Would we benefit from selling Modric this summer?

[nickchrissi]

His quality is certainly being underrated right now (though with some reason in fairness). No way would I let him go for less than £40m. That is the absolute bare minimum as far as I'm concerned. £50m is what we should be looking at, and I suspect Levy will be. Shouldn't allow ourselves to be bullied into accepting a lesser price based on Luka barely breaking a sweat in the second half of the season.

Bang on. IF we HAD to sell him, no less than £50m will do.

 

[Kingellesar]

If Modric was willing to stay then great, get it out of the way now, sign a new contract and have a good Euros, come back to us and stay focused. But for god sake find some form in the next five games (Harry won't drop him) or else. I mean I do love the fella but he has really pissed me off in the past few months with his lack of desire and form. He has turned into a Jenas type player overnight, get the ball, turn, turn, look at Bale, turn back, kick it backwards and run nowhere. His corners are dreadful too, nowhere near enough power on the ball.

But if he isn't willing to commit to us then why should we have another summer of "WILL HE STAY OR WILL HE GO?!" get him sold ASAP so we have time to bring in a replacement and get a full pre-season with them. If we do another deadline day fiasco and risk our start of season games I will be severely let down by the club. We MUST start the season strong in August. No playing catch up.

 

[nickchrissi]

If Modric was willing to stay then great, get it out of the way now, sign a new contract and have a good Euros, come back to us and stay focused. But for god sake find some form in the next five games (Harry won't drop him) or else. I mean I do love the fella but he has really pissed me off in the past few months with his lack of desire and form. He has turned into a Jenas type player overnight, get the ball, turn, turn, look at Bale, turn back, kick it backwards and run nowhere. His corners are dreadful too, nowhere near enough power on the ball.

But if he isn't willing to commit to us then why should we have another summer of "WILL HE STAY OR WILL HE GO?!" get him sold ASAP so we have time to bring in a replacement and get a full pre-season with them. If we do another deadline day fiasco and risk our start of season games I will be severely let down by the club. We MUST start the season strong in August. No playing catch up.

I can't be 100% sure, but weren't you one of the Summer 2011 "Let's sell Luka for £25m and replace him with Charlie Adam" brigade?

I'm sure they went missing after he smashed one home against Liverpool at White Hart Lane, but they seem to be resurfacing again, so was just wondering if you were one of them? Can't remember.

 

[Kingellesar]

No? I have never liked Charlie Adam, he was a **** at Blackpool and put in some horrific tackles on our players, I was relieved when he signed for Liverpool. Can't believe he is allowed to get away with some of the tackles he puts in.

In the summer I said we should sell him if he doesn't want to be here but for £40m+ nothing less unless there was players involved that would be of benefit to us. But Levy stood firm and after the international break Modric looked happy again and as if we had just started the season, shame about those two games where we could've used him eh.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

But look at the circumstances. Modric's apparent "dip" in form has coincided with Redknapp's switch to 442 or 4411 with Bale, lennon, Modric.

And nearly all of Modric's worst performances come when we play away from him in similar tactics.

Listen, I don't have the patience to get to the end of this thread before chipping in. Modric doesn't want to know about grafting which would be fine if his game wasn't based largely on "safe passing". I have often looked at our stats and wondered why BAE sees so much of the ball. It looks as though it's got a lot to do with Modric. He moves the ball from side to side. He's got no bollocks.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

Nobody has ever said he hasn't ever had an influential game in a 4 man midfield. But those games are usually softer games at WHL. How many great games has Modric had against top teams or away from WHL in a midfield 4, especially with Bale and Lennon in that midfield 4 as well.

This is all about Redknapp not making the right use of the resources on offer because he's trying to shoe horn what he believes is all the "best" players into 11, rather than making an 11 that better compliment each other's abilities.

This problem goes all the way back to the arguments we used to have about Jenas, and people not understanding the enormous difficulty in playing cm in a midfield 4 when you have people like Lennon and and Bale and a manager who doesn't coach a minimum level of work rate and responsibility into those players.

The ability to cover every blade of grass, put a foot in, go up and down, be reliable with your passing and chip in with 5-10 goal/assists a year is an enormous ask.

You get ninnies grumbling about Parker's positional discipline, even Redknapp appeared to be telling him to sit still yesterday, without realising it is his poor tactics that are forcing Parker's positional indiscipline. The week before Redknapp was quoted as saying "when we play that system (with Modric, Bale, Lennon in a midfield 4) the players don't get back and cover" - then against Chelsea in a semi at Wembley, he plays that system, and wonders why Parker ends up getting dragged all over the park and Modric is left twirling like stewed prune in a moulinex hairdryer.

