Cavani to chelsea as far as im concerned will happen.

One: Higuain isnt garbage. Two: Dont Generalize or else you cant be taken seriously Three: If you mean benzema ( Perez and Zidane have made it clear Benzema and Morata will be our 2 strikers, any rumors of suarez or cavani are false, no one else is joining) He did well in 11/12 but he still has stuff to prove, and has to do even better, if he does badly this season, he is out imo, maybe for suarez despite his attitude and image problems. If you want to generalize, if u made a poll, benzema would win over higuain anyways in the eyes of madrid fans. My point is that if you give higuain a chance im sure he could do very well. If cavani is better, hes not nearly 40 millions better lol. A good team around him, and higuain can flourish well imo. Thats all im saying here, if u want to talk more about higuain reply to me in the higuain thread.

Also, let me drop something about good old gonzalo higuain in this thread. I think that 58 million euros for example for someone like cavani is a disgrace. Im not in total control of the numbers of chelsea and how much the money for cavani would impede the introduction of other players but... If i had to build a team, i wouldnt take cavani. Too expensive. Higuain was never given the right spot to shine in madrid considering Benzema and him exchanged, and ronaldo was the focal point. But his whole game would be more than enough to reach the same numbers as cavani at the very least from what ive seen. Benzema reached better numbers in 11/12 than cavani did in 12/13. Stats arent everything, and cavani has alot of great assets, but if i were to build a team and buy a few midfielders and a striker, id maybe take higuain instead. Too bad higuain doesnt come from a similar season, or else i think hed be under more consideration. In a well built team, where he has a good leading presense, him and a good enough fernando torres would be more than enough imo.

Wrong, if you face a big fish like Bayern or Juventus, youd probably get R@PED with a line up like that. Specially if you face A Martinez-Schweinsteiger Kroos Or Dortmund's pressing.... People shouldnt just jump to conclusions that De Bruyne at the moment has any where near the mastery to be able to play in such a position with enough class to be relevant, and him and david luiz would probably get pressed and submitted into oblivion specially with the doubtful maneuverability and passing of luiz at midfield which is not good when pressed by such midfields. The team would fall under a great threat to be disjointed and put into submission just like madrid was against dortmund in the 4-1. In any case, chelsea wouldnt be favorites to win, far less capable of burying any big fish at that. Plus with bayern you face people like dante, lahm and alaba in the backline, and the most fearsome midfield in the world imo. Marchisio, Pirlo, Pogba, Vidal... Chelsea needs a real midfield not auxillary luiz, or untested, de bruyne.

Carlo has caused a bit of concern among the analytical Madridistas. Your trophy cabinet can come to mean Horse piss if you truly analyze what a manager's substance under various circumstances is. Spanish Paper Marca released an article with bits of opinion from some of his former players and peers. They all make a point on his great man management and class. While Sachhi has reffered to him as simply a more than competent manager with the ability to adapt. The amount of league trouble is a sign of concern, but considering that this is La Liga we are talking about, the circumstances could be a bit more positive towards him. I don't like Perez as a president and nor do i like Carlo Ancelotti as the Manager id appoint to the bernabeu to due his OVERALL track history. His overall package. I'd take Someone like Laudrup or Klopp over him. When comparing trophy cabinets you might call me crazy, but youd be an incompetent fool to think that a trophy cabinet tells all. Laudrup and Klopp show good and even great man management, class, flair, and it all translates to the pitch as well, with very modern pressing football. Carlo will have to impress me, he has the right character for madrid, and we will have to see if he will be successful as a manager. He has a plethora of great players, and the best squad since his Milan days. And we still have players to add in madrid. Considering his profile points to good defense, and a mixture of counter attacking and flair, i think with the players in madrid he has more than enough to build something great. He has more to work with than what he had with chelsea and psg. Also his profile points towards being a good Cup Manager, i have more confidence in Copa Del Rey and Champions league with him than in la liga. But our team, packed with what he brings, and also packed with the fact that madrid will have the man as my avatar ( zidane) as carlo's right hand man (2nd coach) tell me a story of a good locker room vibe, great man management and motivation specially with zidane here, and competent enough players and tactics to do better than mourinho did in madrid. Considering the circumstances madrid are in ( perez and after mourinho period) i give a solid b to the appointment of ancelotti. About his chelsea days... heres a good analysis on his 09/10 season with chelsea. http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/05/10/chelsea-premiership-champions-2009-10/ With the players he had it wouldnt surprise me he had problems. With Madrid he will have a much superior team. Casillas (Lopez) Carvajal (Arbeloa) Varane (Pepe) Ramos (Albiol) Marcelo (Coentrao/If he leaves then preferably a defensive lb none the less) DM (Khedira and Alonso on the bench) Modric Isco Ozil Benzema Ronaldo He could vary the formation, but considering the draw backs of khedira and alonso, and the players like modric and isco he will be brain dead to not put them as starters. Isco is 2nd coming of iniesta as an ACM, modric can do a good job at cm im positive as he also has good work rate, and de rossi and or kondogbia are the names ringing in the bernabeu for DM. Khedira is useless turtle, alonso is broken grandpa and on last year in madrid. ( being a bit hard on alonso but irrelevant at this age and considering madrid will be looking at future.

