Exactly, and I’m not so sure why we’ve moved away from that. This is what I mean when I say I think his role is less defined now, he’s said in interviews himself that he’s been given more freedom to go forward and whilst that has born fruit with some goals this season, it’s also made us look more exposed defensively and made him look a bit aimless at times when he has games like he did yesterday (not helped by those around him being absolutely useless as well).
Moving forward I think it will be a case of either simplifying his role again, or signing a Wharton type player to sit behind him and pushing him further up the pitch so he doesn’t have to worry about setting the tempo/progressing the ball and can instead focus on carrying the ball in more dangerous areas, scoring goals etc.
Our squad and manager are both more than good enough to see us finish in the top three and have a serious go at winning both the CL and FA Cup. Criticism currently coming their way is justified imo but there’s no doubt in my mind that they’ll turn it around sooner rather than later.
I have no issues with Gravenberch going forward when it’s the right thing to do and the other midfielder staying more or vice versa. It’s really nothing problematic, but the key is to have the right distances, cover and balance.
It’s the only viable solution that gets ~£300m worth of new attacking signings on the pitch, it also phases out Mo, who can no longer be productive wide as he loses the ball 90% of the time.
This formation keeps the midfield solid with, and gives the wing backs the licence (in theory) to provide width, which is 100% why they were purchased in the first place. On the other hand, the current setup throttles our wing backs, and mismanages our attacking players.
Someone also needs to remind Slot that Mo is leaving for Afcon for what could possibly be 45 days, so playing him continuously and then having to try another option ONLY when he has left, is asinine. There is nobody in our team that can play MO’s position effectively (even himself), so the correct option is to change the system/formation or else it’s business as usual.
The solution should not be about getting all the expensive players on the pitch at once. If you listen to Slot it seems clear he was aware of how physically challenging last season with an effectively small squad (factoring out the ones he didn’t like enough to play much) and how many more games, and high intensity games, we will have than the players we were bringing in were used to.
This was supposed to be about better preparing us for another long season, one in which we were playing an evolved form of football and able to swap out key pieces as needed.
But what he meant to say is that the perception out there due to our (net) spend this summer is that we have many options.
In our first 22 players, we have the likes of Leoni and Ngumoha. Our 23rd outfield player is Nyoni (if you don’t count the likes of Williams or Ramsay).
I think our squad size is very good, but it’s not balanced enough (like Arsenal’s this season is). Plus, we are struggling to find a winning formula of a functional first 11 for longer periods.
There are a lot of things that you can question, but of course when we’re winning the league, it’s hard to argue against.
My personal issue in terms of tactics is that players are clearly instructed to keep control of the ball at all costs, even when counter attacking.
I can’t count the number of counter attacks developing at speed until we reach the last quarter of the pitch where invariably the ball is passed back, so we don’t risk lose the ball, and we proceed to attack a now settled defence.
Defences basically know they can ignore runners in the box, because the ball is going back.
It’s frustrating because we actually have players who can execute quick counter attacks.
I believe that getting so many players in this season, we were already planning for life after MO. With his form starting to fade in the second part of last season, decisions taken behind the scenes might have seen the inevitable decline on the cards raising its head during this season. With uncertainty of how quickly his performance level might plummet/level out, or how often he could recapture, or provide the MO performance of old, remained the unknown.
With Afcon due mid-season, the worse scenario was we played him until then and monitored his output. It is to be remembered, we owe the ‘Old Warhorse’ the respect he has garnered over previous campaigns, and it would be better for all concerned, if he was phased out with respect, rather than put his head in the guillotine for a quick and ruthless execution…
If change was to come (obviously), we use the Afcon absence as the opportune time to do so. AS will then have a chance to play all his new pieces on the board, in whatever positions he sees fit to do so.
Depending on the results and competition stages we find ourselves in when MO returns, then by all means get him productively involved again asap.
I do feel we are witnessing MO in his last season for us. His goalscoring numbers are unlikely to push him further up the totem pole and climb over Shearer… which is a pity, and which I feel was important to MO himself.
We know he hasn’t been a stand-out this season, and there are many reasons why that might be… but to me, he is still a legend for all that he has done before…
Don’t see the point of heaping criticism on him when he has a bad game now… I see it as a trade-off for all the good times he has given us
I can not comment on that as I don’t know who your talking about.
If that’s a DM type player then yes I’ve been calling for that for years. Each time I get told we don’t need that.
Adam James Wharton is an English professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Crystal Palace and the England national team. A Blackburn Rovers academy graduate, Wharton made his senior debut in the EFL Championship in 2022. Wikipedia
Well an English player would help our squad numbers on some competitions.
We’ve played CP enough times for me to have a vague idea what Wharton is about. Unfortunately I only concentrate on who, where and what our players are during matches. Just can’t be bothered with anything else during a game.
2 things from this, firstly, I have been critical of our 4 2 4 press and the one plus defensive shape, and this shows the weakness with the press being easily bypassed with full backs or forwards coming in to midfield to overload our midfielders.
Klopp pressed with 3 and it was more to force the opposition where we wanted to win the ball back and by doing so still had the numbers in midfield.
Secondly our widemen, especially Mo has to track the oppositions fullback as O’reilly had all the space in the World, the whole game.
Agreed, this is the crux of it for me defensively, we can’t herd them, with our 4 2 4 as the opposition pops a player into midfield and therefore have an overload and have easy ways to beat the press.
TBH we haven’t missed Mo when he has gone to afcon, our results have been mostly in line with when he plays, we have worried about it loads and we have carried on in the same vein.
