Modric in the middle

[Booney]

To be fair, Harry seems as confused as the rest of us. After the Arsenal away game....

"I've seen Modric play for Croatia and he's undoubtedly a special player," said the Spurs manager. "I've also spoken to Slaven Bilic [the Croatia manager] about him and he thinks he's world class, a real talent. You've got to get Modric on the ball, do that and he can open things up for you, he showed that with the last goal against Arsenal. We played a little ball to him in a dangerous area, between defence and midfield. That is where he's at his best - you can't put him in a 4-4-2 as it's difficult for him to play as one of two central midfielders, he's got to play further forward. But overall I've been pleased with Modric, he's got a fantastic brain and I'm sure he will do well for us."

Then after the Newcastle defeat...

"He's only just starting to play in the position he wants, before that he was played wide," Redknapp said. "His position really is behind a striker or behind two strikers if you can play that system with him.

"He is a player who has to be on the move and playing in that position where you can get on the ball. He's not one of those players that you want to stick out wide.

"He's got to be in a position to affect the game and since I've been here we've got him in that position and that is probably why his form has been good."

This coming a matter of days before he decides to stick him out wide.

Bilic doesn't seem half as concerned though. He sees his versatility as ana advantage rather than a negative and deploys him in different roles depending on the opposition. In the Euro's he said...

"He's a type of player who can play anywhere in the midfield, up front or more defensively," Bilic said, defending his decision to play Modric in a more defensive role. "He's our best player. Without him we would be half of what we are."
"I told him that I expect him to be the best player at the tournament," Bilic said. "Not to put more weight on his shoulders, but because I mean it."

As he's unquestionably the manager to get the best out of him then perhaps we should listen. Perhaps it's not as simple as pigeon-holeing him into any one position or formation.

 

[nicdic]

I wish we had Bilic :-(

 

[ultimateloner]

It depends what you want from CM - whether you prefer attacking or defensive ones. Qualities i want are:

Defensive: anticipation, some aerial prowness, cover lots of ground
Offesnsive: distribution, counter-attack.

Carrick is the an example of my ideal CM.

I prefer attack to start from the flank, and not in the center of the park - basically the Man Utd way.

All of you who want Modric in the middle probably prefer attack to start from the center. This is the traditional 'no.10' pulling strings. IMO Modric simply isn't complete enough to take on BOTH the defensive duties and the creative/goal-scoring aspects of the game. We also can't counter-attack effectively.

Unfortunately Spurs have been playing this 'traditional' game for a long time and hence our reliance on a 'key man', and the lack of counter-attack. We should modernise our game and Ramos was doing this. However since HR took over we are going back to the traditional way.

 

[mil1lion]

When Modric played alongside Zokora, the only thing that was a clear problem was the lack of any real positional awareness in a defensive sense. The centre backs were exposed somewhat. But thats because both players attack the player on the ball rather than hold a position and break up play. Palacios has much better positional awareness than Zokora, and although he covers a lot of ground, he doesn't leave the centre backs exposed so much. Even Jenas has better positional awareness than Zokora. So i would definitely play Modric in the middle alongside Palacios, and i'm sure it would work a lot better than Zokora and Modric.

The most important thing is that the whole midfield works hard to retrieve the ball when we dont have it. That will determine whether the system works. Modric works hard when he doesn't have the ball, and although he's not the best tackler, he often does enough to put a challenge in when needed. Palacios is a real monster in midfield and i have no doubt they would compliment eachother well in a 4-4-2.

 

[jurgen]

It seems to me that we have a more solid looking midfield but the problem was against Hull that in the first half we were not moving it quick enough, and were getting closed down easily and resorting to hoofing it. If we want to solve this keeping it on the deck, then we need quicker passers of the ball of which Modric certainly is, and he hasn't had enough time with Wilson in the centre to see if it could work, Palacios does a lot of running and tracking back and they could be ideal together, though I am not entirely sure and this is a risk trying in cames, which could well be worth it however.

