The season is almost upon us. Lots of changes have come about since the
last few weeks of last season. None
bigger than the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson from the manager position at
Manchester United. Although I do believe
that the success or lack of for David Moyes will be one of the biggest stories
of the 2013-14 season, there are three more stories that have sparked my
interest that I would like to share thoughts about as we approach the
pre-season in European football. First,
I would like to touch on the midfield of Bayern Munich and why they felt the
need to improve what was probably already one of the top two or three best
midfields in the world. Second, I want
to take a look at the youth movement coming out of AC Milan, which is quite
unusual for a club that sees so many player careers push into their mid to late
30’s and still maintain much success.
The final discussion will cover my own reflections and analysis on why
it is so difficult to create all-time elevens, or those of just one season. Let’s welcome in the new season and hopefully
we will get a season to remember from all leagues and competitions!
Most
outsiders believed that midfielder Thiago Alcantara would either join
Manchester United or stay with Barcelona
this summer. Then at the eleventh hour,
(or the first hour, depending on what you believe) Thiago decided to join
Bayern Munich. This is a club that
already has close to ten midfielders of top quality, and one would even
consider that they have three of the world’s best in Müller, Ribery and Schweinsteiger.
Javi Martinez and Arjen Robben could also be considered in that class,
and Mario Götze, Xherdan Shaqiri and Toni Kroos are well on their way to that
level. Luiz Gustavo starts for the
Brazilian national team, and David Alaba is more than capable of covering in
the midfield. So why the luxurious
buy? Perhaps, only Pep Guardiola knows
the answer to that question. It is
rumored that he is going to introduce the 4-1-4-1 system to Bayern. This would mean that they would probably line
up like this: Neuer; Lahm, Boateng,
Dante, Alaba; Martinez ; Ribery, Götze, Schweinsteiger, Müller; Mandzukic. This would leave a bench with Thiago,
Gustavo, Robben and Kroos. Fully healthy
and firing on all cylinders, there are going to be a number of unhappy players
within the squad. Now there are still
six weeks remaining in the transfer window, and a number of clubs around the
world would surely be happy with an addition of Luiz Gustavo or Xherdan
Shaqiri. If Pep truly knows what’s best,
he may loan out one or both of those players.
Shaqiri really is an impressive talent; he demonstrated this while he
played regularly with FC Basel. Time
will tell, but I think Pep is going to have a difficult time replicating the
success of last year’s team, as well as keeping all of his midfielders
happy. And he still has Robert
Lewandowski to consider for!
AC Milan is introducing a wave of
young talent that reminds us of the quality that Manchester United introduced
in the 1990’s and that Barcelona introduced in the 2000’s. It really
shouldn’t be a surprise considering the money and prestige that AC Milan
possess in the world of football. Yet,
many are shocked about the talent coming through. For many years, AC Milan has always purchased
already proven talent, and developed a system and facility that allowed for
those players to succeed late into their careers. Players like Paolo Maldini, Gennaro Gattuso,
Filippo Inzaghi, Clarence Seedorf and many others have benefited from this
system, and there was no reason for AC Milan to change. That is until the Champions League changed
from a technical, slow-tempo chess match to the competition it is today with
brains, brawn and full-out energy. Milan had won two titles in the mid 2000’s and also
lost a title in 2005. Yet, over the past
couple of seasons, they were getting destroyed by the likes of Manchester
United, Tottenham, Barcelona and the like.
Then, in the last couple of seasons did we start to see a change. Players like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexandre
Pato and Thiago Silva were moved for large fees even though Milan didn’t buy or have already made
replacements. I, for one, was
concerned. I thought it would be the end
of the AC Milan as we knew it. And in a
way, I was correct. There started to be
a change in both attacking and defensive mindsets at the club. They weren’t afraid to send size out onto the
pitch even if it sacrificed technical ability.
They started playing 3 up front instead of the former 4-4-1-1. They introduced younger, more physical
players to combat the power of European’s top clubs. Adding to this, their purchase of Mario
Balotelli in the last transfer window, really put Milan in a position to succeed.
With a team that should be starting El Sharaawy, Niang, Balotelli, Strasser
and De Ceglie over the next couple of years, Milan has built a solid foundation on which to work
with and a team that can compete with the big, bruising sides of Europe . I
don’t expect them to overtake Juventus in Serie A, or even appear in a Champions
League semi-final, but this new ideology of theirs can get them back to the
elite class of Europe .
I have spent the last couple of months trying to create an all-time eleven
team to satisfy my own needs, and to compare with others. It seems like something easy to do; you just
pick your eleven favorite players at each particular position and then you have
yourself a squad. Except after starting,
it hasn’t been very easy at all. I have
had to take a number of things into consideration. Can I add players that I never saw play? Can I take players whose careers are just
beginning to surface? Should I consider
team chemistry when choosing a team?
Then I got to a point where I couldn’t even whittle the team down to
eleven players. I had about 60 players
that I was trying to squeeze into an eleven person squad, maybe eighteen with
the addition of subs. I began to get
annoyed. It wasn’t this hard for
basketball (Magic, Michael, LeBron, Bird, Olajuwon). My baseball line-up has been perfected (Henderson , Mauer, Ripken Jr, Ruth, Mays, Gehrig, Jackie,
Morgan). Even for football it’s pretty
dang close (Jerry Rice and all the rest).
Yet, soccer I couldn’t finish it off.
To only be able to choose 2-3 players in an attack when the world allows
for Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo, Romario, Del Piero, Shearer, Henry,
Klose, Batistuta, and Rooney. This is
just from my generation. There are still
plenty of other options in which to choose from. Midfield?
No chance. I had to leave Xavi,
Kaka, Ballack, Rivaldo, Vieira, Gerrard, Scholes, Lampard Figo, Pirlo and
Iniesta off my team just to name a few.
Thank God for the goalkeeper position and the fact that no one will ever
touch the gifts of Peter Schmeichel, at least through my eyes. Then I got to thinking about specific
individual seasons, as that tends to be easier.
Not really. Xavi would probably
walk into most elevens as would Messi/CR7.
After that anything goes. I
couldn’t even find room to consider John Terry, who many would name as the
greatest Chelsea CB of all-time. At
least I get to wear tinted colored glasses while I participate in this
activity. But for all you soccer fans, I
suggest you give it a try. It’s not as
easy as you think.
Schmeichel; R.Carlos,
Vidic, Rio , Thuram; Giggs, Keane, Zidane, Overmars;
Ronaldo, Van Nistelrooy. Bench: Scholes, Rooney, VdS, Maldini, Robben,
Desailly, CR7.
