With some minor changes never to be excluded (like Crosas or Gudjohnsen leaving or some B player getting promoted), it seems that we have pretty much all midfielders on who we will be able to count next season in place.
So what's your idea about our next season's midfield? Given the 4-3-3 with one defensive midfielder and two more offensive players, which three players should Guardiola choose?
You can pick from the following eight names:
Marc Crosas
Eidur Gudjohnsen
Alexander Hleb
Andrés Iniesta
Seydou Keita
Rafael Márquez
Yaya Touré
Xavi
Monday, 28 July 2008
DEBATE: Next season's midfield
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23 comments:
dmf-yaya
cmf-xavi
amf-iniesta
and hleb to play on left wing striker position..
Given the fact they apparently intend to get another left wing regular (Arshavin or Silva):
Yaya, Xavi, Iniesta
(with Hleb as back-up for Xavi and Keita as back-up for Iniesta)
too much quantity and not enaugh quality IMO...some of these players simply duplicate eachothers skillsets.
Xavi and Iniesta showed for spain that they can play great together but in Barcelona it hasn't been all that good. And I wonder why we signed second class players like Hleb and Keita for 14 or 15 mio. just to sit them on the bench. I really have no idea what Pep is doing...same with Piquet and Caceres...once Milito returns it might be too crowded for the young players to get playing time. Marquez is also there.
At the end of the day we might have all new signings on the bench (except Alves) and that is not great management for my taste. We have a lot of role players but not a clear cut first 11 with enaugh star power and we lack a dangerous midfield player who is constantly a threat and can score in any given game...Xavi might score here and there on a distance shot but Iniesta and Hleb are rather horrible in the box. Keita and Yaya aren't gonna score anyway.
Maybe I'm too negative but I don't see this team as currently structured accomplish great things...they need 1-2 more world class players at their respective position. A central midfield player and a striker...I'm not sold on Henry and if Eto'o goes we will have issues offensively.
i think Xavi and Yaya are, for the moment, untouchable. the key will be to see how well Hleb plays, and to a lesser extent to see if Yaya can maintain the same form from last season. we'll probably see an interchange between Hleb, Iniesta and possibly Gudjohnsen. Rafa is a 3rd string defensive midfielder, so i don't see any place at all for him, and Crosas is totally unproven in our system.
which works as a general guideline, but i have a feeling that Guardiola is the kind of coach that will, when possible, fit the team to counter the opposition. i imagine that we'll see some pretty interesting lineups this season. in fact, should we sign Arshavin i would be pretty interested to see how we play with our 2 defensive midfielders (Yaya and Keita) and 2 offensive midfielders playing behind the forwards (Arshavin and Xavi or Hleb). that's a pretty stiff defense while still leaving a lot of attacking potential.
anyway, it's an interesting discussion to have.
the only logical comment to me seems to fit the formation based on the opposition as PEP made it clear before signing for barca. to many quality players some competition will do no harm. cheers to all..
visca el barca
Granche
Xavi - Yaya - Iniesta should be the first choice. Hleb would back up Xavi and Iniesta. Keita off course, should back up for Yaya. Sell Gudjohnsen and use Crosas as a third choice behind Hleb. Marquez is mor of a central defender in m opinion.
comment to a stupid idiot above not enough quality we have the best player of europe Xavi, the most productive MC in the world for us iniesta, two of the best DM in the world YAYA and Keita adding this to a marvelleous technicue of HLEB and u say no quality ,, u have no clue mate
Visca el barca
Granche
many have said yaya xavi n iniesta will form the midfield trio but i am not yet satisfied with hleb maybe we need a LF.....silva or arshavin
we need diego or van der vaart and we are set in the midfield. get rid of gudjohnsen
I don't think anyone would assume that Pep's going to have a "set" midfield to start the season. He'll take a game by game approach, assessing the other team's strengths and weaknesses.
If for example he's up against Real Madrid or Valencia he may differ to a more "defensive" lineup with Yaya, Keita and Xavi in midfield.
On other occasions when he feels the squad won't be pressed so hard he may opt for a more "offensive" formation with Yaya, Xavi and Hleb.
