We're doing great without Thiago. Besides, with the MSN up front, we need our midfielders to be very good defensively. Even our midfield playmakers need to do defensive work, because MSN only do it on exceptional situations. That's why we bought Arda Turan. In a midfield composed by Arda, Busi and Rakitic, all three are very good defensively. It's what Lucho wants. We don't really need a Xavi replacement anymore, because we are not as desperate to control games via possession like we used to be prior to Lucho's arrival. Instead, we seem to like more and more the open games, those in which there is not a clear team that does the atacking, and a clear team that does the defending.
If we used to force teams into defensive mindsets, now we are giving the other teams the illusion that they can win games against this Barca by attacking it. When they try to attack us they give us space, and that's exactly what Messi, Neymar and Suarez need. Space. So, we don't really need to replace Xavi now, what we need is to have 3 midfielders that can play very well without the ball, not only with the ball. That can absorb some pressure and show some physicality as well. Thiago is all wrong for us now, even leaving out the part where he left like a coward to the team that was "hot" at the moment, a direct opponent to the team that raised him and put him on the football map.
