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"All I know is, he [Kroos] makes us defend way more than we would like to."
Explaining the fundamental role of Toni Kroos at Real Madrid and how his game from lone-pivot impacts Real Madrid like nobody else – why Ancelotti uses him there and why it's so effective.
A thread :
Explaining the fundamental role of Toni Kroos at Real Madrid and how his game from lone-pivot impacts Real Madrid like nobody else – why Ancelotti uses him there and why it's so effective.
A thread :
Using (WhoScored) chalkboard, we gajn access to his touches (1st pic) and passes (2nd pic).
Kroos completed 95% of his passes (53/56) & completed 83% of his long-balls (5/6).
The graphs show that he played "everywhere" which enabled him to access every space.
Kroos completed 95% of his passes (53/56) & completed 83% of his long-balls (5/6).
The graphs show that he played "everywhere" which enabled him to access every space.
Ancelotti wants Kroos as lone-pivot due to that. He can find:
‐ Other two interiors btwn the lines
– Wingers/FBs stretching
— Go direct at Benzema
It means that teams will be staying in deeper areas when he's on the ball due to pass-variety and manipulation he creates.
‐ Other two interiors btwn the lines
– Wingers/FBs stretching
— Go direct at Benzema
It means that teams will be staying in deeper areas when he's on the ball due to pass-variety and manipulation he creates.
Kroos can access w/ every single angle and make the pass — the difference is that Toni takes far less touches to execute the hardest compared to other midfielders. Even at the elite level he is a difference maker in every sense.
Because Kroos body-manipulation + orientation are perfect, not even near – they're always 100% on point, it makes him too hard to press as he baits-out by always having 2/3 options of getting out. Even his dribbling-out is great as he shields the ball.
Vs City, Kroos kept baiting Erling Haaland or Kevin de Bruyne to go at him – depending on who he often played w/ Rüdiger/Valverde (if Haaland) or Alaba/Modrić (if de Bruyne). He consistently had options as the front-three were narrow, City wasn't fully-pushing due to his presence
Kroos plays on average. 24.2 line-breaking passes on the Champions League ranking him 1st on the whole competition (alongside passes into final 3rd and pen area) and that's 20% total of whole Madrid squad.
His ability to differentiate vertical to horizontal passing is ridiculous
His ability to differentiate vertical to horizontal passing is ridiculous
Ancelotti wants Kroos at the base to fix the build-up problems Madrid systematically have — and he adds loads to it, meaning coaching focus shifts in different areas to try and maximise the rarity of a player like him.
Fair to say, Madrid are lucky to hold him for another year.
Fair to say, Madrid are lucky to hold him for another year.
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