The vast majority of which came from crosses
And?
Whether he crossed it or dribbled past 25 players and passed it off his arse is irrelevant.
The original point remains that the midfield didnĀ“t need to do much with the ball while Trent was here.
The original point is a mere figment of the imagination and not supported by the data on key passes from midfield or the type of assists he delivered
I donĀ“t think you understand the point. Really bizarre comments. Never mind.
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Your point is quite clear. Trent was our main source of creativity and because of that our midfield didnāt have to do much.
Thatās not supported by the data.
The data supports that he was the best crosser of the ball and the most assists from crosses
Your two statements donĀ“t contradict my point at all (though I didnt say more a creative source than Salah).
What are you even going on about? This is a waste of time.
You should stop making up stuff to suit your feelings.
Trent didnāt replace our creativity in midfield.
Thereās no data that supports this, which is why you are twisting yourself into a pretzel
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YouĀ“re very strange sometimes.
I think itĀ“s pretty clear. If you have an unbelievably creative fullback, there is less requirement for or pressure on your midfield to do a lot with the ball. Very obvious.
But you make it seem like we have truly terrible passers especially Gravā¦ and that Trent did all the passing in the team. Which is not true. We had a functioning midfield and yes we won the title with them.
So i think Grav, Macca and Dom should be given some credit. And not just Trent ( who isnt here)
Our players suit a 433ā¦ which was the point.
And we so far failed at recruiting players to properly play 4231.
I dont want us to fall too far behind in the title race so early. Which is why all of us being couch managers are here making suggestions.
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Its gone totally quiet about us getting a defensive midfielder. We clearly need one after tne last 2 games alone.
Mac is a decent enough passer but Dom and Grav are genuinely quite mediocre passers at best.
Play that exact title winning midfield now and we wonĀ“t get close to a title. Why? We donĀ“t have the key players that were really the driving force to us winning the title.
But our players donĀ“t suit 4 3 3. Our massively expensive signing is a number 10, not an RCM or LCM. Our main midfielders suit 4 3 3 because they arenĀ“t good enough. ThatĀ“s the issue. They need 3 midfielders but Wirtz is best with 2 behind.
Weāve needed a defensive midfielder for a few seasons now.
Gravenberch is a squad player. Not much more. Heās had good spells, but overall, just not at the required level.
Szoboszlai doesnāt really suit a double pivot, so far at least.
Mac Allister is a good player and has done well, although last season wasnāt his best. Then again, you could say that about plenty of them.
Nonetheless, midfield certainly needs strengthening. There are a few question marks there.
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Again, the suggestion is based on players we have at our disposalā¦ not your dream scenario where we get rid of all our midfielders.
And bring back Trentā¦ Had to put that in 
Im done. You win!
Lets hope we get in a few late additions.
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What are you talking about? We have Wirtz at our disposal. HeĀ“s the guy we want to build our team around in the 10
Agree there. LetĀ“s hope we get a few additions. Would take Trent to.
Still, none of our midfielders since January 2018 bar Thiago and Fabinho are at the same level as Declan Rice overall, not even Henderson.
Iād always advocated for us buying him since 2018. Unfortunately, Arsenal got him. With the departure of Rodri, he is official the best midfielder in the League right now.
Look, had we qualified for CL in 2023, at least two among Grav, Endo and Szobo wouldnāt have been here.
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Yeah, I do see Szobo willing to cover it here and there and maybe he doesnāt mind it if we end some games with him dropping into that position, but no, I donāt think he wants it longer term and I donāt think the club wants it either.
He said to Slot near the end of that season as a single #10/second striker that he sees himself deeper on the pitch than that, to have more of the āpictureā in front of him. Big surprise eh, playing back to goal a lot of the time or on the turn in a protagonist team is not easy.
I didnāt like us switching the sides of Mac and Szobo (I remember him having a similar performance against Bournemouth at home a year ago, also playing as a left sided double pivot) against Forest and also switching Gakpo and Munoz on the wings.
He probably would be best as a dynamic RCM #8 in a 1-2 shape of a midfield 3, but then that doesnāt suit some other players.
Iām fine with us keeping this formation and midfield shape (I feel we will see some asymmetrical shapes) and then work on all of our phases, getting better understanding between each other, picking the ones who in that fight for positions merit it the most.
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The original point was about getting the ball to the advanced 8s in a 4-3-3, not about creating the final pass/assist.
And as for being afraid that we are locked with some players that have agreed new important contracts with us, here we have Gakpo; someone who a year after signing such a deal is off to City after a below standard season.
Not saying weāll always be able to sell at such level, but itās doable.
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If Szobo wants to do what he likes to do aka running box to box, then he must be paired up with a pure DM operating in a CM spaceā¦
Neither Dom or Grav can accurately pass with any consistency and they donāt time their passes well either. Itās frustrating to see them repeatedly over-pass or pass slightly behind their target, ruining transitions. What makes things worse is that our current starting FBs are both even worse at passing, which makes it even harder for us to release our wide men quickly. Itās a huge problem and stymies not only our entire front line but Wirtz too.
For me Nyoni has shown heās a better passer than either Dom or Grav. Kostas is also better then Kerkez at passing and crossing. I start ot panic everytime Kerkez gets the ball because I have absolutely no idea what heās going to do, except it wonāt be the obvious thing.
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