₦airaland Forum

jonsnow92:
For a 4-3-3 to work effectively, the midfielders have to be players who can offer cover for the defence and help defensively too. (we all know this) but Modric and Kross are first Very technically gifted players that can hold their own against any team. they are first technical and creative before helping out the defence not defensive minded with little or no technique nor control like what Vidal and Rakitic starting together would mean for us. Pep milked life out of Xavi, Iniesta and all other players aside Messi by observing the 5 seconds rule and crowding out the opponent before they could think. One of vidal or Rakitic would offer cover for busquets, Not both. We aren't a defensive side. Casimero, Coutinho, Paulihno played very well together for brazil and phil thrived.

Rakitic/Vidal would offer cover for busquets, Vidal can come in if we need to see a game out and all that but not as a starter alongside Rakitic. too similar and would eventually be easy to figure out for opposing teams.

As for the Roma game, if you read my reply to sommyroy, i talked about the tiredness and the clueless Valverde too.

Before Xavi and Iniesta and Busquet template, others were working before...
Liverpool overran City with a midfield of Hendo, Wijnaldum and Chamberlain and I am sure you'd tagged that midfield as gidigbo midfield but they did great in stifling City and creating chances for their attackers. Here, you are severely underrating a Rakitic with license to attack (at Barca, he has had to adapt his game to cover for your overlapping 2 thus limiting his attacking contribution), Vidal on the other hand is no pushover, he attacks just as well as he defends as long as he is fit. If your complaints was about his recent injury record then I'd have nothing to say but to question his quality is laughable and it's a pointer to the arrogance most folks associate with Barca fans...

haymekus:
Guess who is back

came back to chop early morning kolo...

na wa o

Olamyyde:
I swear if valfraude continues to play that disgraceful 4-4-2 formation this season, he should be sacked. He doesn't have any excuse this time, he has the players for a 443

I also hope Suarez becomes nothing more than a super sub this season.
Yerry mina should be sold ASAP with paco and gomes.

The life a coach is so hard.

Imagine being an experienced coach, and still hearing fans call for your sacking simply because you chose to field the exact number of players stipulated in the rules of the game

Melvyn11:
Rumour has it that When Cristiano Ronaldo was about to leave Madrid, he went to Asensio and said: "I am leaving three things to you. My no. 7 Jersey, my place as the best player in the team and Gerard Pique as your bitch."

My God!

jonsnow92:
Gidigbo prevailed over a clueless, tired team picked by Valverde. 9 out of 10, Technique and control defeats gidigbo.

Then it's safe to say the one time technique and control does not work, we should try gidigbo (plan B).

patrickmuf:
Rakitic can play as an AM or CM while Vidal is a box-to-box CM with inclination to attack first so whatever you mean by gidigbo, I don't know...Football adapts over time, your smooth midfield trio of Xavi, Busi and Iniesta that worked so well some years back might struggle now thus it's always good to adapt.
Grit in midfield doesn't necessarily entails lack of creativity or limited creativity, it only accounts for a lot more protection of the back four...Pique is not as good as he used to be just as Busi has dropped his performance level, if you leave them exposed, you'll pay for it thus I see nothing wrong with a midfield trio of Busi, Vidal and Rakitic...

Spot on. Plus we always had a plan B, Keita, Toure and even Song were used for that purpose.

jonsnow92:
First off the midfield trio of Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets in 2008 to 2013 would work perfectly now since Casimero, Kross and Modric has worked perfectly for Madrid, if Debryne, Silva, Fernandiho worked perfectly for City last season. so this automatically strikes out you narrative of adapting from smooth to Grit or gi
I understand if you say Vidal won't be a starter, maybe just for squad depth but if he must start then Rakitic has to go. One of them has to be on the bench, both can't and shouldn't start in a 4-3-3.

You seem to underate Rakitic. Rakitic can get as attacking as you want, Sevilla (where he was given freedom to Rome 13-16 goals/season and 5-8 assists/ season) or Croatia, where when Modric attacks he covers and vice versa. Vidal on the other hand was loved by pep, and made more appearances than any other Bayern midfielder during his tenure. The same Man city midfield lost to Liverpool's midfield. If juventus midfield of Khedira, Pjanic, Matuidi, could hold off a Madrid's midfield of Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, why won't Busquets, Rakitic and Vidal not work?

Sommyroy10:
Spot on. Plus we always had a plan B, Keira, Toure and even Song were used for that purpose.

Lol...that midfield trio will never be able to consistently feed the 3 attackers upfront....messi will be forced to drop deep.
We have seen this movie before.

Nihilstjnr:
came back to chop early morning kolo...

na wa o

At least he is better than your goalkeeper that when AWOL

femiti:
Lol...that midfield trio will never be able to consistently feed the 3 attackers upfront....messi will be forced to drop deep.
We have seen this movie before.

