Because of our current setup, Munoz never gets the space like Salahbused to get when Virg would load up on those diagonals.
The minute he goes anywhere near those zones he gets immediately doubled up
No you need creativity if the midfielders are all grafter types and our creativity was from wide area mostly or the wide attackers beating their full backs.
Maybe we will get some magic breakthrough there with Dom and Grav, but for me itĀ“s really simple what we must do.
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Set the midfield up to get the best out of Wirtz. This means Mac all the time and likely Nyoni. Two midfielders who donĀ“t just run around but who sit in position, provide a solid platform and, importantly, pass through the lines quickly so that he can get the ball in good areas. For me this setup gets our key player on the ball more and gives the stability behind him. We have almost zero passing interplay between our midfielders (shocking tbh) and they spent their time passing sideways and back or hitting pointless diagonals and standing still watching their pass. Get pass and move players in there, with some balls to take a little risk with their passes. Tell our defence to zip it into them constantly, even with players around them.
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Dump Wirtz and play 3 midfielders, likely Mac, Dom and Szobo. Between them it should be more or less solid, but we will lack creative potential. We might get goals from running a lot, pressing and from Szobo shooting constantly. Probably the quicker fix and safer but we will win nothing like this now we are without the best RW in the world, the best creative full backs in the world and the best CB ever at his best. If you want a midfield built on running around and pressing not what they do with the ball, thatĀ“s your way.
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Thatās about how I see it. If Wirtz is a Kingpin, the two behind need a lot of work. And probably a transfer in there to improve it too.
If Wirtz is expendable and we go to a 4-3-3 then Iraola will do something weāve not seen him do in terms of set up and shape.
At present it is not really working, and since we are months away from a potential new signing, its now down to the coaching and team selection. Letās see how it evolves - it needs to, as there too much space out there for teams to exploit,
Remember that Kloppās original preferred midfield was Macca - Tchoumeni - Bellingham (Macca IMO was someone we would have got regardless of the results of 2022-2023 season). Szobo and Grav are good but not that good, I mean, they are not undroppable.
The first approach would have more potential offensive upside.
The second approach is less risky, as our midfield will be harder to get cut through like butter.
Exactly.
The second one makes us harder to beat but limits our long term potential.
Though having Mac and Nyoni might actually make us more solid.
If someone told me 4 weeks ago MacAllister would be our most competent midfielder at this point Iād have laughed in their face.
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Iād say that midfield imbalance is probably the biggest issue the team currently has (and that says a lot given the team is probably at least two players short when everyone is fit).
Gravenberch, Szoboszlai and Wirtz are completely unsuited to playing together in a midfield three as their strengths and weaknesses are roughly the same. Iāve noticed that the midfield is more compact than last season when one could easily notice a hole that was 20 metres in diameter where our midfield was supposed to be - but thereās no cohesion between these three since one of them has to drop deep and help the build-up but none is suited to doing it.
I hope that Mac Allister will continue upping his game and that Nyoni will start getting more chances. One of them absolutely has to play in place of either Gravenberch or Szoboszlai - and Wirtz also has to be given a breather unless they want to run him into the ground. I even think that Szoboszlai can be his replacement in certain games even if they way they attack is different.
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Itās painful watching our midfield, almost as bad as Fab/Hendo in 2023.
No brains v no legs.
https://x.com/TacticNotes/status/2099090342943371652
https://x.com/AyozeAyomide/status/2099103321801822283
This is perhaps how damning it is for one of our pivots yesterday.
Have you considered that it may just be a matter of time?
This afterall is just the 5th game of the season under a new manager in whatās effectively new team.
I had actually said we should try a Dom Mac and Trey combination for a tighter disciplined midfield. With Dom and Wirtz in the same team, it just is not working out at the moment.
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I get the call for him to switch it but in that first picture iĀ“d love for him to work it through the midfield with a quick bit of interplay. There is some space there and we have three players close to each other that should be able to work it up to the attackers with some one or two touch play and awareness. I want to see some midfield passing play from us a lot more.
DonĀ“t really like Wirtz positioning but either Bobb follows him or it means a pass is on to him too if Szobo pivots his body.
Regardless, no way should our midfielder need to go back there.
That switch was to Munoz and he was wide open. I really donāt get itā¦Ever since last season, he seems afraid to make a pass forward, be it long or short. Was it TAA whose mad passes actually masked the requirement needed for Szobo to be creative???
Regarding the last part, yes. That is exactly it.
And we had Salah making things happen from nothing.
Wirtz is suited to helping the build up, but when he does he has to drop below the half way line and the then we lack a player stepping into his position to fill the hole providing an option between their midfield and defence, Gakpo did it a bit from the left for Isakās 2 goals
For me the issue is getting the ball to Wirtz between the lines, the only ones doing it are Macca and Jacquet, this should be the focus of all our midfielders.
The other issue is how ineffective our fullbacks are in the final 3rd, yes Araujo did very well with his assist against Madrid, but the crossing from wide from them is poor.
We need those well driven crosses that are between the keeper and defence that cause panic and which Isak thrives on.
Last point on the midfield, without Macca the other 2, struggle switching play to the wingers in space.
All in all, especially with our setup against Fulham we are easy to nullify, we struggled to get the ball between the lines, actually, we even struggled passing a simple 5 yard ball to feet, our crossing was/is poor and we canāt get the ball earler to our wide men to create 1 v 1 situations.
I feel the need for a new midfielder with vision and early execution of the pass but who also has a good understanding of defensive responsibility, a unicorn 
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Wharton fits the 1st bit but not the 2nd, Camara fits the 2nd but Iām not sure if he fits the 1st criteria as I havenāt seen enough of him.
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Totally agree, switch it quick and early and then we have Munoz 1 v 1.
What this also does is to stop the defence from pinching in and denying space centrally as they are now are aware that if the ball is switched, opening up play, then they are vulnerable.
Our game still needs to varied, we canāt just focus play through Wirtz if a better option is on.
That was the beauty of Trent, he could create opportunities or switch the focus of attack with one touch from his right foot and the predictability of our attack was aloof to our opposition.
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