Gareth Bale

[Metaphysical]

Playing with 2 wingbacks who bomb forward and only 1 DM to cover them is an interesting idea of "magnificent". Being different doesn't mean ignoring basic tactical common sense.

Yeah I know, blah blah blah posession, but when you leave that much space in the back end there is bound to be exploitation of it.

except we don't do the "DM covering fullback" nonsense and haven't since the Treble season really. with Busi's emergence in the team we split the CB's and have him drop back into defence, effectively giving us a back 3 and allowing both fullbacks to bomb on.

not that I want us to sign Bale to bomb on anyway, but that's neither here nor there.

 

[Ryan_Cule]

Playing with 2 wingbacks who bomb forward and only 1 DM to cover them is an interesting idea of "magnificent". Being different doesn't mean ignoring basic tactical common sense.

Yeah I know, blah blah blah posession, but when you leave that much space in the back end there is bound to be exploitation of it.

Of course there's the potential for a 3-4-3...

----Mascherano-Pique-????----
Alves----------------------Bale
-------Busquets--Iniesta-------
Alexis-Messi-Neymar

Which could potentially be sexy but it pretty much means one of Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc being played, and good luck with that.

Nolan , busi's role is not to cover the Wing backs . His role is to drop back and play as a CB instead which gives us 3 man defense scenario.

 

[La Furia]

Nolan , busi's role is not to cover the Wing backs . His role is to drop back and play as a CB instead which gives us 3 man defense scenario.

Well that's the point, we have essentially played a 3-4-3 half the time anyway. I don't like Busquets as a CB though, it works in small doses but has lead to plenty of fuckups in the past.


Busquets could very well be the perfect double pivot CM, he fits the description as well as anyone. Especially over the past year with the constant need for makeshift back lines I'm not sure Barca has used its wealth of assets as well as it could have.

 

[Aryagorn]

----Mascherano-Pique-????----
Alves----------------------Bale
-------Busquets--Iniesta-------
----Alexis-Messi-Villa----

Which could potentially be sexy but it pretty much means one of Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc being played, and good luck with that.

What!? That's incredible dude... Busi could just rock the floor(not boat, floor) playing the Xavi role. Especially with two marauding full backs, we won't even need the uber-awesomeness of Xavi in the first place!!

 

[La Furia]

What!? That's incredible dude... Busi could just rock the floor(not boat, floor) playing the Xavi role. Especially with two marauding full backs, we won't even need the uber-awesomeness of Xavi in the first place!!

Well I certainly like the idea of that, Busquets can be just as good of a passer as Xavi but in a little bit of a more static role. But it might not be "Barcelona" enough of a formation for some people.

 

[Metaphysical]

Well that's the point, we have essentially played a 3-4-3 half the time anyway. I don't like Busquets as a CB though, it works in small doses but has lead to plenty of fuckups in the past.


Busquets could very well be the perfect double pivot CM, he fits the description as well as anyone. Especially over the past year with the constant need for makeshift back lines I'm not sure Barca has used its wealth of assets as well as it could have.

Bale doesn't have to bomb on frequently, tho, much less every single time we have the ball!

I don't want to sign Bale to be a marauding wingback. I think he has far more potential to do damage as a fullback that doesn't bomb on every time we have the ball (and, in time, a LCB that allows us to switch to a 3 man defence w/o having to make subs). the higher he starts up the field the less use he can be in attack because he works best in SPACE, so he has to sit back and allow that space to open up before attacking it.

remember at Spurs he's their main attacking conduit. for us he would be just another cog in the machine (and that, IMO, is just what he needs).

and that 3223 formation you posit is a good hail mary play. I wouldn't start a game like that, though.

 

[Maria]

Well that's the point, we have essentially played a 3-4-3 half the time anyway. I don't like Busquets as a CB though, it works in small doses but has lead to plenty of fuckups in the past.

Moving Busi at CB is basically what made Ozil a beast against us..

What!? That's incredible dude... Busi could just rock the floor(not boat, floor) playing the Xavi role. Especially with two marauding full backs, we won't even need the uber-awesomeness of Xavi in the first place!!

Villa and Alexis will need to do all the defensive work again..and then HBA will again get upset and hatefull towards Villa because he is to tired to hit the net. Not to mention that RM will absolutely kill us on the break. And I don't know why , but that line-up makes me think at Florentino and his dream from when he was RM's president for the first time.

