Christian Eriksens best position is in central midfield in a 4-3-3 formation(classic Ajax style) and thats where he should be used. At Ajax he was most succesfull when he played alongside Siem de Jong and with a defensive midfielder behind them. He often played deep and received the ball from the backline or the DM and de Jong was often further up the field than Eriksen(much more often than if Eriksen had played as a number 10/attacking midfielder). In his last seasons Ajax was pretty much build around Eriksens passing from midfield. The consensus was that Ajax performance often could be measured by how many times Eriksen received the ball.
The problem with Eriksen on the left, other than his defending, was summed up against Villa. We were all over Villa in the first half and Eriksen could roam freely into midfield. Villa came out better in the second half and Eriksen was forced out on the left. Eriksen received the ball 44 times in the first half and completed 43 out of 46 passes. In the second half he only received the ball 18 times and he completed 19 out of 22. When you also look at where he received the ball and passed the ball, it was quite obvious that they couldnt get the ball to him in the second half and that when he got the ball it was often on the left, where his passing range was quite limited.
Playing Eriksen in central midfield should allow him to get the ball more often, especially from the backline and also give him more and better passing options. He is also way better defensively in the midfield, because there are fewer 1-on-1s and more pressing/interceptions in midfield. Defending wide is not the same as defending in the middle.
So basically: Play him in fucking midfield and see how it goes.
