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Toni Kroos

Mitch

Blonde Brigade Grand Wizard
I've always felt Kroos was overrated and not in the "world class" bracket that many put him in. Kroos is a good player nonetheless; great distribution, tidy, technical and composed. I always rated Cazorla better than Kroos however considering their two ages, Kroos would be a decent long term replacement for Cazorla.

The Kroos and Modric partnership doesn't work and Kroos is expected to pick up the majority of the defensive work, so it's understandable why he wants to leave. Despite our terrible form, we are still more likely in the future to win trophies than Madrid.
 
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Elwood

Active Member
I don't think he's the kind of player that will lead the way/make something happen when things get difficult for us, which is quite common these days.
 

4R5Emaniac

Always fresh from Bangladesh
Would be a dream signing but sounds a bit unrealistic. I think he'd do pretty well in a 2 man central midfield compared to a holding role between two other advancing midfielders but it would depend on the players around him.

As for what he can bring....we desperately could do with a player who can accurately pass the **** out of teams like a machine which is exactly what he can do. A player with his ball control and range can move around in a limited area and orchestrate our game.

He's got concentration issues though.
 

tap-in

Nothing Wrong With Me
Reading this thread I was starting to think I was getting him confused with another player. I always thought Kroos was a WC player, the type of player all the top clubs would be after if he became available. Technically brilliant, way above most of our players, what's not to like! If we get the chance, we grab him with both hands. Personally, if he does leave Madrid, I dont think it will be for us. Unless he's part of an exchange and Madrid are hell bent on getting Özil, Alexis, or Kos.
 

Rosso

AM's Resident United Fan
His issue is that you need to build a midfield around him, perhaps Coq and El Neny could provide the necessary athleticism allowing him to shine. Once you do that he is a gem of a player.
 

Tir Na Nog

Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes

Country: Ireland
Kroos
Ramsey---------Elneny*
Özil New CF Alexis
*Perhaps Wilshere could do it if he proves his fitness. Of course Coquelin could play in there too.
 

James Bond

Moderation Consultant
Kroos
Ramsey---------Elneny*
Özil New CF Alexis
*Perhaps Wilshere could do it if he proves his fitness. Of course Coquelin could play in there too.

We'd give up 8 goals a game with that midfield. As Russo said you meed to build a midfield around him to shine and we dont have those players thus why I dont want him.

We need a Modric type a million times more than we need Kroos.
 

KillaJax

Active Member
Kroos
Ramsey---------Elneny*
Özil New CF Alexis
*Perhaps Wilshere could do it if he proves his fitness. Of course Coquelin could play in there too.

When fit, Wilshere starts ahead of Ramsey. Coquelin is there to stay as I doubt Kroos/El Nenny/Wilshere can do the defensive duty he does.

If we are playing a midfield 3.

Coq
*Kroos ------ *Wilshere​
* Ramsey and El Nenny
 

Tir Na Nog

Changes Opinion Every 5 Minutes

Country: Ireland
I don't like the idea of Coquelin being the deepest midfielder, as I believe the deepest should be the one to receive the ball from the back four. And I think Kroos, if he was here, would be best suited to doing that.
 

ferrarif50hunt

Established Member
Coquelin Kroos would be a wonderful midfield pairing. What's the issue? Coquelin the ball winner doing the dirty work, whilst Kroos dictates the play from deep and starts the build up through the center, which is something Ramsey, Elneny and Flamini can't and don't do. As good as Cazorla has been in that role, Kroos is more suited and better at it.
 

indy23

Well-Known Member
We need to also add proper defenders to this team, 2 Midfielders.

We aren't going to win big trophies with rambo/Santi and coq as our midfield 3.

Thats the cold hard truth, so with that being said I'd take Kroos if it was to replace ramseys spot in the starting xi. Otherwise lets look for someone with better defensive qualities ontop of good passing.

Pay whatever it costs and fix this team.
 

Aevi

Hale End FC
Moderator
We don't need another midfielder who's defensively inept
Myth.

I've pulled up several games of his, and he is far from "inept" defensively.

Vs. Malaga: 4 tackles, 1 interception, 1 clearance, 68/70 passes completed.
Vs. Roma: 3 tackles, 1 interception, 106/110 passes completed.
Vs. Athletic: 2 tackles, 4 interceptions, 1 clearance, 68/75 passes completed.
Vs. Real Betis: 3 tackles, 1 interception, 82/87 passes completed.

