Topic: La Liga (Spanish League) Prediction Thread 2020/21 - page 748. (Read 531290 times)

Of course, Xavi and management are not ready to let go of Lewandokwsi in the transfer market because Lewandowski role is still needed by the team. Another reason is that Barcelona has not found a player who is ready to contribute goals like Lewandowski has done. But it is true that he is getting aging and in my opinion Barcelona will use his services for the next one season because Lewandowksi is getting agin and his energy is starting to disappear when he has to deal with younger players. Yes, of course they can sell older players to buy young, better quality players, but Xavi probably won't do that.

Barcelona certainly has to look for quality strikers to be able to compete strongly next season. Lamine Yamal is starting to show his best qualities but he is still very young and of course this is where Lewandowski is needed to support Lamine Yamal performance. Apart from that, it is difficult for Barcelona to buy expensive, quality players because their finances are still not improving, so this will prevent them from hunting for strikers who perform well in the transfer window.

Ancelotti can always think of his own way and that cannot be predicted so we only need to see what steps Ancelotti will take with their current conditions.
Last season we lost Benzema, who has always been regarded as the backbone of Madrid due to his contribution, and the loss of Benzema indicates that Madrid's attack could be a little less effective if they don't look for a new striker. Ancelotii was brave enough not to look for an alternative pure striker in the signing of players and he only brought Joselu and Brahim as replacement options but it actually worked this time.

Losing Kroos could also be the same because it is possible that Ancelotti will entrust several existing players and instead focus more on finding defenders and certainty about strikers who are strong indications now are Mbappe.
It can happen that when the crazy thought of Madrid not looking for a defender and instead making Tchouameni and Camavinga always in a post that is not their place is successful, it is not impossible if next season Ancelotti will assign a current player to replace Kroos' role on the field.

I don't know why this happened for Xavi and Barcelona. He was popular when he was working in Barcelona and he had a good performance in the last season but unfortunately during this season he couldn't have the same good performance anymore and they lost the La Liga title to Real Madrid.
However, Xavi thinks it was because of the bad financial situation in Barcelona and he said they can't buy players like the other team while I think he is right but Laporta doesn't have a good relationship with Xavi after he said that, and that's why it seems we can finally see Hansi Flick working in Barcelona since he is also interested for it.

True, Kroos' passing accuracy, which is always nicknamed the sniper, will not be able to replace it because if we look at the passing accuracy he has always done in almost every season since he was in Madrid, it has always been more than 90 percent in passing accuracy, which is an advantage that Kroos has so that indeed when he leaves there will be a gap where Madrid's attack pattern will be reduced to one for the spoiled passes given because Kroos is not there.
But with the decision already made before the transfer starts, this is indeed a good thing for Ancelotti so that he can look for several options whether to maximize the current players or add new players. Ideally there must be an additional midfielder who can be used as a ball distributor later but if you want to maximize some existing midfielders and focus on defense and the search for strikers it is also not too much of a problem in my opinion, it's just that the attack scheme and formation will also change slightly because there must be some adjustments later.

There is no other choice now if they really want the conditions to remain the same where Madrid can continue to dominate the midfield then indeed they must find a successor for Kroos who has indeed decided to take a break forever in the professional football career he has run.

Although his current juniors in midfield such as Camavinga, Valverde and Tchouameni and even talented youngsters such as Arda are ready to fill the midfield position, there is still a gap where the absence of Kroos could have an impact on the supply of the ball because we know that Camavinga and Valverde are fighter-type midfielders which is different from Kroos who is a groove maker with a direct pass that we no longer need to doubt his abilities.

I think Madrid can find some players as coatings so that losing Kroos next season will not affect Madrid's midfield too much.

Bellingham is a midfielder and the fact that he scored 19 goals (1 more than Lewandowski haha) is already super cool. I remember Ancelotti said at the beginning of the season that he could score 15 goals in a season without problems and he was right. Presumably next season Mbappe should show performance comparable to what we are accustomed to in the era of Ronaldo and Messi. Bellingham will score fewer goals because he will play much lower than he does now.

At least, Xavi ever won 2 trophies in the previous season. He won La Liga trophy and Spanish Super Cup in the season 2022-2023. It is wrong if we jduge Xavi totally failed managing Barcelona. He already proved it with 2 trophies.  

If Xavi failed to win any trophy in this season, it is because Barcelona doesn't have a competitive squad. Lewandowski is decreasing his performance and he got injured for a long time, Barcelona has no good defenders, and Ter Stegen also got injured for many months. This really bring big impacts to the performance of Barcelona, they have bad attacking and bad defense. Xavi actually needs new strikers and defenders to deal with this problem, but Barcelona has no money to buy proper players. Because of the financial crisis, Xavi can't solve the problem on Barcelona team.

