LOL at Kroos wasting a space in the team. It's like the World Cup all over again
Not sure how you can repeatedly fail so hard to understand the role players like him have in teams.
Oh brilliant, another person who saw him play well once and excuses his utter inability to have any influence on a game as.... being a special flower with a role so crucial it can't even be explained to anyone.
Your 'role' in a team is completely irrelevant... when you're having no effect.
Literally any player on the pitch can take a ball from one direction and pass it 10 yards the other way, when sitting deep enough in a strong team that you are under very little pressure from the opposition when you do it.
That is NOT A ROLE it is PART OF A ROLE and it is not even remotely good enough at most levels let alone the top level to stand deep enough to be out of danger and just recycle the ball. People come up with that claptrap all the time, but none of the players who have occupied this magical role in the past... fail to do anything else. Busquets who played this magical role.... recycled the ball well not taking too many risks. He also tracks runners, makes tackles, imposes himself physically, puts players under pressure at set pieces, wins the ball around the pitch.
Deciding that because one player 'recycles' the ball as part of their game, that another player ONLY doing that is some fancy new role that makes him brilliant and difficult to understand, is only people utterly not getting the role.
Alonso both last year for Real and this year for Bayern utterly lacks the pace or legs any more to catch every runner and track every run, which is why he does so many clinical fouls. He's got a good brain but certainly not any more and not even really at his prime the legs to be as effective as someone else in the role. He was frequently at fault in big Real games and has taken his frequent mistakes, red cards and constant fouling to Bayern... but at least he sees those runs at if he can't get to the ball he'll foul the player.
Kroos doesn't do either, well the odd game he'll decide to nibble at everyone's heels but not very often. The midfield ran past him with ease tonight, he did exceptionally little defensively while also doing almost nothing offensively. Alonso could be an utter **** with his constant cynical fouling, but in doing so he'd have broken up a half dozen of Sevilla's attacks, he would have made the opposition runners wary of being fouled again, more cautious. his physicality even if it's just fouling had a strong effect on most games. Kroos just lets the game completely bypass him so often it's embarrassing.
Recycling the ball is one of many facets of this so called pivot position and EVERY other player I've ever seen play that supposed role also does a hell of a lot more than Kroos does.
I know EXACTLY what the pivot does, and if you believe passing it sideways is the only thing that player is supposed to do I'll give you a guess who doesn't have the slightest clue what they are talking about.
Real could and maybe should have lost tonight. Other than Ronaldo's goals Real created little, Sevilla broke through multiple times but wasted a lot of chances. There was zero cover from central midfield, zero pressure, zero winning the ball back and zero calm possession holding the ball. Kroos was completely MIA tonight as he is more often than not.
