Thiago Alcantara

Trequartista

The good
why? if hes an AM why is his main role at barca in a deeper role?

Cesc is the replacement.

He played in a more deeper role woth the U-19 team,He formed a strong partnership with Romeu in a 4-2-3-1 formation and he looked great,His short and long passes are great,in his advanced AMF role,he always tries to create something new and try some skills and sometimes he is accused for over-dribbling but in his deeper role,he conrols the game in a similar way of Xavi's,We will see how he develops but I will be surprised if he will not be Xavi's long term replacement,We will never find a playe better than Cescr who can replace Xavi but hat if Arsenal refuse to sell him in the next 6 years,what if they win something and then they offer him another 10 years contract,People are treating Cesc as if he is on loan at Arsenal and thats not true,Mark My words,Thiago will be Xavi's replacemnt not Cesc or JDS or anyother one.

Iniestas slot is much more likely for me.

Its Xavi's slot for me.

Thiago is destined to drop into Xavi or Iniesta place as he is a bit slow to be a winger.

I think that he played before on the wings,his skills may help him but maybe he is not speedy enough,maybe he will be a midfielder who can play as a winger like Iniesta(a false one)
 

silky_soccer

Fireman Sam
@mido

he may well be capable of playing there, im sure he would be good there, but he wouldnt be a Xavi or a Cesc quality player there, and Cesc will be at the Camp Nou, and will play that role,
 

Trequartista

The good
Ok,Its very hard to say what is the best position for most of world class midfielders
1-Xavi:His best is as deeply playmaker but he won the WC as an attacking midfielder
2-Iniesta:His best for me is as a left midfielder in a 4-4-2 or a -4-2-3-1 but his best days at Barca was as a more of an attacking midfielder in the 4-3-3 formation
3-Cesc:Another one whose best is as a deeply playmaker in Xavi's mould but he had his best season with Arsenal as an attacking midfielder
4-Thiago:I think that he will be more like a deeply playmaker but still he will be very good as an attacking one ,he will be used on the wings also IMHO in the future so we will see how will he develop before saying what is his best position but still I think he will be Xavci's replacement
5-I really want a Cesc-Thiago midfield in the future and I think thats what our board is working for,If Cesc really ends here oneday and Thiago turns out to become a world class player then the Cesc-Thiago one will be at least as good as Xavi-Iniesta.
 

zanela

Senior Member
I agree with SS. Thiago is in Iniesta's mould. The kid is versatile but his attributes suits the advanced role best. He is dynamic, agile, daring, skillful with the ability to surprise his opponents. He needs more license and space to showcase his best. Confining him to a deeper role would be limiting his talent. He'd do well but he'd do better as an AM. And from wht i saw of him i liked him more in his attacking role. The boy can play as a CM as shown in the U-19s but he can't dictate the rhythm and tempo of a match as you would expect from a CM. I dont see that in him but ofcourse he can develop and improve his all round game but as i see he will excel as an attacking midfielder.
Now his brother Rafa would be Xavi's replacement (jamrock correct me if i'm wrong) and hes very highly rated from what i know. So we could possibly have an Alcántara midfield in the future. :D
 

jamrock

Senior Member
thiago cannot replace xavi, neither can cesc

the closest thing we have to a xavi replacement is actually iniesta and i think he will drop back as he gets old.


as far has youth goes its

rafa
 

silky_soccer

Fireman Sam
He's 17. Born in 1993.

so 3 years at least until we see him in the 1st team if we go by the Busi/Pedro age.

hmmm so many exciting prospects

thiago cannot replace xavi, neither can cesc

the closest thing we have to a xavi replacement is actually iniesta and i think he will drop back as he gets old.


as far has youth goes its

rafa

dyu think Rafa is more suited to thee "Xavi Role" than Cesc?
 

jamrock

Senior Member
because the deep lying play maker role is what he was born to play, the way he sees the pitch and looks to find his team mates first is exactly what you need to play that role.

cesc i think plays best further up the field, wenger has gone a lot of work with him in that area and i think it has paid off, he scorers goals which is something our midfielders rarely do, i think we should take advantage of that, and of course he lacks the vision and ball play ability of xavi, then again most players do, but has i said i think he plays best in a more attacking role.

if he would sign him, i would rather see iniesta dropping back and cesc taking iniesta's position up the pitch, it would be damn near perfect if you think about it.
 

Trequartista

The good
because the deep lying play maker role is what he was born to play, the way he sees the pitch and looks to find his team mates first is exactly what you need to play that role.

cesc i think plays best further up the field, wenger has gone a lot of work with him in that area and i think it has paid off, he scorers goals which is something our midfielders rarely do, i think we should take advantage of that, and of course he lacks the vision and ball play ability of xavi, then again most players do, but has i said i think he plays best in a more attacking role.

if he would sign him, i would rather see iniesta dropping back and cesc taking iniesta's position up the pitch, it would be damn near perfect if you think about it.

I dsiagree.
 

Trequartista

The good
iniesta cannot play deep playmaker.... sergi B would be better at that then andres

He can,he will be good but its not the best position for him at all,its either a Left winger who cuts inside to play something like a top of a diamond like the way he played with Spain at the WC or an attacking midfielder.

I agree with SS. Thiago is in Iniesta's mould. The kid is versatile but his attributes suits the advanced role best. He is dynamic, agile, daring, skillful with the ability to surprise his opponents. He needs more license and space to showcase his best. Confining him to a deeper role would be limiting his talent. He'd do well but he'd do better as an AM. And from wht i saw of him i liked him more in his attacking role. The boy can play as a CM as shown in the U-19s but he can't dictate the rhythm and tempo of a match as you would expect from a CM. I dont see that in him but ofcourse he can develop and improve his all round game but as i see he will excel as an attacking midfielder.
Now his brother Rafa would be Xavi's replacement (jamrock correct me if i'm wrong) and hes very highly rated from what i know. So we could possibly have an Alcántara midfield in the future. :D

We will see,Now of course we have seen the best out of him as an attacking midfielder but I am sure that his performances at the Euro will give Pep and Lucho sometyhing to think about,I am sure if he plays a lot as a central mdfielder,we will have Xavi's long term replacement in our hands,
I disagree a lot with the underlined part,At the U-19 Euro he was the leader of the team,he controlled the game very well with his passes,he is smart enough to know when to dribble when to pass a short pass,when its the right time to pick a long pass,Of Course he cannot control the tempo of the game during the 90 minutes like Xavi but he is still 19,BTW I think that we should work a bit on the kid's stamina
 

jamrock

Senior Member
did you see iniesta bossing the pitch 08/09 season when xavi went out for a little while, did you see in him in the rijkaard days, in fact that's where he should be playing, an AM in the modern game should be able to score at least 7-10 goals per season.
 

La Furia

Legion of Doooom
did you see iniesta bossing the pitch 08/09 season when xavi went out for a little while, did you see in him in the rijkaard days, in fact that's where he should be playing, an AM in the modern game should be able to score at least 7-10 goals per season.

Assists are just as valuable as actually scoring, especially in the right kind of system. Iniesta showed an ability to play deep but it was when he was afforded the freedom of playing further up that he showed he is more than just the poor man's Xavi. The fact that he's an above average deep lying playmaker is just because he is so good, but he can't be at his free dribbling best when he's not in an overt attacking role. Iniesta is more of a deep lying playmaker than Cesc is, sure, but that doesn't say much. This is one of the reasons Thiago is so exciting though, I think he shows a lot of promise as a deeper lying playmaker.
 
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