Spanish Corporation Interconomia's Punto Pelota. ( tv discussion program) If i could give you the link if i could but they were having a discussion an hour ago about a higher up in the deal i think from the napoli side of things, referring to this. i wouldnt doubt it. ( that the deal is close to these numbers.) Anyways, cavani will have to do a tremendous job to live up to this money. The lack of many other choices only makes it easier for napoli to put such a ridiculous price tag.

The guy has a quite considerably bigger release clause than this. Benitez and the board wont let him go for 40 lol. And daily star..Is that reliable at all?

If my sources are correct at all then a very possible reality is that... Cavani will transfer for 58 million euros with a salary of 10 million. Torres could follow Benitez, but i dont know about that.

So Schurlle offers work rate, acceleration, and long shots. He has average passing, and crossing. He can play on the left and drips toward the middle to work behind the forward as a bit of a SS. Despite his work rate he has average stamina, poor defending, and got subbed out 19 times in 36 fixtures for Leverkusen. Had a passing success rate of 78 percent in the bundesliga compared to Hazard's 86 percent in the EPL. Schurrle hold almost twice as much shots per game. 18 Million pounds for him. This equivilates to 21 million euros, about 5 or 6 too much imo. Could be a very good aquisition, and considering his work rate and speed, i could see him star in champions league games where defending and countering will be pivotal for a mourinho system.

People have asked about Modric maybe leaving, i explained to them why it aint happening. That guy brought up ronaldo, i give my thoughts and compare with muller. It all links up, i dont drop it in out of no where, and it is all far more relevant and informant than anything you or anyone else has posted in this thread since. Aside from Boss and Ryan Davidson who bothered to have a nice conversation. Salute to them. My prescence and comments are justified. I treat with respect, if you dont like it, ignore, or set a new standard. Ive given information on konodgbia, Coentrao, soldado, chelsea and mourinho tactics, di maria, and etc. And i have enjoyed every second of it while getting into some good conversations.

Not the perfect analysis but adds more dirt to the ronaldo myth. As dunphy once said..A nothing player... A nothing player is someone who doesnt rank with the iniestas, zidanes, xavis, players who carry teams. Not drag them into one dimensional mess.

Oh and dont forget the lack of football iq when it comes to positioning, and vision compared to someone like muller ffs. Ronaldo is a one dimensional mess compared to the greats. A team carried by messi is atleast carried by someone much more multi faceted in positive ways. Ronaldo is a fad, loved by the un-analytical. And by positioning i dont mean goal scoring, i mean team build up, of all facets. A genious like Matthaus or Xavi are real players, Messi wins balon d ors, justifyingly. As he is the best in every way that might be considered relevant to be known at #1

@ BlueMourinhoKing You have to respect other opinions to a certain degree. I have explained my self, more than enough on my reasoning. Any relevant historic team would be stupid to put Ronaldo in their side. I cant take you seriously at all with the opinions you give but i still try to interact if its the truth you want to hear. The space ronaldo leaves open so that open midfields like mourinhos madrid get exploited is uncanny. The diva needs to learn how to track back more. And its not only that, he minimizes what guys like benzema and ozil can do. If reus was in ronaldo's spot, we would be a better overall team. Ozil and Benzema would be improved, there would be better team work and cohesion, and less salaries and wages as well. Fudge Ronaldo for all that i care lmfao. Lets not even talk about the negative image, and the freekick horror. I doubt you have tactical astuteness of any degree that is to be considered relevant if you cant really atleast understand what im saying.

Is there any relevant point you are trying to make Konohas or just another butthurt outburst? If there is a thread about madrid prospects or players that are under chelsea watch i chip in. I have chipped in on the tactics thread, and i will chip in more once the chelsea season actually starts. Seeing as youve never really gotten into a proper argument with me about anything relevant, either ignore or comply. As i am doing nothing wrong to you intentionally. Madrid forums are more than enough for me if thats all i wanted and obviously its not atm.

