Jese is considered a clown now but you're right, before that horrible injury, he looked so promising
La liga 2021/22
- Thread starter carvajal
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After these types of games I always feel envy for the midfield and for the value they give to the academy while ours have barely played.
What I want the least now is to think about Haaland but signing good midfielders and a coach capable of sitting down the hierarchs by choice or by imposition.
What I want the least now is to think about Haaland but signing good midfielders and a coach capable of sitting down the hierarchs by choice or by imposition.
Ancelotti without Benzema:
OK Ole
I hope our next manager will give more chances to Hannibal and Garner
Real Madrid's future will be a team of counter-attacks. Camavinga and Valverde are box-to-box players. And up front Mbappe and Vinicius.
A player with quality to dominate the midfield was Odegaard but it seems that Madrid prefers another style of midfielders.
Its not about style but favoritism, the nostalgia-XI always got to play, Valverde saw the bench a lot more than he should have too, despite being a different style than Ødegaard.
I wonder if Messi is thinking of coming back to Barca now. 
Don’t forget Ansu. If not injured he would be on Pedri’s level. Ansu was considering the biggest Barca talent before his injury.
He is coming back mid April.
There are reports that Jorge Messi contacted Barcelona to try and initiate his son's return. Xavi is smart and will never ever say it openly but he would never want Messi back. in fact, one of the rumoured reasons he rejected the job earlier was because Messi was there. With Messi in your team, you simply cannot play a functional positional play system in the modern era. Non-existent off the ball movement to create space for his teammates, does not cut off passing lanes of the opposition, always leaving the space he should be occupying and overloading areas that do not need to be overloaded in the centre. His era is over at the club and Laporta did the right thing. Johan Cruijff predicted all this would happen before he died. No player should ever be bigger than the club.I wonder if Messi is thinking of coming back to Barca now.
Xavi will take Messi back, Messi won’t be the main focal point like before but he definitely could make Messi formidable again at Barca:
https://www.si.com/fannation/soccer...si-barca-door-open-for-best-player-in-history
This is what Xavi had to say
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But I agree with everything you wrote. No way should Barca go back to Messi now with their current trajectory and how bright the future looks.
Exactly. His story should be done
Even if we win La Liga and UCLwe do need a new manager than Ancelotti.
Well it is much more difficult in UCL with teams such as city, pool etc are used to these kind of tactics. But they are on right path and should be able to compete again.
Has had way too many big injuries very early in his career, feel it may have ruined his true potential but I could be wrong
I actually think he could play a very important role for this young Barca team if he accepted less money. He would still be a really important piece for this growing team.
If you mean ala Alves, would his ego allow him to be a part time player on the pitch but a guide off it ? I seriously doubt it. If he wants the same role as before, everything centered around him then Barca as whole will regress
I think Barca would be mad to take him back. His best days are clearly over, and he will still cost them a hefty sum in terms of wages. Despite the financial situation improving, they are still under heavy restrictions when it comes to their wage bill, so putting a Messi on there would be madness.
Given that he's old now and how disinterested he's looked at PSG, Barca should definitely not let nostalgia get in the way and sign Messi. However, Demebele probably will still leave and Messi would still be a lot better an option than Adama on that right wing.
You can't play the way Xavi has Barca playing now with (the current version of) Messi. Yes, he looks barely interested in Paris and that might change again in Barcelona, but he still covers very little distance across a game, you can't sub him out, he doesn't press and waits until he receives the ball to his feet. I love Messi, but Barca would look like fools if they resign him. Furthermore, they have a -140m wage limit for next season, so they'd probably have to sell about 5-6 players and let Dembele leave before even thinking about re-signing Messi. Last but not least, PSG would obviously demand a fee, which Barca would not (be able to) pay. So, clever reply by Xavi, he knows it's never gonna happen. Messi will return in some role after his retirement, but as a player I can't see it anymore.
Messi doesn't really play on the wings even if you put him there, he will drift central(and probably stay there), meaning you need someone else to provide width, the fullback most likely.
Having only seen CL games of Real and Barca (i.e. the ones against Bayern), I didn't see this coming ^^
Barca have been on an upward trajectory and we as Bayern supporters know Carlo “tactics“: put the 11 most familiar names on the pitch and tell them to win the game.
Having seen yesterday's game it's easier for me to rate Zidane's trajectory as a coach. Especially last season he had pretty much the whole squad injured or suspended and the team looked incredibly solid given the circumstances. Yesterday Ancelotti was missing only Benzema and Mendy and the whole team went nuts.
