Liverpool should join in the Messi sweepstakes just to make things interesting. John Henry can sell the Red Sox and Suarez's teeth to fund it.
Can you give us some more insight on where and how you think Thiago will fit in at Bayern? In what position do you see him in Pep's system? Is he better than Kroos?
Did my best in the 12/13 thread, breh. Think Thiago will play as an 8, integral to our offense and build-ups. Doesn't need to score a lot, as his mission is to keep ball possession, control the pace and play key passes. Like Barca wanted it: a young Xavi, brain of the team. Keeps the ball very close to his feet, brilliant feel for the ball and able to go past his defender with his great dribbling moves. He's faster and more athletic than Kroos, better ball control and dribbling, while Kroos is better at interceptions and pressing. This is how I'd see our formation:
I really like this one, except that we would have 12 players on the pitch . I have also been trying to fit in Kroos somehow, but I guess you would have to take out Boateng then, and play with 3 men in the back. But it would be nice to hear more from REEKO about Thiago, I believe REEKO thought very highly of him and saw him as the future Xavi. How will Barca cope with the loss?
^^ damn, didn't see it's 12 players haha. Maybe have Kroos/Götze as substitute and play without a real 10. Would be like Barca's 4-3-3.
People keep forgetting Lavezzi is still there as well. Cavani and Lavezzi together again should be decent.(When Cavani isn't being partnered with Zlatan). Others pondered as well last season. I was scratching my head initially when the loan to West Brom took place, especially since they had no legitimate striker after Torres(Moses and Sturridge didn't count imo) and this was before the purchase of an inferior player (imo) in Ba. The thing is Lukaku requested the loan and Chelsea decided to accede. I'm just not sure if they tried to convince him enough that he would get a fair chance to be in the first 11 or on the bench for a majority of matches or they just felt he'd get way more matches at West Brom. I think with him in the fold now that he'll overtake Torres for first choice before the end of the season.
Damn, Heynckes just said he's not in the running for the Barca job. How awesome would that be if he were to meet Pep in next year's CL finals. Then the winner of that game will play against Liverpool in the next year's finals.
Bayern 4:0 and 5:1 against Hamburg and Moenchengladbach. Guardiola not quite satisfied, says his players had too many touches. Schweinsteiger, Martinez, Götze, Dante, Gustavo haven't even played yet...
Kroos played uninspired and lacked effort, walking slow as ***** all the time and playing hot potato. Like 90% of his passes are no longer than 5m and he never takes any risk, doesn't help our offense at all. Thought he'd maybe reach new heights under Pep's presence, but he's been completely lacking any effort or inspiration in the pre-season games. Good thing we have Thiago&Götze now, no need to play Kroos in important games.
I think Kroos will play quite a bit...Basti will probably still be out for a while. That doctor in Switzerland who operated him and Felix Neureuther was crap...
Looks like Gerardo Tata Martino is Barcas new boss! Wanted Bielsa but happy with this decision as well.
Real offering 50mil for Vidal, does Juve need money? Real would spend nearly 100mil on two guys(40+ for that young Spanish guy, forgot his name) playing at the 6, crazy.