Learn to take things into perspective. Alonso is too much of a Nuissance without a good system around him or a great partner. Mourinho gave him none. He is on his last year with Madrid, is 32 in a few months, and is injured till october. This guys is past it, we need a much more capable midfield and he will not be part of the future. If other clubs want him thats their problem, but here in madrid players like isco, gundogan, modric, and kondogbia are the future. At best he could serve as sub, but the best for everyone is for alonso to leave madrid. Go to the thread on chelsea formations write above the transfer section i believe and i wrote a piece on alonso and on what chelsea could look like with mourinho. Or how it should if he has learned from his madrid stay. Take not that im being harsh on alonso and khedira by calling them Dead and Piss respectively but it is what i see them as when talking about wanting a midfield that can take on Busquets Xavi iniesta Martinez Schweinesteiger Kroos etc. Alonso is on the latter stage of his career, past his prime, and past his use. Thanks for the memories alonso as he is one of my favorite players of all time because of his class outside the pitch, and his nice passes, but as a player he was never complemented well in madrid, and a new generation has arrived. About khedira, i have suffered enough years of iniesta ripping khedira into pieces far enough. The guy has no acceleration or technique, not the best of positional awareness, and turns like a tank.

Cr7 is a cancer who disables the effectiveness of many other players. Right here its all about creating a more than competent midfield and overall team. Xabi Alonso is a disgrace at this point. His last year in madrid this will be, he should be moved aside. Far too immobile and done for mr alonso. Modric and isco can play like that, while kondogbia shows great defensive abilities. Despite being raw with his passing, with guys like isco and modric you dont need kondogbias passing to be the best yet. Also we have to say that isco and modric have the work rate required and will only get better in that aspect. This is way better at counter attacking lol. Better defending from midfield, and isco and modric can either launch balls or make runs. It will be a fest of midfielders delivering to the forwards as kondogbia cleans everything up, with help from modric in special. Ive seen others post Kondogbia Modric Ozil Isco Benzema Ronaldo in a 4-2-2-2 but i wouldnt go with that. If carlo has a brain he will go with this midfield. Sami is shit. Alonso is dead ( footbalistically speaking). Also Madrid practically has kondogbia but he doesnt want to be loaned for a year back to sevilla to develop, which is what madrid has implied to do. Since there are so little option, knodgbia doesnt want loan, and there are others after him, AND perez and zidane love him, hes probably gonna come to madrid.

To have a player like Kondogbia really do well you need some good partners around him atm. His passing is not developed enough, and hes not mature enough to be given too many roles in a midfield he has too much to carry in. Heck Madrid have so little options that they could go for Kondogbia as a starter, and despite his inability to make great long passes he wouldnt have to with guys like modric and isco around him. WHo does kondogbia have in chelsea that can build a constructive midfield with him atm? Kondogbia if to be used atm as the raw player he is needs a good system to play in, where passing is not pressured as much and where he doesnt have so much to carry. He already has the aerial ability and tactical discipline enough to star beside passers like isco and modric imo.

@ Blue Lyon, Isco, Ozil and Modric are all different types of players. Considering Alonso is on his way out and Khedira is horse piss Kondogbia Modric Isco Seems like the real deal. Modric can play CM and has good work rate. Isco is the second coming of iniesta, and ACM, a position guys like Mata, Ozil cant really play, heck not even Gotze to the same extent. Ozil was never the correct piece in the middle, will be switched to the right. Khedira will be back up as he is a B2B and would serve jack in a midfield as the one posted. Di Maria will either go if bale comes( which i dont want and also is seeming very unlikely atleast for this window) or he will stay for depth but he wont start in any case the way i see it. @ Blue Army, gets with the program. At this point what you have posted is like saying Neymar is about to sign for Madrid or something. Not same situation but same ridiculousness with all due respect. You also cant have two top strikers competing for one spot specially in a place like madrid will goal scoring goes more to ronaldo. Morata will be given 2nd striker role. Jese back up role as callejon can gtfo if deemed as surplus. And in Carvajal and Varane Madrid have the most talented young RB and CB in the world. Only real competition to Carvajal in this category is Di Sciglio.

