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2020/21 James Rodriguez

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BlueToff said:
This is the issue.

As it stands, moving James inside means playing 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-3.

I'd love us to play a 3-4-3 and stick with it, though that does also require a high press and James isn't going to do that, so there's a lot of onus on Dom and Richarlison to hassle then.

4-2-3-1 gives James that freedom to an extent, but we just don't have the quality on the right. It would end up being Richarlison switching to that side, and we lose his impact from the left, or Iwobi playing there. Again, an example of the impact of the daft decision not to go and get an option in that could cover a few roles well.

With Richarlison back, I just can't see us changing from what worked early in the season.

Teams can't double up on James when we have Richarlison flying, we've proved that - even Liverpool didn't manage it.

The issue then becomes midfield. It unfortunately requires Doucoure to cover down the right, and that negates his impact going forward.

Really, the best person we have for that role is Allan. It allows him to get out and get about the pitch, rather than be that sitter.

There's a lot of calls for Godfrey to come in and then play that role of a sitter, and I'd like to see it, but realistically he was signed as a defender and given we're gonna have little time on the training pitch before the Fulham game, I can't see Carlo doing anything but sticking with what worked early on.

The question is Gomes/Gyfli. Against Fulham, I'd like to think we'd have enough to play Gomes and control the ball, but he's not played well. Gyfli should be nowhere near starting.

I think it's more important to get the best out of Allan defensively and Doucoure going forward, and it means both of them being freed up to get about the pitch.

Based on what I said about Godfrey, I wouldn't be surprised to see, if fit, Delph coming in and playing in there, like he did in the West Ham game - and I think that was Allan's best performance of the season up until his injury, as he was in his natural role of being able to get around the pitch.

Long-term, we have to hope it's Gbamin who can come in and play that sitting role, and then in January make sure we can go and get a player who can cover the right wing / up top to give us other options.
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Yeah, the biggest issue we have is that we have to move people out of position. I honestly don't get why we would move James to RW and bring in a RW'er instead. James on the right pulls our CM to cover for him and leaves the middle of the park wide open. Move James inside and figure out the RW situation. Honestly, Bernard and Digne have quite a good understanding of each other, maybe moving Richarlison to the right would be ok? Tho I recall he wasn't the best there last year.
 
riddick said:
Yeah, the biggest issue we have is that we have to move people out of position. I honestly don't get why we would move James to RW and bring in a RW'er instead. James on the right pulls our CM to cover for him and leaves the middle of the park wide open. Move James inside and figure out the RW situation. Honestly, Bernard and Digne have quite a good understanding of each other, maybe moving Richarlison to the right would be ok? Tho I recall he wasn't the best there last year.
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Well tbf we have seen how effective playing James out wide can be. The issue has been without Richarlison teams know our threat down the other flank is severely limited in terms of players actually making runs into the box.

One of Richarlison's greatest strengths is his positioning off the ball - it's why he gets so many goals/chances.

But as we've seen, without players capable of playing in those forward roles it means our plan A doesn't work but also severely limits our plan B or C.

Issue with Richarlison out wide right is that it cuts out that threat of him cutting inside and also covering Digne to go forward. It can work but it's not a long-term solution imo.
 


I think he’s quite wasted out wide. Teams have worked out that if they stay tight on him they can nullify us and then easily attack our right side. Luke chubby Shaw had the measure of him all game against United with something like 50% of their attacks coming down that side too. I’d like to see him central with some pace out wide that he can ping all sorts of naughty balls to but can also run back and cover.
 
killenefc said:
I think he’s quite wasted out wide. Teams have worked out that if they stay tight on him they can nullify us and then easily attack our right side. Luke chubby Shaw had the measure of him all game against United with something like 50% of their attacks coming down that side too. I’d like to see him central with some pace out wide that he can ping all sorts of naughty balls to but can also run back and cover.
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I would like to see him centrally but not convinced teams now have him “worked out”, it was one game. With Richarlison back it won’t be as easy for teams to stop us
 
meagher94 said:
I would like to see him centrally but not convinced teams now have him “worked out”, it was one game. With Richarlison back it won’t be as easy for teams to stop us
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Southampton did exactly the same and even West Brom got some joy down that side. It’s a fairly glaring problem that teams are definitely getting a grip on. He’s far better than just cutting in out wide anyway imo
 
killenefc said:
Southampton did exactly the same and even West Brom got some joy down that side. It’s a fairly glaring problem that teams are definitely getting a grip on. He’s far better than just cutting in out wide anyway imo
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Oh I don’t doubt it’s a problem defensively, I just disagree with the idea that teams now know how to nullify him/us. Unless we change formation I think he’ll be staying on the right coz I don’t see anyone else taking that spot right now.
 

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