With those problems, they are lucky that Xavi still lead Barcelona to finish as a runner up this season.

To have the funds, Barcelona may put some players on the transfer list. However, I don't know if it can give enough money to buy new players. Barcelona also has limited players, and most of them are young players from their academy. So, Barcelona has no many options for selling players. Anyway, I assume Xavi may plan to bring back Eric García and Ansu Fati to the main team. These players have performed well in this season, they will be good addition for the team.

Xavi has shown his ability to handle Barcelona even though the Blaugrana is in a financial crisis situation. In fact, during the financial crisis, Xavi was able to train a team like Barcelona to finish as runners up, that was a really good result.
Xavi did not show to the public that the team idolized by fans was in financial trouble but Barcelona fans saw that Xavi was managing the team as he could even though some of them were on and off the operating table due to injuries.

Regarding the weakness of the attack line and more focus on defense, Barcelona's average statistics for conceding and scoring goals are not worse than the teams below them in the standings ranging from Girona to Atletico Madrid.

Talking about excuses, we can't say for one that Barcelona don't have a valid excuse with their financial ability, because they have been able to achieve quite a lot that they can possibly say their excuse was very valid because it can been seen to a great extent they would have been able to achieve quiet some more if they were in a good position with the financial backing to enable them strengthen the team enough.

Xavis strategy isn't such a terrible one, lewandoski is actually trying but obviously it's clear his performance is on the decline which is such that wouldn't help the team well enough bas they are trying to get back on their feet, one of the factors around lewandoskis decline is the fact that he's now injury prone and he's aging aswell so seeling him off wouldn't be totally a bad idea so the team can be able to get a good replacement for him and aswell get some funds in their purse from the sales as finance has been one of their major challenge in awhile.

The reason xavi seem to put emphasis on defense is simple, that's because the midfield isn't solid enough making penetration into their defense easy and concentrating the ball around their eighteen yard box but if the defense is safe then he can be sure they are conceding lesser goals than they will if the  defense is solid, mainly Xabi should work on the midfield and the striking but their defense is fair.

Selling players who no longer have high productivity is one way for clubs to earn money and buy younger players to slowly build a strong performance foundation for the club, but all this cannot be done haphazardly because if you think about selling players who are no longer productive, of course very easy but there are also some negative impacts that must be faced.
For example, Robert Lewandowski, who is too old and actually doesn't have high productivity anymore, will definitely have a bad impact on Barca's attack line, which will experience a decline in performance when they don't get suitable replacement players.

Actually there are many other ways but it all depends on how management handles all this because currently Barca has big financial problems which really need to be resolved slowly.
Selling old players gradually may be the best way.

You can always find an excuse for bad results, but in my opinion, the financial crisis did not prevent Barcelona from becoming La Liga champions. What has changed this season, and who do you think should be sold? Xavi has already said that they can sell Lewandowski, I understand what he is talking about, Barcelona has problems in attack, but perhaps the reason is not only Lewandowski, maybe the strategy that Xavi chooses also matters? Because he puts a lot of emphasis on defense, and in this case it’s difficult to expect the team to score a lot.

I would never say that Xavi has completely failed at managing his players so far. Barcelona have shown significant improvement under him, but losing several key players in the same season is very difficult. The financial crisis experienced by Barcelona has certainly slowed down Xavi in ​​building his best squad, but if Xavi and management can be patient, then the academy players who are currently carrying heavy responsibilities will prove their quality.

Several main players may be sold by Barcelona in the upcoming transfer market, and even several players who are currently on loan are expected to be made permanent by the team that uses their services. Eric García, Ansu Fati and several other players may be made permanent by the team that provides them at the moment, but it is not known what Barcelona wants.

I feel like the reason why he is retained is all because Toni Kroos would be leaving football completely. Real Madrid already had plans of extending the contract of Toni Kroos but I feel like he communicated with them that this will be his very last season with them and with football entirely.

If not for that, Luka Modric wouldn't have been retained honestly. Every youngin can also learn from Toni Kroos as well. Luka Modric present will affect some players like Brahim Diaz and Àrda Guler who are also youngins developing amf needs enough game time to play.
I'm not even sure Germany can even with the upcoming Euro's Competition. They're not amongst the clubs I consider as strong and worthy candidates.

Next season, Real Madrid will have Kylian Mbappe and Endrick joining them after spending time on loan elsewhere. The impacts of Toni Kroos will be felt during his absence, one thing I know is that even the best players are going to be replaced in due time. I will love to see him managing a club after setting up his academy.

Barcelona should definitely sell players who are not doing well with the squad. But the problem is that Barcelona do not have enough funds.   Barcelona will need to buy new players if they sell old players.   Barcelona are unable to add new talented players to the squad due to insufficient funds. Perhaps this is the reason why Barcelona management is not deciding to sell old players.