Thank you for the Kind reply Bluefire, it is truly enlightening and refreshing to see such kind reception to different ideas these days. I have a blog on Real Madrid, maybe you would like it. http://therealmadridzone.blogspot.com/2013/06/mourinhos-legacy-bringing-mourinho-to.html That link is a link about my description on Mourinho. Its a bit harsh but true the way i see, with "logical" back up. But for sake of keeping peace with many in the forum, i will refrain from talking too negatively about Mourinho's time in Madrid, as i can. It wasnt really good is all i can say and the heavy burden falls on him. Now about Alonso.. I just wanna say that, as a DLP theres probably not much better than he was during his prime years because there werent and arent much high class DLP's to begin with. In madrid he served a bit as The DM/DLP/, his role was defend and send balls. The problem is that he is so IMMOBILE that he gets easily marked. He really is a nuissance if he doesnt have the correct system playing with him and around him. That is why Alonso got destroyed In the Man United Tie, and We got destroyed in the dortmund tie. Hence in the 2nd leg of the Dortmund tie in the Semi Finals, Modric was played next to alonso since they had to go for broke, and Dortmund had much more to worry about than alonso, while also giving Him more liberty to pass to a capable creative midfielder. But this wouldnt work day in day out. Not one bit. Alonso is only getting worst, and with the players Madrid now has and also considering he is out till october with injury and that this is his last year in contract, i see him and khedira to relinquish starter spots in Madrid, and alonso to leave Period. Options for defensive midfielders are limited for Madrid and it seems that by the end our mid might be.. Kondogbia Modric Isco. Or something along the lines. Bastian is a B2B because he can do a bit of everything but is def different to another B2B like Toure. Hes A B2B CM thats as best as i can describe it. Good defense and CM quality performance. Of course, Alonso could make the ball run but remember that he has to help the defense and have ability to move specially when the lines are so distant, and his team is a counter attacking team. Gundogan would be perfect for madrid for this reason and is rumored to join next season. Midfield is everything and midfield battles have to be won. If anything Oscar seems to me like he could do the ACM thing at the very least in the middle. There are alot of things going on with brazil but let me remind you that Oscar plays the whole season with Chelsea, not the same with Brazil. Not the same cohesion and connection. Brazil have also looked kinda bad in my opinion. Only neymar has looked dynamic. The other day they were playing with Paulinho and Luiz Gustavo and Oscar in the number 10 role if im not mistaken. It wasnt going to end well with two players behind him that are jacks of all trades but masters at none. It gives a bit of an Image to brazil, and in the end atm i dont think id see them beat spain or germany for example.

Wow, nice job on taking your time for sharing your thoughts. I salute you. These are my comments... In Mourinho's 4-2-3-1 specially, the lines between defense, midfield, and attack are a bit farther and this means theres a whole lot of work the midfielders have to do in transition. When you look at the 4-2-3-1 that Spain plays for example, you have xavi really close to the pivot, and the players like iniesta are closer, hence the whole team really attacks and defends more together than a team like Mourinho's as shown in real madrid. So theres a difference in 4-2-3-1, and depending on the players you have and how you organize it, it can give you different results. Thats one of the reasons many use it, as it is flexible.. Or can be...Mourinho failed with madrid..seriously lol. For a team with such lines, he needed a good pivot...and he didnt make it one. About the 1st point you make about DLP...you should read the comments ive made eariler in this page and the previous one i believe. You dont necessarily need a DLP but you clearly need someone who is preferably mobile and has good passing ability, and able to launch counter attacks with his passing and preferably with runs. You could have pivots of CDM CDM DM CM B2B/ DLP ETC. Spain's is more along the first one. Madrid's was the third one under mourinho. Meaning Alonso stayed behind and sprayed balls, while khedira moved around to help link up and defense. A jack of all trades master of none. The problem here is that Alonso is a very slow and immobile player. A nuissance if you dont have a correct system. Technically always a nuissance if you have a player that can bring what he can, but with mobility. So Alonso could easily be marked out of games, and annihlated if marked and was overall nevr a good pick to be in a pivot with khedira. The problem with khedira is that he lacks so much speed and technical ability that he becomes irrelevant, and the midfield gets overun by faster or technically superior players/systems. Mascherano worked so well with Alonso because mascherano could really lay the heat in the midfield and protected Alonso more. In Madrid, the pivot consistently got raped. With alonso you would preferably have a very complete b2b like yaya toure if you wanted a b2b but mourinho failed. So here you can have multiple types of players, you dont need a DLP, as it is also a bit more one dimensional if you wanted to change formations. Alonso is bullsht compared to someone like gundogan when it comes to overall quality and resources. Sorry for my frankness. Alonso could provide some defense though and thats why he had his time in spain as he had a system that let him perform well. But gundogan like players are much more reliable in variety. Now about the Cam position... In any 4-2-3-1 its preferable to have an ACM if you can, Maybe you can have a Cam next to him, Mata is Not ACM, Oscar from what ive heard from the peers in the forum can be capable of doing this. An ACM simply put is a player like iniesta or isco who can drop deeper and be LM , ACM, CM, etc if they have to. They can form part of a 3 man midfield. Busquets Xavi Iniesta Iniesta is the ACM. Del bosque tried to make Xavi and ACM of a sort but he is not really adequate there and thats why he doesnt shine as much regularly for spain as for barcelona. Mata, SIlva, Ozil...They cant do this... they should be put at the right, and thats why i expect to see with chelsea, and madrid, and maybe even city. Isco could have been very good for city but they got owned in the race. Anyways... Oscar is more suitable for this role than any other player in the team. There are things such as work rate, and stamina, and vision, and tactical awareness that you need from these players, so that they can be part of the midfield and attack and help you win midfield battles. You cant have a pivot with a low work rate ACM and pretend to win. Oscar has better work rate and possibly the correct resources that mata and eden dont. Hazard Oscar Mata it is imo. Also about the DLP'S i forgot to mention that when you have guys like pique, bonucci, varane, aka good passers of the ball, the deep playing aspects of deep playing playmakers could be replaced. You could have a midfield of a midfield ram like Toure and schweinsteiger and Kroos, with a ball playing cb coming in from behind with passes. Ideally you would have good work rate on your players but id expect to see the work rate to improve in all of chelsea players to improve team performance. Schweinsteiger is not a DLP hes more of a B2B CM. Food for thought. Btw you cant have someone like alonso as high up as he is in your formation. I dont knot about luiz but i doubt he has the tools to be anything more than a utility player as a midfield player. He should stay in the back line if you want a credible team. Illaramendi has good defense and is a bit of a CDM alonso type player, but much more mobile. You can put another cdm like lars bender. Or a b2b with exceptional defending abilities.

