darthvader7888
Banned
Why mess with the holy trinity? Here are a few reasons:
- Teams have started to figure us out more in the past few years with parked buses, harder pressing, etc. forcing us to need a direct player from time to time.
- Tito is not Pep, the midfield trio will not work the same under him and needs more player rotation to successfully match the levels Pep reached. Pep had the tactical innovation to be able to keep the play alive and on fire even with one main midfield lineup. Tito doesn't have that, he overuses a lineup for a good 5-6 months before it becomes deadwood and starts harming the players.
- Xavi isn't getting any younger. We're eventually going to have to live without him and while Thiago can prove to be a worthy successor, he isn't the exact same player which calls for changes in the way the midfield lines up and plays. Cesc playing keeps things fresh and ever-changing so that we can compensate for the decline and eventual retirement of Xavi.
Things can never always remain the same. Pep was able to elongate the life of the holy midfield trinity but eventually even that can't remain exactly the same especially under Tito. Football is evolving and it's stupid to think that just because something worked before it'll always work in the future. Selling Cesc and keeping Roberto would be a massive step backwards and would ensure that our future midfield will become weak and a desperate attempt to cling to the past.
I wouldn't change our starting midfield trio (next season, at least), just rotate more to keep them (especially Xavi) fresh. Like I said, Xavi-Busquets-Iniesta is still our best midfield trio IMO. Thiago-Busquets-Iniesta when Xavi's tired, off-form or injured, since Cesc/Iniesta doesn't work that well (as we've seen a few times this season) due to the lack of a Xavi-type midfield controller. Thiago's obviously not the exact same as Xavi, but he does well in that role and should be the one used to rotate with and rest Xavi, not Cesc. Also, we should change some things tactically, like bringing back the pressing, but, again, we shouldn't change the starting midfield trio.
I do think something like the lineup from the first half of the season (Xavi-Busquets-Cesc with Iniesta on the wing) might be a good plan B though.
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