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Our gutless, ineffective midfield

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Dublin blue 75 said:
By a distance, the weakest part of our squad. We have less pressing concerns in other areas sufficient that all near term efforts should be focused on moving on near all of our midfield options with a view to sourcing 4-5 replacements. Gordon and Gbamin each get a pass as new but pretty much the entire rest need to be released/sold/loaned in the most expedient means possible. They are collectively an anchor to the ambition of the team, finances of the club and mentality of the fans.

Bernard, Sigurdson, Iwobi, Walcott, Besic, Davies, Bolasie and sadly Gomes too. Not a tackle among them. They have all had umpteen opportunities at this point. The work required here is immense and the financial cost will likely be punitive given their fees. Fixable but a big job.
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I'd give Walcott a pass, reason being is that he is a FORWARD not a winger.
 
Allan and Hojbjerg would be a massive upgrade from Davies and Gomes. It might actually give our defenders the chance to defend and our attackers the chance to attack. Upgrades on each wing are also required.
 

Woolverhampton_Blue said:
That entire midfield four needs upgrading if we want next season to be much better than this one.
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You get in two proper central midfielders and the rest of them (Gordon, Bernard, Iwobi, Davies, Gomes, Walcot, Gbamin? will all pick up) NOT Sigurdson he's useless.

Get in a proper left footed central defender and a good goalkeeper and our spine is sorted; Dom and Kean will start slotting for fun and we'll be top 4 come the end of the season with THAT manager in charge.

The man has worked absolute miracles with the rubbish he has had to work with in central midfield since he arrived.
 
If you look at the 2 most sucessful English teams of the last couple of years you will see that their midfield falls into 2 distinct categories.

OK they both play with 3 in midfield rather than our 4 but the RS have 3 powerful , mobile athletes who whilst they are not the most creative are technically adept enough to win the ball and then retain possesion and by and large play a simple but quick pass to the full backs who give width and the 3 front men.

City take a different approach . They have a defensive pivot ( Rodri or Fernandinho ) and 2 floaters . None of them are power players but all have great engines. What sets them apart is the high level of technical prowess and the ability to retain the ball , manipulate it and move it quickly.

I would suggest that none of our midfielders fall into either category. Let's be clear , I am not saying that we don't have players good enough to play in either of those team's midfields ( that much is obvious ) but our midfielders don't fall into either category.

I suspect that Carlo's ideal midfield would see 2 central players of the RS type. A player one one flank who can float inside to help centrally ( as Bernardo Silva does ) and a player with out and out pace on the other flank.

Make no mistake though I don't mean 2 cloggers who can't use the ball nor a pre injury Bolasie who is a flyer but hasn't got a clue what to do when he gets the ball. Everyone in Carlo's team MUST have technical ability and mobility.

That almost certainly means 4 new players in midfield . Perhaps not in 1 window but I can't see Carlo having patience with this lot for long.
 
jazzy said:
If you look at the 2 most sucessful English teams of the last couple of years you will see that their midfield falls into 2 distinct categories.

OK they both play with 3 in midfield rather than our 4 but the RS have 3 powerful , mobile athletes who whilst they are not the most creative are technically adept enough to win the ball and then retain possesion and by and large play a simple but quick pass to the full backs who give width and the 3 front men.

City take a different approach . They have a defensive pivot ( Rodri or Fernandinho ) and 2 floaters . None of them are power players but all have great engines. What sets them apart is the high level of technical prowess and the ability to retain the ball , manipulate it and move it quickly.

I would suggest that none of our midfielders fall into either category. Let's be clear , I am not saying that we don't have players good enough to play in either of those team's midfields ( that much is obvious ) but our midfielders don't fall into either category.

I suspect that Carlo's ideal midfield would see 2 central players of the RS type. A player one one flank who can float inside to help centrally ( as Bernardo Silva does ) and a player with out and out pace on the other flank.

Make no mistake though I don't mean 2 cloggers who can't use the ball nor a pre injury Bolasie who is a flyer but hasn't got a clue what to do when he gets the ball. Everyone in Carlo's team MUST have technical ability and mobility.

That almost certainly means 4 new players in midfield . Perhaps not in 1 window but I can't see Carlo having patience with this lot for long.
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Ancelottis 4 usually consists of similar styles as:

Gordon: Drifting inside to make a 3 but a goal/assist threat.

Gomes: Ball player like Ruiz at Napoli

Gbamin: Defensive/Box to box like Allan at Napoli

Walcott: Fast flyer quickly joining the front 2


I expect that will be the model we follow.
 
Furey1878 said:
Gomes is a player who can dictate the game when he is afforded the protection of someone like Gueye, he's more the type to assist the assister as much as I hate saying that. Playing in a 2 puts the onus on him more to defend, and having only either Davies or Sigurdsson to play with really highlights his defensive deficiencies.
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I totally agree with you, but Gomes was anonymous for much of last season too. I had a look in the vaults earlier to try and see when i'd changed my mind on him (I originally fell head over heels in love with him when he came into the side) and it was pretty consistent from early January through to March. I don't mean I was a lone voice seeing what others couldn't here either, it was widely accepted that he wasn't playing well, but we were all saying 'form is temporary...' only 18 months later we're still having the same discussions.
 
Rooney_Tunes said:
You get in two proper central midfielders and the rest of them (Gordon, Bernard, Iwobi, Davies, Gomes, Walcot, Gbamin? will all pick up) NOT Sigurdson he's useless.

Get in a proper left footed central defender and a good goalkeeper and our spine is sorted; Dom and Kean will start slotting for fun and we'll be top 4 come the end of the season with THAT manager in charge.

The man has worked absolute miracles with the rubbish he has had to work with in central midfield since he arrived.
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Pickford deserves another season because he hasn’t been bad enough to warrant spending big bucks on a replacement when the midfield is so bad.
 

I think Gomes is currantly one of our best if not the best midfielder we have, but he lacks pace. I think in a new look midfield he wont be there,we need a major upgrade in that area. I maybe proved wrong and better midfielders around him will make him better but at the moment i see nothing that makes me think he world class.

yeah i know he had a huge injury that could of been career ending and huge respect coming back as quick as he did
 
Woolverhampton_Blue said:
Pickford deserves another season because he hasn’t been bad enough to warrant spending big bucks on a replacement when the midfield is so bad.
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Pickford could be a gift horse though. He's performing like a sub £10m keeper so if you could somehow convince someone to pay proper money for 'England's number one' you could effectively replace him with someone of the same quality for substantially less. That would allow you to spend the rest of money on those midfielders we need.
 
Lanolin said:
Pickford could be a gift horse though. He is literally performing like a sub £10m keeper so if you could somehow convince someone to pay proper money for 'England's number one' you could effectively replace him with someone of the same quality for substantially less. That would allow you to spend the rest of money on those midfielders we need.
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If someone offered over £30 million then yeah I’d sell. Not sure anyone would offer that though!
 

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