Formation will stick at 4-2-3-1 considering the players and mourinho. The thing here is that with a good enough midfield and a good acm, there could be good variety, question is if mourinho can buy the right pieces, exude the work ethic from mata, oscar, and hazard, and his midfielders, and also tactically do a good job. With the right purchases i see chelsea going beyond what madrid reached with madrid considering the possible aditions to midfield and attack and defense. But not in 13/14.

Khedira would always serve as a back up player. And Alonso is out till october and is on his last year in madrid. Kondogbia is the future, and if carlo uses players like modric and isco which he must unless hes mentally challenged, then knodgbia could do well. Knodgbia is raw though. He needs to improve his technical abilities. Anyways main reason he isnt guaranteed move to madrid immediatley for example is because hes a bit raw.

Ozil would not serve as winger, there are teams like spain which use guys like silva to great effect, ozil would be implemented in a different way, but his movements, and crossing abilities along with daniel carvajal overlapping leave a great taste in my mouth. Im worried about his work rate. Isco better than ozil at counters? i wouldnt say that atm. Ozil has bullsht finishing. hes not confident enough. If you look at his match against barcelona in copa del rey at camp nou in 2011/2012, thats as confident as ive seen him, and he had tremendous dribbling, shots, and passing. He needs more of that. If he does not finish all too well its also because of how the team has been built around him. He also doesnt have the best of stamina.

It is about 8 million euros. RUmors are madrid have a deal already with him, to be dealed with further after the u20 world cup. Other say that kondogbia doesnt really like the idea of staying at sevilla one more year to develop as some thing madrid would try to activate. It depends on many variables, madrid look like favorites, but if they mess up, then chelsea would ideally jump on him like rabid dogs. He has B2B abilities as well if anyone has bothered to really pay lots of attention to his game. But not to the extremes of someone like Ramires. Think of yaya toure, but with an even stronger defensive future imo.

Today in modern football you need great team work and a bit of flexibility. With someone like Klopp madrid could be gods. Imagine if Kondogbia lives up to the hype, Gundogan goes to madrid, and ozil ( which im confident he will) is able to play to the right... Kondogbia Gundogan Isco Ozil Benzema Ronaldo Plus a million other variables with guys like khedira, modric, maybe di maria on the bench.. on top of that madrid castilla starlet jese, and carvajal overlapping like a king. Madrid have the two best young rb and cb in the world imo at 21 and 20 respectively. ( de sciglio is only young competition do dani carvajal atm) Isco is along those lines as well, with gotze. With kondogbia and gundogan, this team will have enough gasoline for a long time. Bale could of course make it harder for ozil, game over for di maria, impossible for jese, and limit our variability with such a one diemensional player like bale. He wont leave spurs this window im confident. Hopefully madrid do well, bale has a putrid season, and zidane and carlo convince perez out of bale.