To accommodate one player - Lennon in this case - we end up with a multi player clusterfuck. Parker has to do three peoples job, he gets yanked about and does't get to do what he does best, Modric ends up spending most of his time in front of our box fetching and carrying, VDV spends too much time dropping deep to receive the ball where Modric and Parker should be receiving the ball from Sandro, and all said and done is Lennon really worth the pay off ? I mean come on.

Also in this system there is no chance to make a real impact change. You've thrown all your cards on the table first hand, and the only option is to remove one of your supposed creatives (who will create something) and bring on a striker (who needs to be created for).

With Lennon (usually) or even Bale on the bench you can make a real change to a game.

It would be funny were it not so fucking tragic. Lennon's decision making and lack of tactical intelligence is appalling.

 

[nickchrissi]

Listen, I don't have the patience to get to the end of this thread before chipping in. Modric doesn't want to know about grafting which would be fine if his game wasn't based largely on "safe passing". I have often looked at our stats and wondered why BAE sees so much of the ball. It looks as though it's got a lot to do with Modric. He moves the ball from side to side. He's got no bollocks.

How many 'safe' passes do Barca make, or Arsenal? It's about keeping possession, and keeping the ball moving. What would you rather, him hit a 50 yard pass with Defoe 99.99999% sure to be offside?

He's a master in the middle of the park. Last season at home to United he was probably half the reason Scholes decided to retire. He absolute tore him a new arse and completed 100% of his passes, with 5 or 6 key balls through to the wingers to create goalscoring opportunities.

F*** IT! F*** LUKA! BRING BACK JENAS, AND TAARABT WHILE WE'RE AT IT, THEY MAKE DARING PASSES!

 

[jonathanhotspur]

How many 'safe' passes do Barca make, or Arsenal? It's about keeping possession, and keeping the ball moving. What would you rather, him hit a 50 yard pass with Defoe 99.99999% sure to be offside?

He's a master in the middle of the park. Last season at home to United he was probably half the reason Scholes decided to retire. He absolute tore him a new arse and completed 100% of his passes, with 5 or 6 key balls through to the wingers to create goalscoring opportunities.

F*** IT! F*** LUKA! BRING BACK JENAS, AND TAARABT WHILE WE'RE AT IT, THEY MAKE DARING PASSES!

I'm not even going to bother with this.

 

[Kingellesar]

F*** IT! F*** LUKA! BRING BACK JENAS, AND TAARABT WHILE WE'RE AT IT, THEY MAKE DARING PASSES!

Can we just bring Luka Modric back instead?

Y'know, the midfield magician who enjoyed his football and was being touted as the best CM outside of the Barcelona elites. We all recognise the quality he has and how lucky we are to have him but his form in the past few months has been a severe let down, yes a couple of games he has played out of position but even so a player of his quality shouldn't be non-existant for several months when the team really needs a star player to step forward and do something. I do think Sandro helps Modric out a lot and HOPEFULLY against QPR they both start with Parker and we start to see Modric with more freedom in the middle and start getting back to his best. To be honest though, I think he is playing out the games and hoping of a summer move, which is disappointing consdering all we have done for him and how good we could be if he was consistent. I do wonder how he will get on at the Euros, will he suddenly spark into life, who knows but if he could do it for us in the next five games and help us get CL then I would forgive him for the past couple of months of average performances.

 

[nickchrissi]

I'm not even going to bother with this.

It's ok, i miss Taarabt too. We all do. No? I miss his bollocks. His 15 stepovers and shots from 60 yards that hit old OAPs in the Paxton. We really miss those big Moroccan bollocks in the middle of the park.

Can't wait til we sell Luka. Over-rated little hobbit with no bollocks.

 

[nickchrissi]

Can we just bring Luka Modric back instead?

Y'know, the midfield magician who enjoyed his football and was being touted as the best CM outside of the Barcelona elites. We all recognise the quality he has and how lucky we are to have him but his form in the past few months has been a severe let down, yes a couple of games he has played out of position but even so a player of his quality shouldn't be non-existant for several months when the team really needs a star player to step forward and do something. I do think Sandro helps Modric out a lot and HOPEFULLY against QPR they both start with Parker and we start to see Modric with more freedom in the middle and start getting back to his best. To be honest though, I think he is playing out the games and hoping of a summer move, which is disappointing consdering all we have done for him and how good we could be if he was consistent. I do wonder how he will get on at the Euros, will he suddenly spark into life, who knows but if he could do it for us in the next five games and help us get CL then I would forgive him for the past couple of months of average performances.

He's never left, he's just being played out of position, and stop speculating he wants out. When he comes out (again) and says he wants to go, we'll deal with it then. But while he's here, while he's wearing that shirt, we support him 1billion %.

Even if he says he wants out, we should make him realise this is where he belongs, we should support him through good and bad performances, instead of jumping on his back.

