Our midfield

[Rushies tash]

8 minutes ago, waddy78 said:

It would be a 4-2-3-1 formation then kind of like Gerrard / Torres combo.

Today's formation was 3-2-0. Fuck knows where the rest were playing.

[George Costanza]

Not a fucking cat in hells chance we are buying Bellingham so fucking forget about it now

 

Not Rice either.  Both are far too expensive for this football club

[Moo]

Jesus Christ, Bellingham still being mentioned? More chance of us signing Jesus Christ.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

8 hours ago, Moo said:

Jesus Christ, Bellingham still being mentioned? More chance of us signing Jesus Christ.

I heard he’s a free agent.

[Barrington Womble]

On 19/10/2022 at 21:40, an tha said:

Fucking hell we have to do something about midfield in January...it is just killing us...it does not help defensively, it does not help attack.

 

Slow, ponderous, no legs, no physicality, does not win enough tackles, leaves huge gaps - gets outrun and outfought too much.

 

It is just a black hole in the team.

 

We won that tonight despite it.

 

That Rice for them might be a decent target for us as part of what is an urgent rebuild in midfield.

Even if getting them in January is to give us a start for next year as they get bedding in time. 

 

I was thinking about the make up if the midfield and where we start. 

 

Thiago, Jones & Henderson - have varying degrees of acceptable quality, but are injury prone or their best days behind them. 

Keita & Chamberlain - bin (although we almost certainly keep keita if we can get him to sign). Absolute waste of squad places. (And bin Melo but I think that's accepted already)

Fab - maybe if we can get him back to his best he can still be an asset, would he look better with more legs around him? But that is far from certain. 

Milner - surely we can't keep him again? 

Elliot & carvalho - I've genuinely no idea what they are. They're young and may improve, but I can't work out even what position they'd be good in. I think if you said build a formation around those two - where would you put either? I don't think either look like they can do enough defensively as midfielders, so how do we use them for the rest of this season and onwards where they can do their absolute best. I just don't know. 

 

For me, I just don't feel we have any we can rely upon. It's like we're starting again in midfield. Obviously we can't go out and buy 6 or 8 players, but I think over the next 2-3 years it would not be a shock to see them all gone and if they're not, this conversation will likely still be going. 

 

[VladimirIlyich]

16 hours ago, Rushies tash said:

Definitely. I'd like to see him on the left more, as cutting in all the time slows his game. He'd go past people for fun on the left wing.

The problem with Elliott is that although he is very skillful he's also very slow,relatively.

[Barrington Womble]

On 19/10/2022 at 22:49, Razoray said:

One midfielder in January transforms the team, especially if we stick with 442. Another 1 next summer, or 2 depending on Fabinho returning to form and a RB sets the squad up until 2024. 

I don't think we have the right midfielders for a 442 and I think it changes the role of our fullbacks considerably. And we're discussing all this because we don't have the correct legs and energy in the midfield 3. I look at our squad and with the 442 (or 424 as it started) I don't believe we've the forwards or the wide players to do it. It seems a much easier fix to get the missing legs like we used to have in central midfield. 

14 hours ago, The Golden Eel said:

He's playing pretty well in midfield now, is he not? I know nobody is being critical as such, but it feels to me like he's not getting enough credit? He's gone from basically not featuring at all to starting all the time in a struggling midfield/team and looking pretty good most matches - at 19. 

I think it depends on what you think is good. He's doing ok for a kid who should be getting 20 mins off the bench when things are going well or getting starts in domestic cups. But I don't think it's much beyond that and I would argue the fact he starts often is a reflection of the problems we face. He's absolutely shocking without the ball (although he showed a little more against city) and I don't really know what he does with it. He sees loads of the ball, he's willing and looks like he'd be fucking smashing on a Tuesday night at 5-a-side, but I just don't get him as a regular starter in a team like us. He reminds me of a Manchester United vintage Juan Mata. Looks pretty enough taking too many touches in midfield, doesn't create much, isn't very quick, watches players run past him without the ball and it's almost impossible to tell what his position in the team is. 

 

I don't want to pile on him as he's a kid, but he shouldn't be in our best team and shouldn't have to be at this point of his career. I think it's impossible to know if he'll be good enough, but he certainly isn't to be a regular now. Kids at his age who are first choice need to be at Michael owen type levels. He's nowhere near that level and his regular inclusion in the starting XI shows just how poor our midfield has become. 

[Elite]

2 hours ago, Joey8FrogsLegs said:

I heard he’s a free agent.

I'd avoid it, his dad's meant to be power mad.