Lol, all three can't possibly start together, even 2 out of the three is a no no. Each player at each time of their Barcelona career were backup options if things weren't going as planned on the pitch.

Sommyroy10:
Lol, all three can't possibly start together, even 2 out of the three is a no no. Each player at each time of their Barcelona career were backup options if things weren't going as planned on the pitch.

Was referring to the trio of Sergio...ivan... Aturo

femiti:
Was referring to the trio of Sergio...ivan... Aturo

My bad. I wouldn't know about consistently, but would fair really well against the experienced teams.

HumbleBoy21:
Something Is Telling Me Vidal Will Flop But What Do I Know.

You know nothing humble boy

femiti:
4231

great otokiti of lasu is dead

femiti:
4231

Where's Malcom

baddest04:
great otokiti of lasu is dead

yup

biomustry:
Where's Malcom

Malcolm competitively shares the right side of attack with dembouz as a sub thereby giving us the option of playing messi behind Suarez instead of Arthur

OR
Messi plays as a lone striker in front of Arthur irrespective of who plays the right wing

femiti:
Was referring to the trio of Sergio...ivan... Aturo

i think so too, there isn't enough creativity in there

my xi

Vidal as a midfielder has 96 goals ooo, he's very good in attack as well

my midfield trio would be Coutinho/Puig Busi/Vidal Rakitic/Arthur


We need a very creative player at that right hand side, the lack of creativity from that side of the pitch is what forces Messi to drop deep just to help create chances. If we get a player that can actually dribble his way out of tight spaces like Fekir, Messi will have the chance to stay upfront and wreck havoc on defenders


Hope Puig comes good, Man has potential to be the next Iniesta.......My fear is that Valverde might sacrifice Dembele's spot for Vidal if he plays a 442 formation

biomustry:
You know nothing humble boy

Abi

Our front line should be :
COUTINHO MESSI DEMBELE
I don't know how our coach is going to do the midfield, but we all know that Busquets and Rakitic must start. Left for me though, ARTHUR/D. SUAREZ/S.ROBERTO/VIDAL should slog it out.
Again, we also know our favoured defense...

Aturo Vidal walks straight into the team:


Coutinho. Suarez. Messi.

Vidal. Busquets. Rakitic.

Alba. Umtiti. Pique. Semedo.



That is the treble winning squad right there!

tesppidd:
Aturo Vidal walks straight into the team:


Coutinho. Suarez. Messi.

Vidal. Busquets. Rakitic.

Alba. Umtiti. Pique. Semedo.



That is the treble winning squad right there!

am scared of that midfield, busi is the only renowned passer of the ball there and no dribbler. Means Messi will still keep dropping deep to help out with creativity, that midfield needs a Coutinho or at least someone that can create chances

Coutinho14:
am scared of that midfield, busi is the only renowned passer of the ball there and no dribbler. Means Messi will still keep dropping deep to help out with creativity, that midfield needs a Coutinho or at least someone that can create chances

Why respond to an ignoramus?

Coutinho14:
my midfield trio would be Coutinho/Puig Busi/Vidal Rakitic/Arthur


We need a very creative player at that right hand side, the lack of creativity from that side of the pitch is what forces Messi to drop deep just to help create chances. If we get a player that can actually dribble his way out of tight spaces like Fekir, Messi will have the chance to stay upfront and wreck havoc on defenders


Hope Puig comes good, Man has potential to be the next Iniesta.......My fear is that Valverde might sacrifice Dembele's spot for Vidal if he plays a 442 formation

He has been training with the senior team, but he will most definately end up with the b-team this season

seems like E. V likes him a lot, won't be surprised if he plays him in some matches

[quote author=tesppidd post=70072533]Aturo Vidal walks straight into the team:


Coutinho. Suarez. Messi.

Vidal. Busquets. Rakitic.

Alba. Umtiti. Pique. Semedo.

Can one of Vidal/busquet/rakitic hold possession and spray play which is essential in this formation?

TLona1:
Thoughts?

I share this thought of femiti

femiti:
Lol...that midfield trio will never be able to consistently feed the 3 attackers upfront....messi will be forced to drop deep.
We have seen this movie before.

That formation lacks creativity (especially assist) which is the core role of midfielders. How many of those guys can consistently create assist? Messi will be forced to drop deep again.
However, that is not to say it can't function in some cases (probably matches that requires physicality and little defending which is not our even style) but it would be technically unwise to adopt that as primary formation.

By the way, when would we have again that Xavi-Iniesta-Messi link?? Damn!!!!

Coutinho14:
my xi

442 diamond?

Coutinho14:
am scared of that midfield, busi is the only renowned passer of the ball there and no dribbler. Means Messi will still keep dropping deep to help out with creativity, that midfield needs a Coutinho or at least someone that can create chances

probably a 4-3-3 that would transform into a 4-4-2 as the need arises.

with coutinho occasionally dropping into midfield.