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MartSlinger
Player Valuation: £40m
A lot of people have no qualms about Naismith starting behind the striker, but given the choice id rather Cleverley played there.
Goalscoring aside, Cleverley is better at everything you'd want from a 'number ten' than Naismith is.
Cleverley knows the pass before he receives the ball, that way he is able to release it quickly and Rom, Mirallas & Deulofeu would all love that. Compare that to Naismith who takes an eternity as well as about 5 touches more than whats needed to eventually produce a [Poor language removed] pass anyway. I like Naismith, i want a number ten a real assist machine to join, but its not the end of the world if Cleverley plays there IMO, and id much rather he played there than Naismith.
Goalscoring aside, Cleverley is better at everything you'd want from a 'number ten' than Naismith is.
Cleverley knows the pass before he receives the ball, that way he is able to release it quickly and Rom, Mirallas & Deulofeu would all love that. Compare that to Naismith who takes an eternity as well as about 5 touches more than whats needed to eventually produce a [Poor language removed] pass anyway. I like Naismith, i want a number ten a real assist machine to join, but its not the end of the world if Cleverley plays there IMO, and id much rather he played there than Naismith.
Since the 2012/13 season both have played around 100 games.
Clev has 6 goals and 3 assists
Nais has 17 goals and 4 assists
So lets just agree they are both [Poor language removed]!
Baines has 13 goals and 22 assists for comparison....
It would be great to see Cleverley develop as a player. I for one would be delighted if he performs better than expected. If he does turn out to be decent as a 10, then perhaps Naismith could concentrate on being Rom's backup (you can't argue that Naismith scores), which in turn allows us to have Kone put down.
I don't even want to consider the idea of Cleverly or Naismith being Roberto's 'number ten'.
Cleverley has played mainly in the centre of midfield and when he was at United there were plenty of other attack minded players. If Naismith had been playing in the same position he'd likely have worse stats while also being an all-round worse footballer.
Cleverley will be a more productive player than Naismith in the number 10 role and is more suited to our style of play. Naismith sometimes makes something happen but he regularly breaks up our own attacks and looks like a headless chicken a lot of the time.
but iirc Cleverley played well on the LW and AM for Martinez at Wigan and played on the right of a midfield three for Villa last season so he has a fair bit of experince in playing other roles than just being part of a midfield two.
If Martinez decides to go with Cleverley in the number 10 role, he is going to be under immense pressure for it to work out, because if it doesn't............................
Saint Domingo
Player Valuation: £90m
Yet fans are happy for Barkley with his one assist per season to pay there? It's clear creativity at number ten and in the deep lying positions is needed.
ToffeeTownMilto
Player Valuation: £8m
Agreed. Id much rather see Barkley deeper in that CM role and Cleverly further upfield behind Rom.
cjuk87
Player Valuation: £10m
This.
Makes me laugh the amount of blues last season saying "Barkley needs to play behind the striker, he's lethal there"
Is he? Really? Cleverley needs to assist 2 goals and he's doubled what Ross did there.
I'd prefer a proper number 10 to come in obviously, but looking at whats going on, it seems very unlikely.
Saint Domingo
Player Valuation: £90m
Hibbert is probably the only member of the squad who can't make this claim. Maybe Kone as well.
bluemangroup
Player Valuation: £70m
I like him and his weird hair.
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