[TheHowieLama]

Elliott was our best player yesterday.

[Section_31]

4 hours ago, Joey8FrogsLegs said:

I heard he’s a free agent.

Initially poor on crosses, led a player exodus but his comeback could be a revelation.

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Nailed on.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

Put TAA in midfield buy two good midfielders a right back and pray.

[Red74]

46 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

Initially poor on crosses, led a player exodus but his comeback could be a revelation.

FSg asked him to come in and heal the sickness that’s infected our midfield but he declined stating that he’s no miracle worker. 

[Barrington Womble]

1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

Elliott was our best player yesterday.

He certainly wasn't. That was the goalkeeper by some distance. 

[The Golden Eel]

3 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

I don't think we have the right midfielders for a 442 and I think it changes the role of our fullbacks considerably. And we're discussing all this because we don't have the correct legs and energy in the midfield 3. I look at our squad and with the 442 (or 424 as it started) I don't believe we've the forwards or the wide players to do it. It seems a much easier fix to get the missing legs like we used to have in central midfield. 

I think it depends on what you think is good. He's doing ok for a kid who should be getting 20 mins off the bench when things are going well or getting starts in domestic cups. But I don't think it's much beyond that and I would argue the fact he starts often is a reflection of the problems we face. He's absolutely shocking without the ball (although he showed a little more against city) and I don't really know what he does with it. He sees loads of the ball, he's willing and looks like he'd be fucking smashing on a Tuesday night at 5-a-side, but I just don't get him as a regular starter in a team like us. He reminds me of a Manchester United vintage Juan Mata. Looks pretty enough taking too many touches in midfield, doesn't create much, isn't very quick, watches players run past him without the ball and it's almost impossible to tell what his position in the team is. 

 

I don't want to pile on him as he's a kid, but he shouldn't be in our best team and shouldn't have to be at this point of his career. I think it's impossible to know if he'll be good enough, but he certainly isn't to be a regular now. Kids at his age who are first choice need to be at Michael owen type levels. He's nowhere near that level and his regular inclusion in the starting XI shows just how poor our midfield has become. 

I don't actually disagree with most of that, but I don't think now is the time to be making judgements about where he'll play in the future, what sort of player he is/will become, etc. He's been thrown in at the deep end and has coped admirably. 

[Barrington Womble]

9 minutes ago, The Golden Eel said:

I don't actually disagree with most of that, but I don't think now is the time to be making judgements about where he'll play in the future, what sort of player he is/will become, etc. He's been thrown in at the deep end and has coped admirably. 

I don't think he should be playing regularly. He's doing ok, with the caveat he shouldn't have to do what we're asking and it's not his fault. But I don't just question where he'll play down the line. I don't really know how we can play him right now (as you should with all kids by the way imo), where you say "just go and do your thing". Let him build some confidence doing what he's good at and what got him there and when he's steady doing that, then start shaping him and improving his all round game. But if someone said to you he can play absolutely any role, think of the one that suits him most, what would you pick? Because I just don't know. I don't think he's a winger, I don't think he's a wide forward in the style we play. He's certainly not an 8 like we play. He might be a 10, but mostly teams don't use them any more. 

[TheHowieLama]

He is very similar to Mount imo and a far better player at his age. 

[El Rojo]

Elliott gets judged very harshly on here sometimes. Still a kid who came back from a serious injury not so long ago. He’s been our best performer not named Alisson in more than a couple of games this season.

 

I like Curtis Jones, but he’s clearly been told not to try to try the riskier, lower percentage stuff that might allow us to see the best of him. He was outrageously skilful as a kid. He’s no central midfielder, though. If he got the ball in the position that he scored against Everton now, he’d probably look up, turn, turn again and pass it five yards back. 

[Wezza]

Guimarães would have been perfect for us, shame that boat has sailed.

[DalyanPete]

7 hours ago, Joey8FrogsLegs said:

I heard he’s a free agent.

Nailed on.

[Red74]

Fun fact. The much maligned James Milner is the only one of our midfielders with an assist this season. 

[DalyanPete]

2 hours ago, Babb'sBurstNad said:

Nailed on.

Beat me to it  Heathen

[Lee909]

52 minutes ago, Wezza said:

Guimarães would have been perfect for us, shame that boat has sailed.

Too busy monitoring him and saving the money to move for him later

[ZonkoVille77]

Just buy Brighton's midfield. 

[Babb'sBurstNad]

49 minutes ago, Red74 said:

Fun fact. The much maligned James Milner is the only one of our midfielders with an assist this season. 

That's one of the most depressing facts I've ever heard.