I've seen a fair bit of Marin and I think that he'd be far more effective in the role that van der Vaart currently does for us, than he is on the wing. He plays the position much like Modric used to when he was on the left, always cutting inside and going on his right foot. I think that he'd come into his own playing a free role behind a lone striker, whereas van der Vaart tends to drop deep a lot anyway, so we'd kill two birds with one stone.
Marin would be an excellent signing but as has been said he would be no kind of replacement for Modric.
And I haven't suggested that he would be. I've suggested that van der Vaart should replace Modric and Marin should replace van der Vaart.
The comment wasn't aimed at you, or anyone in particular PNP. What makes you think VDV could play the Modric role, out of interest? I know you've mentioned it several times before but for me, if we lost Luka we'd need to tinker with our tactics slightly as I can see us promoting Hudd and Sandro as our first choice midfield partnership.
Van der Vaart played in the centre alongside van Bommel for Holland in their 4-1 win over Sweden and he tends to drop very deep anyway, so I think we might have less problems with isolated front men if he's actually supposed to be there. He likes to be on the ball and dictate play as much as possible, in my opinion, so it'd suit his on-field desires and I think that he's definitely got the ability to play there, if he can cut out some of his petulant fouls. If we could bring in Parker as a replacement for Jenas, O'Hara and Palacios, then we'd still have both him and Huddlestone in reserve if it didn't work out and options to play with, too. Bale could be moved to his supposed future position of left-back if Marin needed to move back to the wing, for example.
i thought Bale's future position was much like his current one? one the wing? i think playing next to Bommel is a bit diffrent to playing next to Hudd and Sandro just due to the fact that Bommel has a wealth of experience...and can read the game to a tee and times his positioning well...a bit of a thug but who isnt in that position
I'd say that he would DM, as long as we didn't play him in every single game. Rest him for the cups and maybe take a different approach to some games and I think he'd be fine. Redknapp sees Bale's future position as at left-back, DM. I think that he might be right. Sandro can play the holding role very well, as he showed against Milan, but I think playing with Modric allowed him more freedom than playing with van der Vaart would. Huddlestone likes to play from deep too, but I wouldn't risk playing a vdV/Hudd combination against the better teams.
Fair enough, I've never seen VDV play in a two man central midfield before, hence my question. My preference for Bale is for him to continue to commit further forward as he is excellent at picking low crosses across the six yard box and his finishing is always improving.
and that brings me to my next question PNP do you think Harry is astute enough to try such things?? he does seem quite flat with tactics to me at the best of times
I like Bale as a winger too SFT10GG, but he's being totally marked and hacked out of games at the moment. He may learn to get round these problems, but he was an impressive left-back and it's another option to consider. Redknapp does seem to try and stick to certain things even when they're not working DM, but he introduced Bale when a lot of people had written him off, tried van der Vaart on the right and picked Rose out as a left-back, somehow. He has a few tricks up his sleeve, but he is a little slow to change things that don't work, at times.
fair play,i hope we play to our potential...i really do..because i think this season really does feel like a make or break for us..we had our chance of a blip and took it by failing to qualify again for the CL......no i am not being haughty, its just that we posses a team full of stars that demand it...then again if you demand it..go and earn it
