Thiago Alcantara at Bayern

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One of the major reasons that the false 9 worked was because of the genius of Messi. You think that either Muller or Gotze will be able to replicate that kind of phenomenol goal scoring? Why would they be interested in Lewandoski if that is Pep's plan? I can't think of answers to those questions and am eagerly awaiting how this plays out.

About Martinez, surely they can tell him that it is the defense or the bench. What I was contemplating was, if he'll be happy with that.

You don't need a Messi to play a false 9 if you have enough goal scoring potential in other areas of the team and Bayern certainly has that.

One of the main reasons to even play a false 9 is to make it harder to defend against such a system by making it less predictable but the false 9 being the main goal scorer is by no definition a pre-requisit for it to work really well.

I think if there is one thing about the Barca team of the last two years that can be criticized than it's their massive reliance on Messi's goals and assists.

Overall I always felt they looked much more dangerous when Villa and Pedro were still reliable goal threats for them instead of only Messi and while I think Iniesta's and Xavi's footballing genius a combination between Thiago/Kroos/Götze is probably more of a goal theat than the Iniesta/Xavi partnership.
 
One of the major reasons that the false 9 worked was because of the genius of Messi. You think that either Muller or Gotze will be able to replicate that kind of phenomenol goal scoring? Why would they be interested in Lewandoski if that is Pep's plan? I can't think of answers to those questions and am eagerly awaiting how this plays out.

About Martinez, surely they can tell him that it is the defense or the bench. What I was contemplating was, if he'll be happy with that.
I agree with NoLogo. Messi really destroyed the idea behind the false 9 with his crazy goal scoring rate. Why can't a false 9 work with a less prolific goal scorer, if the team overall has a great balance? Mandzukic scored only 15 goals in the league and 3 in the CL last season, but scoring goals was never a problem for the team. Götze/Müller would easily match those numbers when played upfront, imo. If your CMs give you important goals, if your wide players score just as many goals as your forwards, it's not really a problem if your false 9 doesn't match Messi's numbers. Müller is a weird example anyway, if he plays upfront he's just a number 9, not a false 9 at all. He's not the player to drop deep into midfield and create with the ball, he will play as a hard working forward with great off the ball movement, mostly moving wide. He'd be more Inzaghi than Messi.

I agree if someone thinks the lack of a physical presence might be a problem because it could lead to a lack of a plan B and might take away one of the big strength of last season's team, that's a bit worrying. But Mandzukic is still in the squad, so we can switch back if necessary. Whether the team is successful with Götze or Müller upfront is not dependening solely on their numbers. The great balance in the team - sharing defensive duties, creativitiy and goal scoring all over the team - is what made Bayern outstanding last season and so far it doesn't look like that'll change.
 
Starting for Bayern against Hamburg in the Telekon Cup. It's on ESPN now if anyone is interested.
 
Just posted in the Bundesliga thread about it, according to Guardiola he is playing as a DM.
The formation looks like:

-------------Mandzukic
----------Pizarro
-----Shaqiri - Ribery - Kroos
-------------Thiago
Alaba - van Buyten - Boateng - Lahm
-------------Starke
 
After all the false 9 discussion, it's quite funny that he starts with both Pizarro and Mandzukic.
 
Well looks like he isn't dead set on playing a false 9 or maybe Mandzukic can actually play this way, considering that is quite versatile for such a big striker it's def a possibility I wouldn't rule out.

But so far it looks like he is playing more like Eto'o than Messi.
 
:drool:

I feel a bit silly for not being more excited when Bayern signed him. He's brilliant.
 
he is unfortunately. he'l beat kroos to that CM spot. Brilliant talent.

I reckon we should put in a bid for Kroos and Gustavo. That's us sorted for a while. Can't help but admire the squad Bayern have. @Balu how's Can doing? I was so impressed by him and rate him very highly, the guy can do it all.
 
Kroos, definitely. he wouldnt even consider it though :(

Maybe not now, but if he doesn't get to play as much as he would like I can see him looking elsewhere. I rate Kroos, I thought he would be more of a number 10 than he is, but I have to say he's adapted to a deeper role superbly. Bayern and indeed Germany have a wealth of talent. It's a market we should look more into.
 
Maybe not now, but if he doesn't get to play as much as he would like I can see him looking elsewhere. I rate Kroos, I thought he would be more of a number 10 than he is, but I have to say he's adapted to a deeper role superbly. Bayern and indeed Germany have a wealth of talent. It's a market we should look more into.


