Who could be Zidane's replacement?

Who should be Zidane's replacement at Real Madrid?

  • Lampard

    Votes: 2 4.9%

  • Kaká

    Votes: 11 26.8%

  • Guti

    Votes: 4 9.8%

  • Gerrard

    Votes: 7 17.1%

  • Ballack

    Votes: 7 17.1%

  • Cesc

    Votes: 4 9.8%

  • Totti

    Votes: 2 4.9%

  • Riquelme

    Votes: 9 22.0%
  • Total voters
    41
Gedtillo

Gedtillo

Mediocentro defensivo
13 July 2004
After Zidane retiring, Real Madrid should find a new OMF to replace him. The point is... who are the best OMF's in the world?

I'd say Ronaldinho is #1 undoubtedly, but behind him come a handful of players that could be at Real Madrid's reach to take the place. Plus, Ronaldinho is certainly out of reach for any team right now, so... these are my favourites to take the place:

- Lampard
- Kaká
- Guti
- Ballack
- Riquelme
- Cesc
- Gerrard
- Totti
- Juninho
 
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probably ballack, i dont think kaka will move to real
 
I can see Kaká going to Madrid after the WC if Roberto Carlos, Cicinho, Ronaldo and Robinho keep repeating him how much warmer and sunnier the city is compared to Milan, how fun is La Liga compared to the Serie A, how he would be an idol... :)
 
Gedtillo said:
I can see Kaká going to Madrid after the WC if Roberto Carlos, Cicinho, Ronaldo and Robinho keep repeating him how much warmer and sunnier the city is compared to Milan, how fun is La Liga compared to the Serie A, how he would be an idol... :)
Click to expand...

Still dont think he'll move from Milan in a long time. We've got a strong luring power compared to many other teams, especially since Real Madrid arent the same team as before. He also just renewed his contract until 2010 I think it is.

Willing to bet you thousands of Euros he wont head to Real Madrid within 4 years.
 
Him :
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Riquelme wouldn't stand the pressure of madrid media. He went away from barcelona because he couldn't stand it. It would be a very bad move for real. I think they should learn from barcelona. Everybody is praising Ronaldinho and Eto'o, but the real key players are Deco, Xavi, Edmilson and Messi. Madrid should build a powerful midfield: Cesc, Gerrard and Totti would be my picks for them.
 
That's BS, my friend. :) Riquelme went away from Barcelona because he was heavily underrated there. He was at the moment the best player of Argentina, and was treated by Barcelona like he was a 2nd class player.

It is fun to see you say that Deco (who has had a less than optimal season), Xavi (who has been injured most of the season), Edmilson and Messi (did not play the first games, and was injured the last ones) have been the key players of Barça, especially ahead of Pichichi Eto'o and FIFA World Player of the Year, Ballon D'Or Ronaldinho. But hey, there's an opinion for everyone there. :)

Riquelme would do great at Madrid, he was almost signed when Boca won Intercontinental to Madrid.

I'd love to see Guti keep the place. He's been doing great this season. However, I'd also like Gerrard and Cesc to come. I can see it:

----------------------------Casillas------------------------

--Cicinho--------S.Ramos--------------Mejía/Woody------R.Carlos

----------Cesc------------Stevie G--------------Guti----------

Beckham--------------------------------------------Robinho-

--------------------------Ronaldo---------------------------
 
Why would any of this big players go to underachievers like Real Madrid...what Madrid need is good young players...build a team...not buying a team...you want another team of galacticos...the past has proven that galacticos don't make winning teams...
 
----------------------------Casillas------------------------

--Cicinho--------S.Ramos--------------Mejía/Woody------R.Carlos

----------Cesc------------Stevie G--------------Guti----------

Beckham--------------------------------------------Robinho-

--------------------------Ronaldo---------------------------
Click to expand...
The formation above wouldn't work as you'd want and make this a very good team and give you what you desire and are aiming for which I believe is the title.

Your biggest mistake wasn't even the "Galacticos" part and signing over-rated players or "Star" ones when there was better ones available who could've done better job but had less "Star attraction/marketability", it was simply the case of managers after (Del Bosque) and the dumb directors of Real and people in charge like Florentino Perez being more interested in having "Marketable players" who will sell a lot of merchandise and make club's reputation and business side of things improve. It was a case of the people in charge not "Understanding modern football well and being too attack-minded!". Let me elaborate!