 

[La Furia]

Bale doesn't have to bomb on frequently, tho, much less every single time we have the ball!

I don't want to sign Bale to be a marauding wingback. I think he has far more potential to do damage as a fullback that doesn't bomb on every time we have the ball (and, in time, a LCB that allows us to switch to a 3 man defence w/o having to make subs). the higher he starts up the field the less use he can be in attack because he works best in SPACE, so he has to sit back and allow that space to open up before attacking it.

remember at Spurs he's their main attacking conduit. for us he would be just another cog in the machine (and that, IMO, is just what he needs).

My concern with Bale and I'm incredibly biased and not an expert on the man, so feel free to mock me, is that he has too much of that British "hero" gene where he is most comfortable being an action man and not a disciplined opportunist. He has the physical traits to be what you want him to be, I'm not sure if he'd be as comfortable in that role though as he is in his all attacking role where he broke out.

It's not even just because he's British that I'm suspecting that, but it's how he learned to play the game. Hell, even Cristiano Ronaldo plays British.

Moving Busi at CB is basically what made Ozil a beast against us..

Yeah, Busquets was a mess in that game, and I don't blame him at all.

 

[Ryan_Cule]

Get alba and we are okay .

 

[Puyol the wall]

Get alba and we are okay .

Alba over Bale any day.

 

[La Furia]

Get alba and we are okay .

I'm still not convinced by Alba as a multidimensional player but if we just want a wingback, than yeah Alba makes the most sense.

 

[Aryagorn]

RM will absolutely kill us on the break.

How is that so!?
It's more or less like the 3-4-3 we usually play, with both the full backs attacking and Busi dropping as the third CB.
Only in that formation, Masch is playing the role of Busi and the latter himself the role of Xavi... Only further deeper probably

And I don't know why , but that line-up makes me think at Florentino and his dream from when he was RM's president for the first time.

Less Barcelona about that... Florentino's dream formation. I see where Nolan was going :eusa_think:

 

[Metaphysical]

My concern with Bale and I'm incredibly biased and not an expert on the man, so feel free to mock me, is that he has too much of that British "hero" gene where he is most comfortable being an action man and not a disciplined opportunist. He has the physical traits to be what you want him to be, I'm not sure if he'd be as comfortable in that role though as he is in his all attacking role where he broke out.

It's not even just because he's British that I'm suspecting that, but it's how he learned to play the game. Hell, even Cristiano Ronaldo plays British.

it's hard to say if he's gone all hero because that's fundamentally who he is, or because that's what 'Arry has encouraged him to be.

remember 'Arry has played him in LW, RW and even as a #10 lately. so he's indulging him in a farcical way because while he can be useful as a RW, it only encourages him to cut in on his right and play heroball more often. and he's just not suited to being a #10 at all. but I put all that down to 'Arry being thick as pigshit.

Bale started as a very promising attacking LB, so he's always had a bit of the hero in him (as all attacking FB's do) but it was never overly prominent 'til 'Arry started fucking around with his position and moving him closer and closer to goal.

I don't think he's too bad in terms of wanting to be the hero. he'd certainly add a bit more confidence and attacking intent from LB than we're used to with Abidal, but not that much more than Adriano does or Maxwell did. I mean those guys try their fair share of glory moments, and it's a good thing tbh coz no one fucking expects it.

anyway, he loves to cross far too much to be a true heroballer like Gerrard or Cristiano.

put him in our squad, with our team-first ethic, and I think his heroballing would decrease back to more normal levels.

I'm still not convinced by Alba as a multidimensional player but if we just want a wingback, than yeah Alba makes the most sense.

I would love Alba to somehow perform as a balanced LB and then somehow also be able to play LCB in a back 3.

but I mean... that's just not very likely.

it's not a deal-breaker, coz we can still play Mascherano as a LCB and then stick Bartra as RCB. but it just reduces the tactical flexibility of our First XI, forcing us to use subs if we want to make any big tactical shifts.

 

[Aryagorn]

Get Jose Angel and be done with it ffs

 

[Ryan_Cule]

Question is , does that Barcelona squad deserve or asks for a heroic LB who will bomb the forward line with crosses or we just need an alternative of Abidal . If we want to add more diversity then that is the option because otherwise our right side is pretty set imo. This season on many occasions we lacked the width . In any othercase I think Alba would make more sense.