You just can’t please some ‘supporters.’
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Does it though? I see this said a lot but I’m not sure I agree.
Our right sided #8 take up plenty of positions wide right that Trent could exploit, they’re not stuck in the middle of the pitch. Yes, he could have some issues retaining the ball under more pressure than he currently gets, but Henderson managed to do a good job in the position for years and he was never the best when pressed.
We’re not talking about moving him in a well functioning team just for the sake of it here. We’re not getting the best of him at right back at the moment either, the shape and patterns of play on our right side is an absolute mess.
I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to shift Thiago to 6, as he is more likely to be overrun that Fab.
Personally, I don’t think we could do a lot worse than look at a 4231 with two from Hendo, Thiago, Fab, Milner sitting.
It what we seem to have been recruiting for with all these technical attacking midfielders we’ve been stockpiling.
If we’re going to persist with 433, then starting Keita is a must. I know the fans have finished with him, but he is the only player we have who has the mix of attacking and defend I’ve qualities needed in the 8.
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I agree with this. The midfield is broken, and the compromises being offered are various attempts at patching it up.
It also looks like we have been recruiting for 4231, and if we switch to that next year, Elliott and Carvalho would make more sense as back ups in the 3.
Nunez
Diaz Gakpo Salah
Caicedo Bellingham
Robertson VVD Konate Trent
With the best of the old crop of midfielders rotating in, as well as minutes for the youngsters to keep growing.
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Yeah I said that elsewhere it seems obvious you’ve also got Gordon and Doak.
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Gotcha. Unfortunately, due to the share neglect of our midfield (one purchase in 2.5 years is god damn criminal), we don’t have a choice. We need a complete midfield make over, what should piss off the entire fanbase, is that it doesn’t sound like we will get it.
For me there is no difference defensively with Fab or Thaigo as the 6, what Thiago does offer is better control and an option for for a pass that the defenders trust, also as a 6 the passing options for Thiago are increased, just my take on it.
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That’s probably true, and I think I’m guilty of basing this on Thiago first season, where he had to play six because Fab and Hendo were both injured. It was night and day back then. It probably isn’t so much these days.
I really don’t know what the rules state here. But I really don’t find it in the spirit of the game for a player in an offside position to ‘receive’ a header or pass back from a defender and score from it. If there was an attacking player hiding behind the goals after a goal kick and popped out just as a defender made a pass back to the keeper, intercepted it and scored, is that within the rules? I don’t know. Is it within the spirit of the game? I don’t feel it is.
EDIT: Im not suggesting Salah didn’t play within the spirit of the game, but that a decision to allow it to stand (by refs) isn’t in the spirit of the game.
This is similar maybe to the Harry Kane penalty at Anfield when Lovren made an air shot attempt at a clearance.
Jon Moss didn’t know the off-side rule…
Kane was adjudged to be onside and Karius fouled him in the area. Penalty was awarded because Lovren attempted to play the ball which deemed Kane onside…
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This is where the offside rule is confusing enough without repeated changes to it every season.
The thing with Mo’s goal is that everyone commenting on it thought it was a goal, including the referees, because the Wolves player headed it. My initial thought when it went in was Mo is off, then saw the reply, and realised it was fine because the Wolves player got a touch.
Then @Limiescouse pops up to clarity that the rule changed in the summer, and now it if the touch from the defender is deemed inadvertent, the goal should be ruled off. So the referee has to decide ‘did the defender mean to do that?’ So technically, Mo’s goal should not have stood.
However I think it’s insane and unfair to put referees in the position of having to judge player intent in offside calls, just like with handball. It leave a door in their decision making wide open for prejudice and bias to March through.
Which brings us to Jon fucking Moss. That Kane penalty was under a different rule, and the question was whether Lovren got a touch at all. Moss had no idea, the useless fat fuck being thirty yards behind the play as usual. He asked his linesman who didn’t know, and he asked the fourth official for a TV opinion, which he wasn’t allowed to do and was rightly bollocked for. In the absence of any information, he gave the pen. The shocking thing about it was that the whole conversation was mic’d and broadcast, including his linesman telling him if he wasn’t sure Lovren had touched it, he couldn’t give the pen - to which Moss, after admitting he didn’t know, says ‘I’m giving the pen’. Fucking outrageous.
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But do you think it is fair for a player coming from an offside position to pressure the defender into heading the ball back to the offside player? It just doesn’t feel right in my bones. To actually be influencing play from an offside position does not sit right with me at all. How is putting off a defender from an offside position different from obstructing a keeper’s vision from an offside position which AFAIK still rules out a goal (rule may have changed!)?
Sure I may be stretching the term ‘putting off the defender’ here as Mo was a distance away but certainly the presence of Mo absolutely played into the defenders choice of action.
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Exactly. The player only played the ball because he knew Mo was behind him. He did not know that Mo was offside.
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One of many silly rules im afraid 
.
No, it isn’t fair. You have situations the player in an offside position forces the defender to act, which then plays him on.
I’m sure we had one last season Bobby scores in a similar vein, the defender lunges to the ball because Bobby in there, and offside, and ends up creating him a tap in.
My point is that I thought that had been the rule for years. The whole commentary team thought so, and the referees went with it too. I’ve see plenty of punditry after the fact saying that it was within the rules for Mo’s goal to stand, but it’s not fair and the rules should change.
However, as @Limiescouse pointed out, the rule did subtly change in the summer 
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How many assists has Thiago had? Really
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Just checked. Appearance 60. Assists 4.
Not the messiah.
Just a very naughty boy.
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No it’s not great, then again he’s never been a creative #10…always been a deep lying playmaker but I agree he should be getting a little more & probably was doing so earlier in his career.
So?
Rodri has barely made any assists either, nor has Jorginho.
Fundamentally misunderstanding their roles if that’s what you’re judging them by.
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