Remember how you sold nearly all your DMF's like Makelele (Very under-rated back then and Real hadn't realized his true worth!) followed by Flavio Conceicao, Cambiasso and few others in space of short amount of time?? only to try to convert Guti an attacking minded midfielder to DMF position which never worked and never will work fully!! Moving Beckham centrally.. and lot of other ridiculous things all to realize none will work like a REAL DMF so then you bought Pablo Garcia and Gravesen (who's still not a real DMF but more like CM due to his well-balanced and even more attack-minded nature if it was up to himself as he showed in Everton).

So I would've thought you would have learned your lesson from these past few rather unsuccessful years at Real by their high standard but no it seems you haven't and are still under-rating a "DMF's role and importance" because your formation above is again without a real natural DMF and wouldn't work in today's modern game for any team who wants to be "The best" and win things! Yes Guti can now defend somewhat and has learned that over past few years and Stevie G and Fabregas defend as well in their Arsenal and Liverpool roles since they are CM's but they still can NOT and won't do the job of a REAL quality DMF like Makelele, Mahamadou Diarra and any other REAL high quality DMF as well as they could.

You need at LEAST one REAL DMF in your formation then you can have someone like Stevie G and Fabregas and Guti beside them and say "They'll do some defensive work too and so team will be fine" but not to say those 3 will each do a "bit of defending" and team will be okay! it WONT! It'll fail again guaranteed in my opinion with formation/line up you suggested above! Now of course by "Fail" I don't mean they'll do too badly but I mean they won't give you what you're aiming for which is the "Title" but you'll at best be 2nd or 3rd again!

Especially when you have two such attack minded fullbacks who dart forward every opportunity they get, it'd be biggest crime not to have even one Real DMF in there! One isn't probably enough either though but will work if you have a CM beside him who can defend as well or two CM's who will defend but to have "Not even one quality natural REAL DMF" will mean you will settle for 3rd or 2nd position again not THE BEST which is position #1 on table and going far in CL!

Rule #1 to Success in modern day football:
Don't fuck with DMF Role! IT's the MOST important role on the field and every team needs ONE quality DMF at least in its starting 11 (It can work great with 2 DMF and 2 wingers or 2 or 1 AMF as well but you need at least one to say the least!)
 
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Now I know this might sound ridiculous, but I'm probably the key player, the missing link for Madrid. I'm willing to work my ass off and I'm also a laid back guy towards the press and supporters.
 
:mrgreen: hehe............

I voted Riquelme, althoug Totti would be a good shout too. Although maybe they see Cassano playing in that role.

Anyways, they'll not replace him with a better player, that's for sure.


FD
 
I think you could become Real's coach Joost...but play maker...naah...just face it...you're getting old...your football days are more or less over...in a couple of years you will do the same as me...playing video games because you can't do the real thing...
 
Real Madrid arent the big shiny team they were 5 years ago, like Gerd said why would big european players move there? The only players that move there are south American talents since no other European clubs are willing to pay the inflated price Real want to. Theyre completely unbalanced and lack a solid gameplay that they had years ago.

Those players above would make the wrong career move if they headed to Real... its a step backwards.
 
Milanista said:
Real Madrid arent the big shiny team they were 5 years ago, like Gerd said why would big european players move there? The only players that move there are south American talents since no other European clubs are willing to pay the inflated price Real want to. Theyre completely unbalanced and lack a solid gameplay that they had years ago.

Those players above would make the wrong career move if they headed to Real... its a step backwards.
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beckham is good example..
 
Yeah. Remember the Galactico's winning the European Champions League, la Liga twice, Intercontinental Cup, European Super Cup...? :D

Makelele left because he tried to blackmail the club. What really hurt Real Madrid was Del Bosque´s departure.

BTW, Arsenal lack a DMF... and they're about to play the Final.

But I agree that Real Madrid should sign someone like Diarra. What I'm asking here is a Zidane replacement.
 
No Arsenal don't lack a real DMF. Gilberto Silva is pure DMF and Arsenal whether they win the CL or not haven't had that great of a season anyway to be a role model for any club who wants to be top.

You can see they barely clinched 4th place on last day of season.

That line up you said above there DOES lack a real DMF and so unfortunately won't make you and the other Real fans' goals and dreams of being the best again come true!
 
Real Madrid need to produce a couple of Cesc's and Iniesta's and then maybe they can become a good team again.

Another name I should mention of course is Xabi Alonso, but there is no chance of that transfer happening for quite some time.
 
The most logical answer would be Riquelme. He'll be moving to a bigger team relatively speaking. He is more similar to Zidane than the others are (open to debate). Him not being able to withstand the attention is bollocks. He played for Boca for goodness sake. He is young but with immense experience unlike Cesc. We all know where Ballack is going. Kaka will not leave. Feck Guti. Neither Lampard nor Gerrard will be a like for like replacement. Totti and Juninho would be logical but if you are going to replace the great one why not do it in such a way that u wont have to go asearching within the next two years for another replacement.
 
