Ok so no ball carrier.
Take the left side. Both Iwobi and Digne are the ball carriers.
Delph is the feeder, the linker, you don't need another ball carrier.
you need a player which has more vision of the field, Digne and Iwobi need this type of player.
he makes more of the macro decisions, they the micro decisons with ball at feet.
he's the outlet, the one that switches the play or he's the one that keeps the ball at their feet or provides the defence splitting pass for them,
one of my main critiques of Silva is he hasn't set up these type of successful consistent partnerships
Not only does Delph have this role, he would also juggle this with the JP partnership,
covering, screening or pressing in event of ball turnover
or providing the outlet for ball retention and switch of play - from anywhere on the field.
So you should always have a 3-2 or 2-3 defensive set up as we enter the opp half, depending how advance the far sided fullback advances. That's a pretty stable platform to attack, 5 attacking and 7 involved in ball retention, more if you have to retreat through the CBs to maintain possession.
So Delph's role is critical and different from the other two midfielders. Why the left side? Because Digne is so good in attack, thus you need a player like Delph to take advantage.
That's not to say Coleman doesn't advance, just that the dynamic is a bit different with either Sig or JP playing Delph's role.
If JP plays the role Delph sits more centrally.
Sig role? - traditional box to box. Again he doesn't have to be the ball carrier, he has Coleman and Richarlison.
He also has Kean who can drop central or left to provide another option on the ball.
Critically if Kean loses the ball under pressure the is more cover than when Sig loses it now.
His vision and passing is pretty damn special.
And from a midfield position, in build up, he has more space to execute what he is good at than in the advance role.
If it is true that he is not a ball carrier and he is pressed, then he is given a lot more outs to to play to in this position.
But he is better than being made out carrying the ball. He's better than Fellani, better imo than Barkley.
Is Cahill thought of as a ball carrier, as good as any box to box.
And from this position, like Cahill he can score goals and win matches. The way the side is set up, with the focus more on Digne, Coleman, Iwobi, Rciharlison adn Kean, Sig gets what he is best at, make runs into space from deep and reek havoc around the box, all in the confidece and knowledge he has Delph and JP covering.
Silva has said that he wants his right winger to run a more cental, direct line. What he really needs is Sig running that line as a box to box.
If not Sig then Gomes.
Whoever it is, these mixture of roles is not uncommon across a 3 man midfield
Anyways, thats me done for excessive rambling.
It one or two sentences until the City game.
