the issue sounds very much like some man city fans last season after losing to spurs… “we ll never win without a striker”. we just have to trust the club know what they are doing! they haven’t come here yet looking for answers i don’t think… so i still trust em 
“Trust” that is a very dangerous word that you have brought into this discussion. And probably the very crux of it. If we all had the trust (in all those involved with the club), we wouldn’t have been discussing this 
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He is not. Not yet. Somehow whenever he gets in the pitch it seems like simply his presence means people are wanting to call him the best player on the pitch. He has the potential by all accounts and we need to just leave him be to come into it, not give critical acclaim where he’s not done all that much on the pitch yet.
Fwiw, I’m far more excited about Carvalho tbh.
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Horseshit, first 4 games last season before he broke his leg… One of the best players on the pitch… Saturday, came on… One of the best players on the pitch.
He’s a baller, needs to work on ball protection and not being bullied off the ball but other than that… Brilliant.
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Yeah, see this kind of intractability is what’s wrong here. Your immediate response is horseshit. Give your head a wobble and treat others who don’t share your opinion some respect. You’re not the authority and the last word.
That out the way, he played the first 4 of last season and the general feeling was that he played within himself, kept it simple and did well enough to keep his place. Nothing more, nothing less. He came back and played some lower division team off the park in the Cup which was brilliant and then went under the radar again, some off pitch stuff to blame for that though, and now he’s back in the first team picture and rightly so but he’s not done brilliantly, not yet. For his age, yes, as a member of this team regardless of age, no. That’s not to say he won’t be, but give him a chance to do it before labeling him and the next best thing.
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Elliott is ok against the weaker teams but needs to bulk up and impose himself a bit he’s so easy to push off the ball. Our best 3 midfielders is still Thiago, Fabinho and Henderson. This is a massive season for Jones also time for him to prove he has a future at the club.
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That’s what got responded to. Elliot was one of the best players on the pitch on Saturday, ahead of all the senior midfielders who started ahead of him. So yes you did go hyperbole.
The problems is we have no leg in our midfield. Everyone know we rely on Trent and Roberson, but our midfield cannot cover them like Gini and Henderson 3 years ago. Thiago, Elliott, Keita are quality but put them into physical battle is hopeless.
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That is a fair assessment of the midfielders apart from hendo and fabinho. we are far more technical than we used to be - which we often wanted… and now we are short on the physical strength.
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Disagree, go back and watch again. He helped us create a great balance between carrying enough attacking threat as a team while still being defensively solid. Admittedly it was only three and a half matches but we looked excellent and he was a big part of it.
Yup, next set of midfielders newt to be technical but also with lungs like horses and strong in the tackle.
Tchouameni fits that bill but he wanted Madrid.
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i think he benefitted from the match situation more than changed the game.
for what its worth, i thought Milner was the better of the two.
i side on Wyld at Hearts side…you can see an immense footballer, but hes not there yet, hes not forcing games yet , and nor should he be expected to just yet.
to bring that around to the arguement at hand, (IMHO) players like Fabio and Harvey are there to learn, progress, fill areas and benefit from more senior players…unfortunately, those senior players are the short term issue.
by throw Harvey into the game and expecting week in, week out consistent performances on a level with a senior pro i think is something you need to be very careful about.
as a disclaimer, he wouldnt be the first 18/19 year old to do it and play 40 plus games at a similar level to the experienced players in the squad, but he would join a very select group who have.
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There you go. Nine possible games missed.
Ox already crocked.
Jones out for a month.
Keita already missed the first of the season.
That’s why we needed a midfielder this summer. All too predictable. Good job we saw some of Badejtic over the summer so we know how to pronounce his name when he’s the last centre mid standing.
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how many more midfielders do we need?
yes, I know Ox is crocked. that still leaves eight for three positions.
I miss read this as being 3 for 8 positions 
We’re talking about central midfield here. Not attacking midfield, not defensive midfield, central midfield. This is not a total football scenario. That was a brief and glorious episode in football history written by Rinus Michels back in the 70s.
In real life, the vast majority of midfield players do a specific job. Would you expect Fabio Cavalho or Ox to do a job screening the back four? No. Would you expect Fab (the Brazilian one) to drive forward, create and finish on a regular basis? No.
Putting all midfield players into the same box simply doesn’t work. We are short of fit, quality CMs. That’s the truth of it.
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Wouldn’t that make it 7 players for 2 positions? Fabinho is the only clear DM.
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in our current system, how many CM do we operate? one or two? Do we operate with dual #8 in front of a #6, or do we have a #8 and a #10. I’ve always thought it was the former, which is the role that Thiago, Henderson, Ox, Jones, Elliot, Keita and Milner and now Carvalho operate in. So that’s 7 for two positions with Milly and Hendo doing double-duty covering for Fab when needed.
exactly.
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Fabinho, Hendo and Milner can operate at 6.
A double 6 could see Bobby play behind the three, again an option.
I mentioned before that Matip can operate at 6, and he shows glimpses of this during games. Its not a massive stretch to see him playing there.
Elliot, Jones, Keita and Carvalho are options at AM, all of them mire than competent in the role.
I doubt we are in the market, unless THE right player is available.
Though…
Interesting to see if Rabiot agrees terms with Utd
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