We cant rely on youth?

What about Barca? At one point or another, the following players played for their youth team: Cesc, Xavi, Messi, Pedro, Iniesta etc

They put in a lot of effort into their youth sector and it pays dividends, even R.Madrid's youth sector is brilliant, even if they under utilize players from it

hang on though pedro and bojan have just come through recently and ive realised its when messi has been leading the team

messi came through when ronaldinho was leading the team so basically for the future fair enough but im worried about the present and i doubt we can pull out 4-5 good players just like that to send the taem into a potential title race next season sorry if i wasnt clear enough im just worried about the present

Agreed. We can't expect the youth to all become magical. In fact a large section of them might remain squad players, if we're lucky we'll get 2-3 Bonera class players. Perhaps one magical talent...though with the kind of heavy investment we're doing, some of them are bound to come good.

I'm curious though as to the playing philosophy being implemented. Barca's is that famous Cryuff formation which they implement from their grassroot to the top level.

I would think Milan's should be based on the 4-3-1-2 with two torpedoes for fullbacks. Thoughts?

Nah, not anymore. I think 4-5-1/4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is the modern day way to go (4-4-2 is still used alot too, but I don't think it really suits Serie A). Imagine us using a 4-3-1-2 against a 4-2-3-1? We'd get slaughtered if we played a top team. They can just have their defenders defend and use the 2 wide players in the 3 to give them width, if our full backs get foward they will still have enough players back to defend, but they'd kill us on the counter when our full backs are out of position. They can also pretty much take care of our free role player with the 2 DMs. I just think a 4-3-1-2 is easily outmatched in modern day football, particularly as alot of teams are relying on speed and counter football.

Ah, i see your point now

Investment in youth is a sound long term strategy, unfortunately, instead of being implemented five years ago when we were all crying for it and it was needed, its only being implemented now. But you are right, people like Zigoni etc are not yet ready

I don't exactly mean we use the same formation. Milan's was a flexible 4-3-1-2...occasionally you 'd have the guy in the hole drop deep, and it became a 4-5-1...and then you'd have it morph into the X-Mas tree sometimes. But mostly it was the diamond formation, still revolving around the 'delta' of the mids.

We'd have 2 mids obviously to cover the two wingers they have, and the space ours leave. In fact wait...some of my thoughts are best articulated in this article...

What tactics for Milan? ...except my viewpoint is more on the specifics of training. I also think one of our strongest fop

i.e for fullbacks we look at the fast speedy ones, who can provide support. We need a brilliant treqqie, and two strikers to play off each. A deep lying mid who can make the pass etc.

I think it all started when we were ousted by Arsenal, when the management claimed that the model to go for was the Arsenal model. To shed light on how Arsenal is run, by focusing on the youth sector and on a self-run club. That is what we are going for, and this type of project takes at least five years to show its fruits.

Personally speaking, this approach is not the one taken by the top tier clubs participating in the Champions League, yet with UEFA pushing to implement certain financial criterias for those participating in Europe, we might just be at a better position than our counterparts. Until then, we remain under constraints.

Um.

Barcelona?

well Barca r claimed to be in debt, no?

I don't think Barca have debt, their ownership structure is unique I think and they bring in tonnes of money because of this.

Whether they do or dont, is besides the point, as they have a vertically integrated system, being dependent on their youth sector. Which is my point, as its clear where we are heading.

I wouldn't say they are dependant on their youth system. It's just a case of them having World class youth players so why bother spending? They've already shown in the case of Alves and Zlatan that they're more than happy to throw big money on players if they need to, they just don't need to very often.

True, but having world class youth players, is because they invested in the youth sector. Like bringing in Messi at his early teens for example and nurturing him. I suspect that is the stance/approach we are taking.

Actually RM's youth sector is in Segunda B and has been for the past couple of years. Plus, RM has never truly utilized their players to their full extent. They have enough depth and sources to not have to us the youth teams.

The best way we could rebuild this team for cheap would be to sign a bunch of young prospects and let the primavera squad become a ubber-competitive team (more-so then they are now) and just replace our elderly with the hottest kid in our ranks. make the players fight for the first team, let them know their hard work will payoff. sign all the U-20 stars around the world and make this team of the effort of it's youth....