I would advocate O'Hara on the left, but then I think if Arry was brave enough to try Jenas there we might see more benefit from his extra pace, and he's got a good shot on him if he can cut in. I know there is the debate of players vs. formation but then again the top teams play players in all sorts of positions these days, and I cant see beyond Modric-Jenas-Palacios-Lennon as our four best midfielders, whatever configuration they are in at the moment.

Modric is a wee guy but to say he's never there on the attack as he's on the floor is simply not true, and Jenas also crumples quite often despite being a much taller fellow. I suspect we might see Luka back in the hole on sunday, I can't see that Pav-Bent up together will give us any possession in the final third, although maybe Bentley might be up there even, I'd rather keep Luka left and see if he could help work the ball to Bentley in a position to have a crack...

 

[Leachie]

But the thing is that Modric was not "stuck out on the wing" against Hull and Arse. He played to the left of midfield and he cut in centrally plenty of times. Lennon is who was out on the wing.

Modric can easily influence the game from that type of position. We have tried him in the middle all season and it has not gone well has it? He can't dominate a midfield like Palacios and (sometimes) Jenas. The last 2 midfields in the league are what we should stick with in my opinion - even if it is just to give it a chance.

It has been way more balanced and worked well which a point against Arse and the away win seem to back up.

 

[nicdic]

But the thing is that Modric was not "stuck out on the wing" against Hull and Arse. He played to the left of midfield and he cut in centrally plenty of times. Lennon is who was out on the wing.

Modric can easily influence the game from that type of position. We have tried him in the middle all season and it has not gone well has it? He can't dominate a midfield like Palacios and (sometimes) Jenas. The last 2 midfields in the league are what we should stick with in my opinion - even if it is just to give it a chance.

It has been way more balanced and worked well which a point against Arse and the away win seem to back up.

He's played central midfield in the league once that I remember, at home to Stoke. We won 3-1 and it was arguably our best performance of the season. Coincidence? I don't think so.

We know Modric drifts in from the left, thats not a good thing. He drifts in because he needs to be in the middle. By having him on the left we've left BAE so exposed at times, and it makes the team so unbalanced. Palacios is the one who does the work, and the tackling. Jenas isn't capable of bossing anything, he's a bottle job by nature, at least Modric would give it a go.

 

[stemark44]

I really do hope that he plays a lot better on Sunday than he did in the FA Cup against United because Carrick had him in his pocket throughout the game!

 

[nicdic]

I really do hope that he plays a lot better on Sunday than he did in the FA Cup against United because Carrick had him in his pocket throughout the game!

Probably had a lot to do with playing in a 4-5-1, and our midfield being so far from Pav and Modric.

 

[leetotty]

The set piece defending is not just about having good headers of the ball, but it about application to get to the ball or to make it difficult for the opposition if they get their first, its the desire to win the header that is one of our biggest problems. We need to be mentally tougher and just be more up for a battle. Players like Corluka/Huddlestone/BAE are more concerned in the technical demands of the game but they should toughen up to the physically demands.

Modric does lose the ball and can get knocked of it, but generally it is when he hangs onto the ball for too long. Most of the time he hangs onto the ball as he has no option available. Modric played well against Wigan in the middle and will play well again there too. But he does need others to provide an option to pass to.

 

[VancouverSpurs]

What I would think is that we should continue with the current formation as it is the situation where we have Modric in the team (at least) and also Jenas to provide some more size in CM. I think that if we get some more breathing room between us and the bottom three Harry will start trying to tinker a little more. I think Harry's just really trying to bring toughness to our team and maybe right now he's not convinced Modric can bring that.

I think however that in season 2, Modric might be a different story. He'll be acclimatized, Harry will have recruited some wingers hopefully and in general Harry will have had much more time to work with the team to define our identity. I think we'll see much clearer Harry's ideal team come the beginning of next season. Anything right now is predicated on staying up, so toughness/size is preferred to skill/slick passing.