He isn't at all useless defensively, and has lots of experience in organized pressing. But what we want most from him is control of the ball and good distribution. Every single game I checked has him in the mid-to-high 90's in accuracy, and his reputation of moving the ball forward well tells me this isn't only back passes.

Where I feel we benefit more from him than Santi is that Kroos handles physicality rather well and transitions between defense and attack better individually, dropping back to collect and pushing the team upfield. Final little bonus is that he has a lethal longshot, without being a player that attempts to smack it from far every couple of minutes and gets raved for getting 1/50 in (like Coutinho basically). It's something he is genuinely good; don't think he would have missed the chances Elneny was given vs Watford for example.
 

BBF

Real name: Ragip Xh...

Country: Netherlands
Myth.

I've pulled up several games of his, and he is far from "inept" defensively.

Vs. Malaga: 4 tackles, 1 interception, 1 clearance, 68/70 passes completed.
Vs. Roma: 3 tackles, 1 interception, 106/110 passes completed.
Vs. Athletic: 2 tackles, 4 interceptions, 1 clearance, 68/75 passes completed.
Vs. Real Betis: 3 tackles, 1 interception, 82/87 passes completed.

Forget the stats here, watch any game of Real Madrid's and you'll see it gets overrun when he plays deepest. If we're looking at stats, then fine. I'll use them to prove my point.

Compare him to Casemiro, another midfielder in the same team. One's played 25 times, the other 16.

Interceptions
Kroos: 35
Casemiro: 26

Tackles won
Kroos: 41
Casemiro: 34

Aerial duels
Kroos: 45%
Casemiro: 64%

Tackles lost
Kroos: 70
Casemiro: 40

Blocks
Kroos: 1
Casemiro: 7

All against a squad player who's fairly average... That's pretty inept, even if you believe stats. Watch any game of his and you'll see what I'm on about.
 

Mitch

Blonde Brigade Grand Wizard
We need to also add proper defenders to this team, 2 Midfielders.

We aren't going to win big trophies with rambo/Santi and coq as our midfield 3.

Thats the cold hard truth,

If the likes of J.Evans, Young, Valencia, Cleverly, O'Shea, Fletcher, Demichelis, Garcia and Navas can feature in a lot of matches for title winning sides then sure as hell so can players the quality of Cazorla and Coquelin are good enough. Just look at Leicester at the moment with a defence that has Wes Morgan and of people Danny Simpson FFS (probably the worst RB in the league after Naughton).
 

indy23

Well-Known Member
If the likes of J.Evans, Young, Valencia, Cleverly, O'Shea, Fletcher, Demichelis, Garcia and Navas can feature in a lot of matches for title winning sides then sure as hell so can players the quality of Cazorla and Coquelin are good enough. Just look at Leicester at the moment with a defence that has Wes Morgan and of people Danny Simpson FFS (probably the worst RB in the league after Naughton).

Citys core - Yaya - Fernadihno - Milner -Silva + Fernandinho > whatever arsenal have fielded , the guys you mentioned featured but werent the core, hell Nasri contributed to that side aswell. Oh and Kun helps too.

Uniteds core was older but they had match winners back to front - the RVP addition basically put them over - Oh and Fergie helps too.
 

Aevi

Hale End FC
Moderator
Forget the stats here, watch any game of Real Madrid's and you'll see it gets overrun when he plays deepest. If we're looking at stats, then fine. I'll use them to prove my point.

Compare him to Casemiro, another midfielder in the same team. One's played 25 times, the other 16.

Interceptions
Kroos: 35
Casemiro: 26

Tackles won
Kroos: 41
Casemiro: 34

Aerial duels
Kroos: 45%
Casemiro: 64%

Tackles lost
Kroos: 70
Casemiro: 40

Blocks
Kroos: 1
Casemiro: 7

All against a squad player who's fairly average... That's pretty inept, even if you believe stats. Watch any game of his and you'll see what I'm on about.
I have watched games, but you have me all wrong. I don't want him to be a defensive midfielder like Casemiro is, I want to sign him to have a prime passing midfielder, comfortable on the ball, which covers all the bases one of our other midfielders can't, in this case Coquelin.

Kroos-Coq has a very good balance of midfield qualities. It's more physical (and defensively capable as I argued) than one with Cazorla, it is better at passing and dictating than with Ramsey, it is more experienced and rugged than with Elneny, and Kroos isn't a player particularly susceptible to injury.
 
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