- Oct 19, 2004
- 39,837
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lol you're totally obsessed with Bentaleb, BC. It ain't gonna happen.
Mason is our most important outfield player and had a very good game yesterday (watched it again today and watched him closely), we would not be playing most of the positive parts of our game, currently, without him. He's fantastic.
Agree with most of the other stuff though.
Listen, don't misunderstand me, I can see what Pochettino sees in Mason. Go back read what I've said about him from years ago, I'd rather he'd have been given his chance ahead of a plethora of wankers we've wasted money on and am fine with him getting a chance now. I'd rather see him out there than the likes of Dembele or Paulinho. I was pissed off helot sent out on loan instead of getting his chance sooner and checked every week to see if he was getting games at places like Lorient etc.
But Imo, Pochettino's got to find a way to make it work better. I've watched him play 4 games now, Arsenal, Southampton, ManC and Newcastle and our midfield hasn't worked brilliantly, certainly not for 90 mins, in any of those games. I think Mason is carrying some understandable good will, but for the defensive sacrifice to pay off, he's got to start producing more of substance. And by defensive, I don't mean he's scared to tackle, he's not, but he's positionally very indisciplined and as Steve said, he goes chasing the ball about. I accept these have been his first four games so, we have to be a bit patient and I appreciate that.
A couple of weeks ago I said exactly the same as @steve said above, that I'd happily give him a shot in the No.10 role when Eriksen has a couple of bad games and see how that works. That's the role he played as a kid.
Either that or, we switch formation. I would love to see us play a 433 with Mason right and Bentaleb left of Capoue.
I just think the EPL (and modern football in general) demands so much of a player in a CM2. You either need two with different but very strong complimentary skills, or two real quality all rounders.