 

[gibbs131]

Great post but you are wasting your time. There are a group of people on this forum, we all know who they are, and they are clueless and ignorant and will never admit being wrong!

Somebody telling you that they called Modric being poor before he kicked a ball is telling you all you need to know about their mentality.

Where did I say he was POOR? I said he wasnt any better than Malbs. And i was proved right beyond any shadow of a doubt as Malbs has NINE ASSISTS this season.

WE DID NOT NEED HIM. Was my wholllllleeeeee argument. And it was a waste of money...was my WHOOOOOLLLEEE argument.

Modric is a good player, in the wrong team, in the wrong league.

Buuuut, with more signings like Palacious, a Modric could work. But we had to spend some SERIOUS money in order to solve an obvious problem that Modrics inclusion caused. Palacious wasnt cheap. And if he gets injured tomorrow, what then? Back to Zok and the losing mentality?

 

[ginol@14]

modric and palacios should be our CM pairing
both have the sklill and tackling ability to boss any midfield
theg only problem is that they are not very tall but if we play football on the ground this should not be a problem

 

[gibbs131]

modric and palacios should be our CM pairing
both have the sklill and tackling ability to boss any midfield
theg only problem is that they are not very tall but if we play football on the ground this should not be a problem

Modric with tackling ability? Modric in the same sentence as "boss"?

He is the OPPOSITE end of each spectrum.

 

[nicdic]

What I would think is that we should continue with the current formation as it is the situation where we have Modric in the team (at least) and also Jenas to provide some more size in CM. I think that if we get some more breathing room between us and the bottom three Harry will start trying to tinker a little more. I think Harry's just really trying to bring toughness to our team and maybe right now he's not convinced Modric can bring that.

I think however that in season 2, Modric might be a different story. He'll be acclimatized, Harry will have recruited some wingers hopefully and in general Harry will have had much more time to work with the team to define our identity. I think we'll see much clearer Harry's ideal team come the beginning of next season. Anything right now is predicated on staying up, so toughness/size is preferred to skill/slick passing.

Jenas in the middle because he brings size and toughness?!

I agree he's taller than Modric, but that's about all he has on him.

 

[nicdic]

Modric with tackling ability? Modric in the same sentence as "boss"?

He is the OPPOSITE end of each spectrum.

Don't talk crap Gibbs. He can tackle, and between him and Palacios they have everything needed to be more than a good midfield pairing.

 

[Kendall]

Modric with tackling ability? Modric in the same sentence as "boss"?

He is the OPPOSITE end of each spectrum.

Agreed. Modric is hella overrated and some would love to turn our midfield to mush by putting him in there

 

[gibbs131]

Don't talk crap Gibbs. He can tackle, and between him and Palacios they have everything needed to be more than a good midfield pairing.

Go and watch Palacious, or King then fkn tell me that Modric can tackle.

 

[VancouverSpurs]

Jenas in the middle because he brings size and toughness?!

I agree he's taller than Modric, but that's about all he has on him.

You're not going to start arguing that Modric is a box-to-box player are you? While Jenas isn't one either necessarily, he certainly is more of one than Modric.

Look the main point of that post was to say that by putting Modric at LM we have the best of both worlds for the time being. We have him IN the team and Palacios partnered with someone who has proved himself a little more in a CM role. I agree that over the long-term, as in the next few years, Modric might turn out to be the better CM partner for Wilson, but right now, I'm more comfortable with someone like Jenas.

 

[gibbs131]

You're not going to start arguing that Modric is a box-to-box player are you? While Jenas isn't one either necessarily, he certainly is more of one than Modric.

Look the main point of that post was to say that by putting Modric at LM we have the best of both worlds for the time being. We have him IN the team and Palacios partnered with someone who has proved himself a little more in a CM role. I agree that over the long-term, as in the next few years, Modric might turn out to be the better CM partner for Wilson, but right now, I'm more comfortable with someone like Jenas.

Yep. JJ was a mainstay in the two top 5 league midfield pairings we had. And people forget he scores more than most midfielders in the Prem.