- Apr 1, 2014
- 434
- 466
We are so slow that even Levy and Mido had to run to get a good set on EasyJet
It's the job of the middle pair to recycle possession and it it to the forward 3 creators. More often than not, Eriksen ends up dropping deeper to do it because the two don't have a clue. This limits our options in the final third giving opposition time to settle.
We look better with Mason playing because he doesn't wait about and joins the forward march.
There are lots of better players at this role out there, but it involves spending.
Stambouli, Bentelab, Dembele, Capoue, Paulinho all sit in the other part of the pair and we only have Mason for the other role.
Look at Bielsa's notes for a better idea of the concepts of possession recycling and faster closing down. When executed properly, it makes for exciting football.
We just don't have the players yet.
Sadly I just don't think we've had good enough midfielders since Modric left.
All of our current midfielders are average when it comes to passing the ball quickly and incisively. And I include Mason and Bentaleb in that even though they've been the best of a bad bunch.
It's not pace we lack. It's purpose we lack. It's almost at times we just keep the ball for the sake of it, our possession stats are incredible but it makes for an eyesore and a fairly indifferent season.
We still need to replace Modric. That's the problem with our speed (in fact 90% or more of our current problems are down to lack of quality midfield players). Obviously we will most likely never have a player as good as Modric again but it's very, very strange that the club didn't even buy a players with similar traits to him instead opting to stockpile mediocre, hulking, slow midfielders who can't pass the ball.
I think it might be better if erikson was played centrally rather than wide as i think he was brought in to replace modric.
We've had a gaping hole in our midfield since he leftMore so Van der Vaart. We've still never replaced Modric, nor even attempted to.
We've had a gaping hole in our midfield since he left
In that time we've signed Dembele, Capoue, Stambouli and Paulinho in our centre mid areas (ok Paulinho is more of an AM) and not one of them would I be sad to see sold tomorrow, not one of them are even as good as the players promoted from our youth system
It's a major weakness in our squad and its the reason we have fallen behind since Modric left
I can only hope that the youth players keep going from strength to strength and now we have a new manager and a new guy charged with scouting/signing players we can start correcting some of the harm done in the transfer market in recent years
Why does everyone keep putting down Mason/Bentaleb? They're young, they're learning, they're ours.
What we should do instead is get another Modric who'll put up a fuss and fuck us over is exactly what we need.
Great players have to come from somewhere, why not give ours a shot before going gallivanting all over to find specimens like Capoue.
Levy, not AVB, is the one who botched the Moutinho deal.Spot the fuck on. AVB had two summers to do it, and plenty of funds, but we only piled up these lethargic logs who aren't really even that great defensively. Just stupid decisions.
Levy, not AVB, is the one who botched the Moutinho deal.