The only reason Barcelona is in such bad shape is the financial crisis. Xavi could have built a stronger squad if not for the financial crisis and would have been able to strengthen the Barcelona team as well.   Xavi is failing to stabilize this team only because of financial crisis.

If we analyze the situation surrounding how this guys come out to be the top scorer this season you wouldn’t be so shocked to see them there. Over the years Barcelona, Real Madrid or occasionally Atletico Madrid have always produce the highest goal scorers which are most their talisman or top center strikers. This season if you analyze it, both Barcelona and Atletico Madrid were poor and that reflected in their strikers performance too who were not in top form. Both Morata and Lewandowski were definitely below par this season and definitely do not deserve the pichichi award.

Now come to the only club out of the three that a good season which is the champions Madrid, they would have easily gotten a player that wins the award but they do not have any world class striker upfront. Bellingham who was pushed forward more was the one behind their Gail’s and as it usually happens to midfielders, the goals went dry. The other players like Vinicius, Joselu and Rodrigo were them sharing the spoils, the disperse goals between this players was why Madrid didn’t have a player winning it at the moment. But seriously I like how the award went, it means other club players can also win individual award

Actually, and I also think this is the best solution for Barcelona, they should just sell their players who they know are not doing well for them again, are old enough, and can participate with their full strength in the full season. You have a point. It always takes time when the league starts, and players who are not in good shape or are old may seriously deform. If there is no other player to replace, then there will be a problem, so to me, the best thing is to get new players with good performances. Sometimes experience does not only matter; strength also needs to be involved in football. 

I didn't really expect Kroos to retire so soon, but he probably took everything into consideration before making the announcement. Kroos has been a good midfielder for Real Madrid so far, so even if the coach manages to find a replacement then I'm sure the quality will not be the same.

Kroos is not like other midfielders, but parting ways with him is a necessity sooner or later. Real Madrid has certainly prepared itself to accept the fact that several of their main players will retire or move to other teams due to intense competition due to age and player regeneration. Kroos realized that, as did Luka Modric and others. What is clear is that Real Madrid's performance without Kroos and Modric would probably be very different, it would not be like losing a center forward. Losing balance within the team might be the worst consequence that Real Madrid will face next season.

Still have several months later for Carlo Ancelotti looking for right replacement for Toni Kroos position, actually Madrid will focus on one match left in La Liga and playing well for winning Champion League trophy.
Upcoming window transfer opening, has Copa America and Euro 2024 become good place for Carlo Ancelotti scouting and looking for the potential players for replacing Toni Kroos position although current midfielder having right now like Camavinga can replace well for Toni Kroos position. I think Carlo Ancelotti is smart manager and he can change some players position will playing well on difference position, still has Valverde will playing well as Toni Kroos position and Madrid having many top midfielder right now.

Has rumor for next season, Carlo Ancelotti will try another tactician by putting Jude Bellingham as midfielder and give opportunity for Arda Gullar as second striker or attacking midfielder.

Of course they will be eyeing players they can bring in next season to complete their squad because they are also certain to be left out by several players, including Tony Kross. However, until now I have not heard who is close to them, apart from Kylian Mbappe, which is indeed very old news.
Tony Kross is a player who has contributed a lot to Real Madrid's game so his loss might be felt a little, because he is in a very central position in midfield.
His ability to distribute the ball to the opponent's defense is an advantage that is very rarely possessed by players who operate in midfield. Not only does he break down the opponent's defense, but also the pass he gives is very accurate and can be maximized by the player who receives the pass.
It doesn't feel like one by one the players who have very good abilities have to leave the world of football one by one. Now it's Tony Kross' turn to make that announcement.

I don’t think this will be the end of Toni Kroos with Real Madrid. I saw in another news but don’t know how legit that Toni Kroos have been convinced by Real Madrid management and have agreed to sign for another one year before he’ll finally hang his boot. Following this, I never knew him to have any health condition prior to now. To have been enduring and playing till now with such health condition, he shouldn’t have considered to renew the contract for another year if at all the news is true. Health is wealth  and he shouldn’t gamble with it for any reason.


This method of bringing in young players into the team to grow with existing players is a very good idea that many of the big teams like Real Madrid have done and it’s working for them. Barcelona have financial crisis but I still feel there is a way they can still do this and not get entangled in this financial mess. They need long and consistent players to keep the performance consistent which make them a relevancy in the fight for all major trophies they’re fighting for. Excuses will not solve the problem, since they know the solution to all of this, they should look for a way to make it work for them in their favour. All this excuses won’t matter when you continue losing and adding bad records to your achievements so far as a football team.