But he is better as a No.10? Buy Aouar as a No.8 to play alongside Partey and keep Odegaard as a No.10. ESR can play on the left of a front 3 or interchange with Odegaard…we need strength and depth.
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I doubt we’re going to make the change as long as Xhaka is here. But I hope he does.
Btw. You were giving Odegaard shit for not being able to break through in those half midfield positions at Real, but actually want us to play him there?
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I don’t think Spanish football ever phased out DLPs. Guardiola was moved on because he was old and because Xavi was better than him. Valencia had Mendieta playing that same role around the time Guardiola got moved on. Around the same time Carrick is the English equivilent. And then Scholes moved into that role in his old age
I’m pretty sure Pep himself came out and said that he felt his position was being phased out around the time that he’d left Barcelona. I don’t even think he’d turned 30 at the time Barcelona began phasing him out so it’s not necessarily true to say that he was old.
But that’s a singular example. In general, football goes through cycles and that’s by and large my point. 4-2-3-1 was all the rage a few years ago and now it’s 3 at the back (which itself wasn’t a popular formation for a long time) and 4-3-3 which seem to dominate. It’s just how the sport goes.
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When Conte came to the PL he had everyone copying his trash 343 lmao, im waiting for a 442 to make a comeback tbh 
it’s funny tho cuz remember when Sherwood took over at Tottenham and had them playing pretty good with a 442 until ppl adjusted, nobody had seen that formation for so long they couldn’t deal with it…
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How does this negate what I said? I didn’t mean that it will never do a 180 which is why I said adapt or die.
I’m talking here and now.
From memory he also said Xavi had replaced him and made him redundant. And Xavi continued to be part of a dual axis until Guardiola gave him more freedom.
Guardiola/Xavi/Iniesta all talk about Cruyff as the person who spoke up for smaller players being given chances.
Well, yeah. Odegaard should have been sending Kroos and Modric to their retirement home in MLS.
Unfortunately, he never had a convincing performance for Madrid this season and that’s regardless of where he played.
Whether the pressure got to him or Zidane was being a prick I’m still not sure how his level dropped off so much. His performances also dropped off at Sociedad after football restarted as well so there might be something more. All in all he had a poor 2020.
Btw, Odegaard should absolutely be squashing the competition here too. It’s not like our midfield options are anything to boast for a PL club.
But those two have distinct other qualities he doesn’t have or less. Kroos for one has far better passing range. The half players in midfield at Real don’t play as close to the opponent’s penalty box, that is a space Benzema occupies or their wingers, where his strengths don’t lie in my opinion.
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I get you. I mean your recollection is likely better than mine but I’d also say that Xavi didn’t truly establish himself as a major major European player until after Rijkaard left and I don’t think he was quite a key cog in the renaissance of Barcelona at the time too.
I mean, you won’t find many players like Modric and Kroos period.
If Odegaard replicated his late 2019 form then Madrid wouldn’t be clinging on them anymore and they would be looking for a new team this summer imo.
Buendia!!
Edit:
Accidentally locked the topic I think lol
Disappointing…thought it had kicked off and read through 40 odd posts only to see it was closed in error 
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How easy is it to accidentally lock a thread here? 
About the same level of difficulty as accidentally banning a poster 
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