Our issue nr 1 and issue nr 2 is midfield and once more midfield.
We literally have 0 in-form-good-enough midfielders now. How can you play football like this?Midfield is where you win or lose games.
What are our options there ? I'll try to put them in list by 3 factors (form, ability, understanding the teammates/gameplan) , I reckon, it is massively subjective, don't focus on that if you can -
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Sissoko - clearly gets weak points from ability, but previous game showed that some time off benefitted him, and he almost (!) look like acceptable box-to-box option to use. He tracks and covers fullback area as well. Though his passing ability is an issue. And he makes bad / clumsy decisions in defense, demonstrated by penalty.
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Ndombele - uuh, this pretty much kills me the most, ability wise he should be ahead of the pack, but in real life... his fitness is so non-existent that it effects every aspect of his game. Not only does he need to build stamina to handle full games. His first steps are also rather slow, hence in games where midfield is more packed / we are not given time, he cannot perform well enough. When he has even bit of time, we have seen what he is able to produce. Worryingly though, I see 0 improvement in his condition form Aug to Dec so far...
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Winks - he is kind of mistery for me. At times he looks as a decent option. At other times he makes very basic mistakes. I don't think he is defensively solid enough to play more of a DM role. And his passing ability is in fact limited. He can play the shorter-safer passes, but no defense-splitting balls / quick diagonals across the field. I think that he could only be really effective in 3 man midfield. But not in CM duo.
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Dier - well, we've seen some of him, and even though I really hope he can regain the form of his best days, I don't fully believe in it anymore. Cant make quick enough decisions. Not fast enough. Gets caught in easy situation against midfields of lesser opposition. It starts to seem that he could be our "squad player" and 1st option from the bench, but I doubt he will be the consistent starter for us if we want to aim high. I hope I am wrong on this though.
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Lo Celso - we don't know anything about him, and he doesn't know anything about his teammates in actual competitive game. Just played 160 minutes of EPL football. That influences both - his match sharpness and understanding of teammates. Right now, both are pretty much non-existent. Couldn't even tell what might be his best position.
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Skipp - no playing time. Not given a chance even to come on for dying minutes. Ability COULD be there, but hard to tell. In preseason games and in this EFL game still seemed to be physically too weak. And seemed to miss quite some easy passes in only competitive game where he really played. Not sure how much could we expect from him this season.
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Wanyama - he is finished unfortunately. Can't run, can't pass. Mentioning him here just out of respect of this one good season. Not even really a squad member nowardays.
It is hard to expect much from games when all of your midfield options... what's the sientific term... suck balls?
It is very-very-very clear that we need quality DM player. If not 2. Not making this position nr 1 priority after we got Ndombele was absolutely colossal mistake. And I hold this against Poch. Went after Dybalas and Coutinhos (or even Lo Celso) while we mostly needed DM.
But to survive this month or two until we get in new DM it seems logical to swich to CM trio. Given form and ability of our players we could use something like -
---------Kane-------Son------
----------------Alli-------------
-Ndombele-Skipp-Sissoko-
Or
---------Kane-------Son------
----------------Alli-------------
-Ndombele-Skipp-Winks-
Or
---------Kane-------Son------
----------------Alli-------------
-Ndombele-Dier-Lo Celso-
Or any other combination of those.
At least we have now decent nr 10 who could play angled passes and make late runs behind the strikers.
I think Ndombele, based on the ability should be mainstay, but all other players are up in the air... because it seems we have a lot of weak options currently.
Guido 🇺🇦
I have concerns around the sort of transfers we will make.