Definitely. next summer would be interesting depending on how Pep manages his squad this season.
 
I reckon we should put in a bid for Kroos and Gustavo. That's us sorted for a while. Can't help but admire the squad Bayern have. @Balu how's Can doing? I was so impressed by him and rate him very highly, the guy can do it all.


i'm not Balu, but Pep left Can at home for this tournament. Maybe not meaning anything, but judging by the playtime Pep granted to the different youth players, i'd say Can is behind Höjbjerg and Green in Peps favour.
 
Sorry @Ballache , missed the question about Can. I agree with strongwalker, Höjbjerg looks like the bigger talent, but both are still very young and won't have an impact in the first team this season, imo. There are a lot of rumours around Can, turkish clubs seem interested in signing him and a few Bundesliga clubs would take him on loan. He should stay at least for another year though, train under Guardiola and then decide if he wants to stay, go on loan or leave. He'll probably learn more from Pep than through playing time at a smaller club.
 
Looks physically capable of playing in our league; riding off tackles. Moyes may not have seen him bulk-up recently?
 
He's played very very well yesterday. Even my Bayern supporting mates who weren't very fond of the idea of buying him are totally sold on him now. I want to cry
 
I knew he was a brilliant footballer but even I didnt think he would settle in straight away with such a performance.
 
I knew he was a brilliant footballer but even I didnt think he would settle in straight away with such a performance.


Well these games are more or less friendlies and Hamburg is far from a good opposition.

I think at points he looked still a bit foreign lost in this team but his individual brilliance was of course obvious with his passing and the way he retained the ball under pressure.

It's really amazing how well he anticipates where the tackling is coming from and never seems to have problems avoiding it even in very close spaces on top of that his passing range is absolutely amazing, through balls, long balls, lob passes, it's all there.

At one point I thought he was more like Fabregas but the more I saw of him during the u21 tournament I realized that he is almost like a mix out of Scholes and Iniesta.

If this guy isn't among the top 3 midfielders in the world within the next 2-3 years I would be very surprised.
 
Sorry @Ballache , missed the question about Can. I agree with strongwalker, Höjbjerg looks like the bigger talent, but both are still very young and won't have an impact in the first team this season, imo. There are a lot of rumours around Can, turkish clubs seem interested in signing him and a few Bundesliga clubs would take him on loan. He should stay at least for another year though, train under Guardiola and then decide if he wants to stay, go on loan or leave. He'll probably learn more from Pep than through playing time at a smaller club.

I hope he makes it, hope he doesn't end up at Besiktas and play for Turkey. Cheers for info.
 
He's played very very well yesterday. Even my Bayern supporting mates who weren't very fond of the idea of buying him are totally sold on him now. I want to cry
Save me a tissue.
 
Well these games are more or less friendlies and Hamburg is far from a good opposition.

I think at points he looked still a bit foreign lost in this team but his individual brilliance was of course obvious with his passing and the way he retained the ball under pressure.

It's really amazing how well he anticipates where the tackling is coming from and never seems to have problems avoiding it even in very close spaces on top of that his passing range is absolutely amazing, through balls, long balls, lob passes, it's all there.

At one point I thought he was more like Fabregas but the more I saw of him during the u21 tournament I realized that he is almost like a mix out of Scholes and Iniesta.

If this guy isn't among the top 3 midfielders in the world within the next 2-3 years I would be very surprised.

You should have said, "you can quote me on that".
 
the fecker just scored with his chest.
 
Scored his first goal a few seconds ago. 3-0 after 26 minutes against Gladbach in the final of that mini tournament.
 
If Thiago's starting for Bayern, who's the player that's missing out? Or are they rotating?
Right now, Lahm is playing in central midfield. Yesterday we played with 2 strikers, today we play without one. So far it looks like Pep will not only rotate the players a lot, he will play different formations and tactics as well. It's impossible to predict anything, but Thiago played both his games as a holding midfielder, which raises a lot of questions about what roles Schweinsteiger and Martinez will play and if there's a place for Gustavo in the team.
 
I'm rather jealous of Bayern these days, everything about the club is top class especially the playing squad. Barcelona's team over the past few years has been great but I think this Bayern team can even surpass that.
 
Watching Thiago was like if I was watching my missus dump me, then romp with a richer, more handsome man, then they rode off together in a Lambo whilst I'm waiting at the bus stop.
 
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