What's his best position? I'm still not sure. Is it in front of the double pivot, where he's been used mostly this season? Or is it as one of the double pivot, alongside Hojbjerg?
Last season I thought he was very effective playing deeper, and this was what brought the Modric comparisons. A deep lying playmaker, intelligent, who can also scrap a bit. This season he's been mostly used as an Ndombele replacement in the. PL, further forward, but hasn't looked at his best.
Mourinho said today after the match:
"This is the kind of game where you need the ball and it is the kind of game where you cannot accept a low block."
"Some of my, let's say build-up players, they lost a lot of passes in the first phase of the build-up."
and
"If they didn’t do it, it’s because they couldn’t do it."
The obvious question is, 'what do you expect with Sissoko-Hjobjerg'? They aren't really there for their progressive passing. This was a problem Lo Celso could have helped us solve, but Mou didn't sub him on for Sissoko, even though Sissoko was on a yellow. So I guess he doesn't quite trust him there yet.
Lo Celso was a breakout player for us last year and I think we need to get him in the team, at least in those games where 'you need the ball', playing alongside Hojbjerg. I wonder if Mourinho's comments above were a hint that he's thinking of changes in the midfield and that he's only waiting for Lo Celso to get fit, 'the real Gio' as he called him. I hope so. Hojbjerg-Sissoko against the lesser teams is not the most fun to watch.
