Per the title. Whatever you wanna call him from DLP to ball-distributing CM.
So no more Kroos. Who are the best passers from CM/DM in his absence?
- Thread starter Fortitude
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to talk about United's dreadful home defeat at the hands of Big Ange's Tottenham Hotspur. Should this have been the end of Ten Hag? How long does he actually have left? And does Nik finally want ETH out?!
Enzo Fernandez?
Rodri
Frenkie De Jong
Granit Xhaka
Kimmich
Frenkie De Jong
Granit Xhaka
Kimmich
Without getting overly carried away I think Mainoo is an upgraded Kroos regen.
Maybe Enzo. His passing range is very good.
Xhaka's passing has been unreal this season. Has been my favorite player to watch in our team apart from Wirtz. But it's Xhaka's first season like this. Would never have thought he's capable of this. Quite a remarkable change from being a box to box player. Here's a passing stat comparison with Kroos (all per 90):
I also heard that Calhanoglu was brillant this season but haven't really seen Inter play.
| Passes completion | Pass completion (long) | Progressive passes | Progressive distance | Passes into final third | Passes into penalty area | |
| Toni Kroos | 90% | 75.3 | 11.5 | 507.4m | 11.5 | 1.13 |
| Granit Xhaka | 91.7% | 80.6% | 12.5 | 421.9m | 11.8 | 1.73 |
I also heard that Calhanoglu was brillant this season but haven't really seen Inter play.
That type of player gets more and more rare. The Kroos/Scholes/Pirlo type, not sure we have one prominent player like that in todays football, Xhaka maybe as some have mentioned. Enzo has a great foot as well.
McTominay?
He's a better dribbler while having an inferior passing range, not that similar to be honest.
Kroos was a metronome for his team, kobbie isn't that kind of player.
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Is Modric continuing next season or is he retiring as well?
Rodri is excellent at this kind of stuff.
i second Xhaka. He's been unreal all season.
I know all the german readers will have a good laugh, but Kimmich is up there too (maybe not quite at that level, but close)
even with him being out of form and playing off position.
According to footystats, Assists, xA, Passes, Suuccesful passes, pass completion rate, key passes, successful crosses etc have been very close between him and Kroos.
I will ask another question:
Can anyone remember a midfielder with that kind of shooting technique etc who scored as few overall goals as Kroos?
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Michael Carrick scored 24 goals for Man Utd. I'd say the majority of those were either drilled bottom corner from the edge of the box or just straight up long shots a little further out.Can anyone remember a midfielder with that kind of shooting technique etc who scored as few overall goal golas as Kroos?
Can anyone remember a midfielder with that kind of shooting technique etc who scored as few overall goals as Kroos?
Nemanja Matic has scored 32 career goals and basically all of them were worldies:
Xhaka or Rodri? Both very good users of the ball, the latter possibly the best player in the world or at least the best midfielder.
Quarterback style deep-lying playmakers who can bypass entire teams with a single long ball out to a wide attacker are dying out and it's a shame.
I don't think there is reason to laugh at you. The problem with Kimmich has never been that he is bad at that stuff, the problem has been that he lacks the discipline to keep focusing on these abilities that he has.
Kroos recently stated "I play the last pass before the highlight reel starts" and seemed quite content with that - knowing that he isn't the flashy player, but the one who makes his team tick.
Kimmich on the other hand appears always like he wants to force his way into the highlight reel.
Kobie Bryant.
Dani Parejo
"Always" is stretching it a bit. Kimmich still has very high passing accuracy. I think his issue is rather that he's not positionally disciplined which makes his teams prone to transitions. Under Flick that was actually appreciated because he wanted his team to press all the time. But in a system that is geared towards controlling a match, it is counterproductive because when his team loses possession, the center is vacated. In the past two seasons, Bayern much space in CM after turnovers and Goretzka and Kimmich were to blame for that. And Kimmich is not even particularly pressing resistant, so pushing higher up the field isn't even playing to his strengths.
That's what I meant. He leaves the position at the back where he actually has the skills to be a great player to move into those positions closer to the goal that are usually covered in the highlights, where he often has no real influence. He isn't a bad passer, and I never said he is, he is just leaving the area too often in which he could use his great passing.
Trent is up there if you can count him as DM/CM.
Fred
I find it hard to judge kimmich independent of goretzka. I think the latter has struggled a bit in recent years and thats hurt kimmich's game. I haven't seen enough of kimmich's games without goretzka till this season really.
Pedri was very good before injuries.
Pedri was very good before injuries.
He sometimes wants to do too much by himself which he should leave to his teammates. Doubt his motivation is to get in the highlight reel, it's more an inner belief he could do a better job than the guy who's position it really is. I call that the Mats Hummels Syndrome, Mats had a tendency to do the same when his team was struggling.
I’m sure Kroos wasn’t either when he was 18
Darron Gibson. Though I hear he’s a bit selfish with his passing, he won’t pass a bar without seeking a treble
Another German (or half German)
This guy:
This guy:
Kroos was always a great passer even at a very young age. Mainoo has more quality in other areas, such as dribbling and defending, but Kroos was a better passer at his age.
As for the question, Kimmich, Rodri, FdJ and Hakan come to mind immediately but I don't follow other leagues as much nowadays.
Tonali
Yeah but I think mainoo will develop differently compared to the kroos archetype, his dribbling will alow him to be much more offensive minded and to make driving runs quite different than kroos for example.
Ethan Ampadu
Aleix García.
Will Smallbone
Closer to Modric than Kroos in style if you were picking one
Rodri, Pedri, De jong, Kimmich & Xhaka
Rodri is an obvious one. Enzo Fernandes another.
Agree with many that Xhaka has been stamping his authority all over games this year and the way he's been playing is at odds with my expectations of what he's capable of.
Conversely, neither de Jong or Pedri have left much of an impression in games I've caught this year but are both players I generally regard as being of this kind of style and quality.
Kimmich, not for me as he's a bit too forceful and speculative. Similar story for Calhanoglu though I may be doing him a disservice.
The best around for me is Vitinha. Supreme technical quality and an ultra-rational yet progressive brain. An effortless, mesmeric distributor.
Agree with many that Xhaka has been stamping his authority all over games this year and the way he's been playing is at odds with my expectations of what he's capable of.
Conversely, neither de Jong or Pedri have left much of an impression in games I've caught this year but are both players I generally regard as being of this kind of style and quality.
Kimmich, not for me as he's a bit too forceful and speculative. Similar story for Calhanoglu though I may be doing him a disservice.
The best around for me is Vitinha. Supreme technical quality and an ultra-rational yet progressive brain. An effortless, mesmeric distributor.
I think if I were to compare Mainoo to a Madrid player, it would be more Modric than Kroos.
Whilst he could add it to his game with more experience, Mainoo hasn't the long passing range to be compared to Kroos, but has great ball manipulation and control to get out of tight spaces.
For me, I'd say someone like Aleix Garcia, Ruben Neves or even Trent, who Madrid are apparently linked with, share similar styles to Kroos.
Bruno Guimaraes. Yes, Vitinha is class. I would also suggest Joao Neves.