In either formation I'm starting to think that Iniesta's role might be best as a substitute. He has shown to be a good, "short burst", energy guy, rather than a grind it out 90min man. And if you've seen enough Barca games recently you've noticed that Xavi and Iniesta combine as well as oil and water.
I don't like the option of Iniesta on the left wing. You can see how hesitant he is to play that spot, and it's not his natural position.
Hleb can also be viewed as a sub, but he's tougher and more capable of lasting the full 90min. than Iniesta. And no one can question Hleb's work rate. The man might not be able to hit the side of a barn, but he'll run himself into the ground game in game out.
I'm really starting to warm on Keita. Especially after seeing the impact that Senna had on the Spanish side in this past Euro's. Sennas was indeed the "missing ingredient" that was lacking from the Spanish side all these years. And if Keita can somehow duplicate that role then there's no reason not to believe that Barcelona can't win La Liga and go deep into Champions League play, if not win the whole thing outright.
It depends on a lot. My ideal midfield, given the aggression of Alves/Messi/Henry/whomever/Xavi, is Xavi/Keita/Yaya.
Keita pushes up, but he is a more offensive-minded Yaya. Counters are going to try coming up the middle for a time, particularly as Xavi tries a role as the more offensive-minded player that he was as Euros.
If Arshavin, then:
----------------Henry-------------------Arshavin------------Messi-----
Keita--------Xavi-----------Yaya
Abidal---Caceres---Puyol-----Alves
But as Cojonudo said, I don't envision a single midfield this season. There will be horses for courses, hence our enviable depth. I can see Hleb starting for some sides, I can even see a 4-2-4 with a midfield of Keita and Yaya.
Whoops! I meant to have Arshavin on the left of the attacking line, behind Henry, parallel with Messi.
amf---hleb
cmf-xavi-toure
amf-Hleb(iniesta)
cmf-Xavi(Keita)
dmf-Yaya(R.Marquez)
i think it will depend on where, what and who we are playing against.
Home games in Liga or early in CL will be with Yaya, Xavi and Hleb/iniesta
away or advanced in CL will introduce Kieta "Muscle" for Xavi
remember Edmilson-Motta midfield in the 05-06?
i think the board has done well as we have two midfields that can dominate any match.
if you say that xavi is a certain starter then as has been said we can adapt to who we are playing. theres good depth/versitility that can cover injuries/ bans/ drop of form etc.
keita looked good in pre-season, not sure about hleb, but i guess xavi/yaya/ iniesta or keita would be ideal start.
good to have so many options!
I think the best midfield contain Yaya, Xavi and Keita. I choose Keita instead of Iniesta because of his strenght and good shot. Like someone wrote, Iniesta and Xavi are like oil and water, there is too much sideways playing, no power. Keita contributes with the physic to the midfield which was lacking deep recent season. Iniesta should play on the leftwing, with support form Abidal and Keita, tearing the defences apart with his speed and creativity. If you remember last season Barca was at its best when Iniesta played leftwing. I would form the starting eleven like this:
Valdes
Alves-Puyol-Pique-Abidal
--------Touré
---Xavi------Keita
Messi---Eto'o--Iniesta
Backup:
Pinto
Puyol-Caceres-Milito-Sylvinho
----------Marquez
---Gudjohnsen--Iniesta
Hleb----Bojan---Henry
---------Keita----Xavi------------
--------------Hleb----------------
Xavi/Toure/Keita
My option is yaya - xavi - Hleb
& after 60 min Keita & Iniesta enter instead of yaya & xavi
Last season we missed the whole midfield in the second half as yaya - xavi - Iniesta perform drop. Raijkard always changes yaya in 2nd half, & Aragones do same for xavi.
XAVI TOGETHER WITH INIESTA NOT AT ALL A GOOD IDEA MAYBE THEY PLAY GOOD IN SPAIN BUT NOT IN BARCA IT SHOULD BE...
XAVI, KEITA, AND HLEB
-----------Valdes-----------
Alves--Puyol--Milito--Abidal
------------Toure-----------
-----Xavi----------Iniesta--
-----------Messi------------
-----Eto'o-------Henry------
Valdes
Alves----Puyol---Caceras---Abidal
Keita
Xavi
Iniesta
Messi------ ------Hleb
Henry
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