Forget replacing Zidane for the time being. You can't replace like for like with a player of such gravitas, you have to buy well and adapt you game to fit your new players, just like Arsenal have had to after losing Vieria.

IMO Real have too many forwards and it's affecting all of thier form. Time to bite the bullet and sell Baptista and sell Ronaldo. Concentrate on developing Cassano (truly a great player in the making) by pairing him with Raul, who's vast experience will benefit young Antonio. Robinho is a fabulous talent who will grow up and score even more goals, but right now he's a risk taker and will lose the ball at vital times. The only way you can truly accomodate a player like that is to have a shit hot DMF sat behind him to clear up his mess.

Riquelme would be a very good buy for Real but he would surely bring an end to Beckham's Real career. No way can you afford two slow-paced play makers in your midfield. Maybe in Italy but not La Liga.
 
Sell Baptista? Why on Earth would you sell a 24-old midfielder that scored 50+ goals in the past two seasons, and that has been the best player of these last games for Real Madrid?

Real Madrid now have Raúl, Ronaldo, Guti, Cassano and Robinho as attacking players. Given that Ronaldo is prone to injuries, that Robinho is more a winger or a ST, that Raúl and Guti are ST or OMF's, you see that after Zidane's departure Real Madrid will have one pure striker (Ronaldo), two ST's (Raúl and Cassano), and two OMF's (Guti and Robinho). Baptista can play as a DMF (as he did in Brazil) or as an OMF.

Pablo García is a nice DMF. I agree Gravesen is more of a CMF, and that Mahmadou Diarra would fit great in Real Madrid. When configuring that lineup I was trying to build a skilled midfield, but you are right that there should be a DMF there. Oh, how we miss Redondo here!

Considering that our defence line is good as it is, and that we will try to sign a LSB this summer to replace R.Carlos, the problem is fitting our current players to a smart formation.

I can figure how to build a 4-4-2 with a diamond in the midfield, and strong side backs.

--------------------------Casillas------------------------

--Cicinho--------S.Ramos--------------Mejía/Woody------R.Carlos

-----------------------------DMF-----------------------------

Beckham-----------------------------------------------LMF--

----------------------------OMF/Raúl-----------------------------

------------------------------Raúl/Cassano-----------------------

----------------Ronaldo----------------------------------------


The problem is that playing with a diamond Robinho is not defensive enough to play LMF, and Beckham is not fast enough. Robinho would be a great left winger, as he plays now, but there'd be no right winger to mirror him...

I think the solution could be trying to play as we did when Figo and Zidane were on the sides: Zidane leaned to the center, and Figo was more of a winger. Roberto Carlos would team up with Zizou back then and get through the wing. Now Beckham would lean a bit to the center, Cicinho would be the new R.Carlos, and Robinho would be the Figo of the left side. This way we only lack a DMF, and a slimmer Cassano (why do strikers get fat before coming here? :lol:)
 
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Baptista should get sold?? Hell no! The guy is very good player and now Real is actually somewhat short on real strikers. The fact that he can play well, in number of positions is only 24 and will get better as each season he's in Real (adapting better) means you should keep him.

I don't think Ronaldo should be sold either. Not only is he on his day still one of the world's best strikers and by far Real's best striker/finisher, he's also at this moment now the only PURE CF they have!

@Gedtillo, you're right about Robinho's attributes suiting him to left wing position , I agree but I also agree with you where you say it can't really work in the formation you set above since if you're a LM in a diamond midfield, you need a guy who can defend and unfortunitely Robinho is quite SHIT at it even though he tries sometimes to track back, he can only steal the ball with a tackle one out of every 100 times! :roll:

So I'm afraid you're right it won't work well with Robinho in that position. Robinho could be better in a LWF position where there is less defensive duties but as LM on diamond midfield, I think he'll be a bigger liability than productive.
Gedtillo said:
Pablo García is a nice DMF. I agree Gravesen is more of a CMF, and that Mahmadou Diarra would fit great in Real Madrid. When configuring that lineup I was trying to build a skilled midfield, but you are right that there should be a DMF there. Oh, how we miss Redondo here!
Click to expand...
There you go my friend! Now you're talking! :thumbup:

A good natural DMF in starting 11 is essential and if Real can get a good one like M. Diarra, suddenly that change alone you'll see will make the team a hell of a lot better and make its many problems go away. Of course they still don't have the greatest squad even after that and need to improve on many things but it's a start and a pretty important step to take.
 
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