It feels like everytime real madrid got the chance to humiliate barca they hold back and it results in a 2-0 win or something. But when it is other way around barca shows no mercy
I feel much better about our games them now than I was when the draw was made. If this doesn't serve as a lesson for Ancelotti, then yikes. It would be almost suicide, I think, to start KCM against us.
Yes, but the big question is WHO? Florentino was a big fan of Pochettino a few seasons ago but i honestly think he would be an awful match for this Madrid side. Nagelsmann will most likely stay at Bayern for the next season... In my mind coaches like Erik Ten Hag and Thomas Tuchel (if available) would be the best options for Madrid. But also they could try some leftfield options like Raul? Or Xabi Alonso?
If you are gonna change Ancelotti, it has to be for a manager with good reputation like Tuchel or Allegri .
You don't kick Ancelotti to bring Pochettino in, Real players aren't gonna listen to a trophy-less manager.
Ancelotti might be washed up, but players respect him for his super successful career, unlike Pochettino...and unlike Zidane, Poche was never considered a top player.
Florentino Perez loves Joachim Low. Xavi Alonso or Raul could be other options.
Ten Hag, Tuchel, or roll the dice with Raul. Or beg Zidane to come back. Again
Before Raúl ( Castilla play quite badly) I would try Xabi Alonso, who seems to gain a lot of popularity, or even Gallardo.
Normally, Florentino hires coaches who also act as his umbrella, so the shit doesn't splash him if things go wrong.
If he signs Gallardo they would attack him because he is a coach who has never trained in Europe.
I think Ancelotti will continue unless there is a debacle. If it happens I think that maybe Xabi Alonso is the candidate
you're right about that. It would be a very risky bet. He would need an intermediate team being his first experience in Europe.
About Ancelotti I don't know. I think it will depend on what happens in the Champions League. There have been games in which the football/tactics were terrible and there is a feeling of needing something different
I think Ancelotti is going to win us the league title and the UCL seems quite challenging in our current state. Then if he manages a semi finals and wins the league he should then walk away as a winner before things inevitably go sour. We need someone who can make the most of our squad but at the same time facilitate a transition and incorporate the younger players.
I personally don't like him as a coach. The tactical aspect he does not work well or gives it less importance than other coaches.
I like Xabi Alonso's proposal, his way of understanding football.
The problem is that Real Madrid players are more adapted to another type of football.
Valverde, Camavinga in midfield and Mbappe, Vinicius are more counterattacking players.
I think Ancelotti is a good coach and has overall done well at Madrid considering he has in his squad like 7/8 players who don't have the spirit/quality to play at Real Madrid. It's shocking to see a Squad with the likes of Hazard, Jovic or Bale to play Modric as 9 when Benzema can't play. But that's not Ancelotti's fault, those players as well as many others are no longer/have never been in a proper form to play for RM IMHO.
What I want for Madrid is someone adapted to modern football but who knows where he is coming , that is, who is willing to listen to "recommendations", or more elegantly, who works in coordination with the board, but with clear ideas.
Ancelotti is good-natured, much loved by the fans, with a character suitable for the locker room but without ideas.
The typical coach who makes the changes that are shouted at him from the stands, more out of fear of losing his position than out of conviction.
First he corrected himself with Valverde, lately Camavinga and perhaps in a couple of weeks he will decide to call someone from Castilla.
That is why I would automatically rule out coaches with a lot of character and personality and with too many tactical ideas (if I were a fan of Valencia, Sevilla, etc, surely yes).
What you say about the counterattack... I think that rather what Madrid is looking for is an intense, physical and vertical game, without necessarily being a counterattack and I think that those players could adapt.
I think that Valverde in particular has the conditions to delay his position and not Stereotype himself into a player who only runs .
About Xabi, here he talks about high pressure (you are Spanish?), which seems like it would also be a pillar in his style
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With all things considered he has done a very good job overall, it might sound like he doesn't get enough credit and personally he has done a lot better of what I was expecting.
Since Zidane winning 3 UCL straight, then Ronaldo leaving, then Zidane leaving only for him to comeback and put the team on the top again I can't help to feel that our key players are declining and we haven't strengthen like we should. Ancelotti has been great to get the best out of this squad but I'm not sure if he's going to be the best option to have a smooth transition and eventual generational change. Maybe I'm just and ungrateful idiot and he can prove me wrong but if he was to leave I would like someone like Tuchel or Xabi Alonso.
This. Liverpool way = best way
Like the way he talks
What i want and think we need is a manager like Mourinho, someone with the charisma to get Flo to stay the feck out of football decisions. Ideally one who'd also impose a good sporting director, like Campos or Alemany. Or just throw money at liverpool's analytics department and poach in its entirety