If he plays shit i'll say it, if he plays well i'll say it. The man is irreplaceable, and while he's here i will make sure he knows it.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

It's ok, i miss Taarabt too. We all do. No? I miss his bollocks. His 15 stepovers and shots from 60 yards that hit old OAPs in the Paxton. We really miss those big Moroccan bollocks in the middle of the park.

Can't wait til we sell Luka. Over-rated little hobbit with no bollocks.

LOL. Fuck my old boots.

I know you probably didn't mean it but I've got tears in my eyes laughing at this.

 

[Kingellesar]

If he plays shit i'll say it, if he plays well i'll say it. The man is irreplaceable, and while he's here i will make sure he knows it.

So do you agree he has been well below average in the past few months? Because so far, you just seem to be saying he is the best midfielder in the league with no evidence or argument to back this up other than the game against United last season? What did he do against United this season? Or against City twice? Chelsea home? (away he did actually play well, I'll admit) Liverpool away? Arsenal? He goes missing in the big games far too often.

If he is in the team Saturday, great I will support him but the next five games are crucial to our season and if he doesn't perform, I would seriously wonder why he has been missing since January.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Benefit us how? I have said that I wouldn't pay Luka between now and the end of the season in most part because of our situation. With only aging defenders we need to really protect them and Luka simply isn't putting in a shift in the middle. His head also seems to be miles away at the moment and he isn't influencing games anywhere near as much as he can. But he is an excellent player who can glide past players, find an extra yard of space when others can't, can play in crowds of traffic and still make the pass. If he is on his game he is right up there with the best players in the league so I can't really see how it would benefit us losing him.

What would benefit us is to have a coach come in that can work with Modric to improve his off the ball play and to set him up in a system where he is going to be running the show for us. I've said in the past that he should almost be like a basketball point guard for us, starting the plays, carrying the ball through the midfield either by evading players or stringing multiple give and go passes together and then instigating our attacks. Carry, instigate on repeat. 100% more work pressuring off the ball when defending. If that happened then we would see huge benefits. If we sell him we will get a lot of money but I doubt we would be able to find a player that can do what Luka does.

 

[Misfit]

He's never left, he's just being played out of position, and stop speculating he wants out. When he comes out (again) and says he wants to go, we'll deal with it then. But while he's here, while he's wearing that shirt, we support him 1billion %.

Even if he says he wants out, we should make him realise this is where he belongs, we should support him through good and bad performances, instead of jumping on his back.

If he plays shit i'll say it, if he plays well i'll say it. The man is irreplaceable, and while he's here i will make sure he knows it.

You're the guy who said VDV is an overrated fat slug right?

 

[ultimateloner]

Modric isn't our problem now. Central defence/GK are; and also lack of closing down.
We couldnt have avoided the first goal, the second wasn't a goal so the third was the only mistake. 4th and 5th didnt matter.
It's not that bad.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Modric isn't our problem now. Central defence/GK are; and also lack of closing down.
We couldnt have avoided the first goal, the second wasn't a goal so the third was the only mistake. 4th and 5th didnt matter.
It's not that bad.

Modric is a part of the 'lack of closing down', in fact that should be his primary defensive role but he almost never does that closing down duty. That means that Parker has to hare out of the position in front of the defence to come and get the ball and we are then left exposed. For all of Modric's talents he is quite a big part of the problem.

 

[EastLondonYid]

I really don't want to revisit old arguments well trodden, but Modric and Huddelstone was a terrible pairing that did not work at all. It was played about 6 times, most of them at WHL, and in nearly every one of them the opposition dominated us.

I agree its boring going over old arguments but its one which condraticts what your saying, i recall us outpalying Chelsea and Man city in that vital run in when securing 4th.And we played the majority of that 'succesfull' season playing 4-4-2 with either Palacios or Tommy partnering Luka , so Luka has proved he can play in that system which is what you were dismissing.How can you say it wasn't succesfull when we secured 4th.

I think by blaming his poor form on the system we are playing is rather giving him a let out, he seems to me like he has lost his sharpness and zip either due to needing a rest or his head is not right due to other factors including him wanting to jump ship .
He has proved he can play well in that system is all i am saying.

 

[Spurvert]

I don't think anyone is saying Luka isn't a wonderful player and no, Sigurddson is nowhere near as good as him. But perhaps, with Modric certain to go, we need to be realistic with who we'd 'replace' him with.

If we needed another DM then I'd say Yann M'Vila every day of the week. I know Parker isn't getting any younger but he has another few years and we've got Sandro and Livermore to play that role.

Maybe a young buck to shadow VdV?

 

[Spurger King]

When his head is in the right place he's our best player - however would we benefit from selling him? If it's to a foreign club then yes, otherwise we're sending out an incredibly bad message to our squad and anyone we want to sign.

If we sell Modric to United, Chelsea or City it will send a signal of our lack of ambition to every player in the world. Winners don't strengthen the opposition, no matter what the short term gains may be.