agree about sandro but i would stress that his was more a quality of quick supply to wingers....not really a creative one...he wasnt lifting anything of large patches of grass to the feet of wingers and he was playing balls behind defenses. what he did do was know in his mind where he should be so as to make the pass quick and efficiently without much fuss to the attcking players. top class plAYER. IMO world class....
Yup. That's what I was saying too, perhaps not clearly enough. he's no Alonso but he knew which way 'up' was!
i'm going to hold you to that btw....that paulinhos passing can be really excellent. REALLY excellent in my book...even if he pulls out 1 of those in about 100 passes...places that kind of pass in the steven gerrard, xabi alonso, thudd, scholes category for long range .......and if its short range then we are talking...cesc, shingji, silva etc etc. Hopefully you are correct
Indeed. Let's hope I'm right and can deliver incisive direct balls as well as energy and strength...but don't even TRY to hold me to 'alonso/gerrard/scholes' because he is not those players...we know he is more of a Lampard. I would LOVE to see a Modric type back but i don't believe that's the direction AVB's going and that's fine by me, he has my trust.
but back on the actual point you made...avb did get around the need for a deep lying playmaker but we were efficient and resourceful....we didnt however 'look good'. AVB got a regimented and efficient system together. Its successful, but that success was very heavily based on having a world class player. Having said that...when bale was out...guess what ...we scored two goals in each of the games he didnt play in. i actually think we will be fine and depending on who we add if he leave or even if he doesnt leave...i think we will actually PLAY and LOOK better as FLUID team. basically i think AVB now has a season under his belt...he has had two preseasons....and now the chemistry in the team is enough that we should be able to produce a better system that offers a variety of threats ...not just one. We proved that by having to adapt when bale got injured
Agreed. I made this point several times last season when people were complaining. AVB did what he had to do to get us 72 points, and that was to maximize his resources. He always planned this summer as 'the revolution' i.e. Soldado-calibre strikers, and Levy/Lewis knew it. I think he'd have walked if he hadn't had assurances that he could sign that type of player (financially that is)...I think the Bale factor was huge because he was producing, but yes, again as said last season, that was because AVB had the team working to maximize his impact in games. What he did with Adebayor (to me anyway) was genius, considering he had a player who basically wasn't mentally there half-the time. He still found a way to make him effective! Incredible!
last thing, if bale stays...and i have a feeling he will now, if he stays...he WILL play to a high level still. guaranteed. anything less than that can be considered a breach of contract...though we wont make him suffer as much as he does us. plus...bale playing at 70 % is still a damn fine player......a 70% bale is what i call a world class ROLE player. And there is only so much a player can decide to sulk when his team mates are celebrating with the crowd over goals ....people are happy, these are his friends. He will get over it if he stays. This is a business and human interaction/ behaviour, real life brick. I know you dont like to think the way i do but from my expsorure of most people i will tell you this.
Now now, less of the 'you don't like to think this way'...you would be very surprised at what I do my friend, and the people it exposes me to. I know how it all works. I just choose not to subscribe to the flimflam in my own philosophies/life. I see people get eaten alive by this brick, they might be wealthy but they have no soul. fudge THAT! I'll take waling on the beach with my dog over a porsche any fudging day!
Anyway, back to the point about Bale. You might very well be right, but AVB does not want that in his dressing room. It's why he wasn;t sure about Ade last summer...oops! Must stop!!!!!!!! LOL...ANYWAY, yes, if AVB decides then he will get over it BUT it will NEVER be quite the same. The fresh-faced naivety has gone. He has grown a beard and chest hair. He is now not an aspiring kid with world superstar qualities, but the world superstar himself. He has a machine behind him. He is responsible for salaries and lives just within his own circle. He is a creator of jobs.
If bale stays he WILL, and he will perform at least nearly as well a he did.....i'm not talking goals and asssits...but more overall effect on the pitch and his presence . Garth bale is a child even though he is 24, most footballers are. he is a man by age, but so many footballers are socially underdeveloped and lacking in real hard life growth that they behave as mature as their surroundings and environment has allowed them. When a child sulks and doesnt eat his dinner...and wants people to feel his sulking.....he stands infront of you dropping his face...but when you ignore this kid and get on with things..and the family are enjoying whats happening on TV ....while watching spurs beat city........that kid wants to join him. just pick him up at the next goal...and he'll join in
Do you have children? I have a son a few years younger. And at that age they are absolutely not mentally-developed to deal with adulthood (most of them) let alone the brick he deals with. In a sense you must then understand the chain of events this summer, and how utterly disgraceful Madrid's tactics have been. Apply your observations and imagine being courted by world superstars. And your agent is courted by the buisnessmen. And suddenly what you thought you were happy to do for another year doesn't seem so great because these entities are filling your head with other information...yes my friend, they are children in many ways.
still cant believe the Soldado deal. The model on face value has been shot in the stomach.Teams need to watch out for us now. we will spend money without necessarily thinking of getting it back.
(unless we knew we were selling bale all along and this is levy's way of getting all his TO targets without being held to ransom and exposing the club to fiancial hardship? who knows)
If I gave you an answer to that question you'd get tinkled off ;-) But the answer is actually there for all to figure out...it's not hard to work out. Put it this way, if Bale was sold NEXT summer, it essentially gives you an 80-million "loan' on trying to make CL football/win a pot this season.
