He'll probably even change to CM when players like Schweinsteiger or Gustavo call it a day or start getting worse. Who knows. He certainly likes the CM position more.
What is a converted LM?
None of your fullbacks are better defenders than Alaba.
Please tell us you're trolling? Alaba has firmly established himself as one of the best left backs in the world. To even place Gibbs name in the same sentence is baffling and I'm going to make the assumption that you haven't watched him regularly for the last two seasons. Gibbs has nothing on him...
You watch zero Bayern games.
Sagna and Gibbs are worth about as much as your opinion. feck all.
His contract is up in 2015 and there are rumours right now that talks over a new contract are stalling because he not only wants a significant pay rise (rumours are Bayern offered €6m a year), but also reassurances that he will be moved to CM in the future. He clearly enjoys playing with Ribery on the left and the role of our fullbacks changed to more presence in central midfield since Guardiola tookover, but I'm not sure that's enough for him. I'm not worried he won't sign an extension, but he and his father talk a lot about him wanting to play in CM, so I think it needs to happen in a few years, if we want him to stay throughout his career.
But you need shakalaka boom boom fullbacks, not proper fullbacks what ever that is. Obviously you're still new to shakalaka boom boom football.
ffs pete. Does your trolling know no bounds?Interesting, it will be hard to gage how he will perform as a CM in the future - in respect to other clubs trying to poach him.
At the moment though, he's got a hell of a lot of competition. Gustavo was just sold due to not being guaranteed any matches at CM. Martinez, Kroos and Thiago are all still young and Pep's used Lahm/Shaqiri there as well.
I'd compare him with Schweinsteiger, if I had to. (I don't really rate Toure as a CM, so that wouldn't be a compliment for Alaba
) But I haven't seen him play that role often enough either. I don't watch games with the Austrian nationalteam unless they play Germany, it's really not that exciting to be honest, and he only played in CM a few times years ago for Bayern. I think there was at least one user from Austria on the Caf, maybe he can tell more about him in that role, no idea what his username was though.It's not as crazy as it looked before we sold Gomez, Gustavo and Can actually. If one of Müller or Götze plays as the striker in our best formation, it looks something like:At the moment though, he's got a hell of a lot of competition. Gustavo was just sold due to not being guaranteed any matches at CM. Martinez, Kroos and Thiago are all still young and Pep's used Lahm/Shaqiri there as well.
It's a tough one. The guy's probably world class at fullback but still wants to move to CM. He'll probably end up being great at CM as well - especially considering his athleticism. Spoilt for choice Balu! We hate you!
His positioning is still questionable at times, he's wandering around too much, even if he is supposed to be one of '2 in a 4-2-3-1 formation (which we usually play with the national team). Passing is excellent, off the ball movement too and he somehow seems to show up in the box without getting noticed by the opponents (a bit like Lampard), but he really has to work on the defensive side of his game. At the moment I would say he's best used as the furthest of our midfield three, but he drops deep a lot to collect the ball so it doesn't really matter. If he plays well, we (Austria) play well. If he doesn't... well, we are a lot worse.
Wannabe winger? Now that Lahm is a midfielder - at least for his club, he is - Alaba is the best full-back in the world. Very strong defensively, more so than required, & excellent going forward. What strikes me is his intelligence - most attacking full backs like Dani Alves or Marcelo have average or below-par footballing brains, they're simply expected to overlap, cross & jog backwards as the midfielders do their defensive jobs for them. Alaba just seems to do everything so well, & can play in any midfield in the world - he'd start for Real, or even Barca now that they've started to shift from Tiki Taka. He's a top quality player. He's fecking 21 too!Wow, most of that post is 'slightly' exaggerated. However, I also usually prefer the CM type of fullback to the winger type of fullback and Alaba is certainly the former. He's basically a wide playmaker starting deep. I always loved these type of fullbacks, but they are rare at top level, even better that we have two of them right now (and Lahm will go back to rightback, when our CM injury crisis is over, so he's not a full time midfielder now for Bayern).
A wee bit OTT there CC
Stop bragging about your squad depth Balu
Stop bragging about your squad depth Balu
I don't think Alaba will play in midfield this season, mainly because the drop in quality is way bigger than with Rafinha on the right. Badstuber could play there, but I'm not sure if he's a player Pep would use there and he's out for the season anyway. We'll have to wait what level he reaches next season after being out for about 18 months with injures. I suggested that Shaqiri might be used there a few times, but it never happened so far. It looks like Contento is the backup and will play when Alaba is missing/rotated.
Thanks for the info bro. Pity about Badstuber. Why's he missing the season? Didn't he miss msot of last season as well? The poor lad must be gutted.
I don't think Alaba will play in midfield this season, mainly because the drop in quality is way bigger than with Rafinha on the right. Badstuber could play there, but I'm not sure if he's a player Pep would use there and he's out for the season anyway. We'll have to wait what level he reaches next season after being out for about 18 months with injures. I suggested that Shaqiri might be used there a few times, but it never happened so far. It looks like Contento is the backup and will play when Alaba is missing/rotated.
Tore his ACL for the second time when he started training after the first time, then had to wait 3months until he could have surgery again and now it's all complicated and takes more time to heal.
A wee bit OTT there CC
That said, I think that will apply to him in a few years - I really do believe he'd be able to hold his own in any midfield sooner rather than later, depending on whether he gets regular game time there. I think he's best as a full back though. Cracking talent.
