I don’t know why people here rate Elliott more than Jones. Jones clearly has more tools for his job. He is big, fast, really good on the ball. Only problem is Jones cannot being fit. But Gerrard was the same in his early day. I really like Elliott vision and bravery, but he is too slow and physical limited. The only way he could develop here is become deep lying playmaker like Thiago, but his technical no way near Thiago level.
I’m done with Ox, Keita, Hendo, Milner. All of them cannot be trust anymore.
Fabinho still usable, but idea for me it let get Caicedo or some one able to play ball winner, let Thiago/Fabinho play as holding mid, and Bellingham play in advanced mid, who will make run and join the box with trio attackers . With that concept, maybe Jones can be sub for Bellingham, Fabinho can be sub for Caicedo and Thiago.
Keep Henderson is fine, but I don’t want to see him more than 10 -15 sub game next session.
My basis for selling Henderson would be that he has declined significantly as a player, I thought I’d made that clear.
That’s only theoretical though, in reality Henderson is someone we probably wouldn’t get a good enough offer for. I’d also be happy to see him transition to a Milner like role.
We will not actively seek to sell a player of Hendo’s stature in our club just because he is getting on. His contributions to this club is more than just his playing time and skills. Unless Hendo wants to go somewhere else for sentimental reasons, he will be with us until he retires. Of course he will start to play a more diminished role as a starter but we will not actively seek to sell him.
Players I think we will sell with a good offer in January would be Gomez, Philips, Keita, Ox although for Gomez it has to take a larger than normal considering he just signed a new contract. A Newcastle kind of club, rich and desperate to keep improving on the profile of their squad, coming in for him at 35mil to 40mil might seal it.
A defensive midfielder who can’t function without all that protection isn’t much of a defensive midfielder.
With our injury woes we won’t be selling anyone in January.
I actually think Fabinho has declined more and still has a resale valve.
@ILLOK is reading my mind again… That said, I’d have no problems with Henderson sticking around as he sets a good example to everyone around him (though he can now also show his teammates, especially the younger ones, the clips of his performance against Leicester and convince them do to the exact opposite of it).
While I like Fabinho very much as a character (and have been a big fan of his playing style - there were times he was irreplaceable for us), it’s been quite a while since he’s been at his dominating best and I genuinely can’t remember the last time he performed well in a big match. He’s become heavy-legged and very easy to bypass in midfield, while seemingly not offering any aerial presence for all of his height. Given the right offer, I’d sell him.
Thiago has never been a hard tackling midfielder, and yet funnily enough, he now has the best defensive stats in our team. By a long way too. Just goes to show how far others have fallen off. In this season there have been far too many matches where our midfield has basically been non-existent when the opposition have the ball.
I also worry if its been some tweak in the tactics thats led us being this open. In his book Ljinders mentions that its his dream to have 8 players attacking the ball. Thats fine when we have it, but then we get cut open when we lose it.
Absolutely.
Its almost as if we’ve become too comfortable with leaving all the defending to be done by Matip and Virgil as they’ve proven to be 1 of the best CB partnerships around.
It’s clear in order to move forward in the right direction we need to reinforce 2/3s of that midfield, they’ve lost their sense of awareness, lost their co-ordination and lost a lot in the engine tank which has conceded in the amount of grass we cover per game.
Our captain certainly cannot be classed in this category! 
I agree Fabinho has been poor this season, but I think the main problem is the lack of defensive output around him. With Trent and Robbo getting forward, especially Trent, that leaves gaps that were traditionally covered by two workhorse midfielders. Also, Sadio’s defensive output was considerable down that left wing.
I think that RCM position is the main problem at the moment, that’s where we need the legs to help cover some of the gaps in the middle of the park. Gakpo will also be moulded into someone who can replicate Sadio’s defensive output on the left side.
Hopefully that will help to restore the balance. Wouldn’t sell Fabs just because of one poor season.
A lot of it with Fab is undoubtedly systemic. I think it’s a bit harsh to dig him out too much when a lot of the time he has Harvey where Hendo used to be.
1st of January and 2023 already looking grim.
Thankfully forums and Twitter are not real life, just opinions which are generally wrong.
That works both ways. Our right sided 8 wouldn’t have to do so much defensive work if our number 6 was better.
Ultimately, neither has been good enough.
At least Elliott has the excuse of being a 19 year old playing at CM when he is more naturally a wide player.
Not sure how good a defence it is of Fabinho to say “everyone used to do all his running for him but now they don’t”.
Personally for me the saleable assets are….
Matip - with Gomez recently signing a 5yr deal and Konate looking great & given his age and service I’d consider bids, signed for nothing also.
Ox - hasn’t been the same since his injury against Roma, still has some years in the premier league, but as others have said, since the rise of Elliot, Carvalho & Bajcetic….contract ending in the summer.
Jones - just don’t think he’s good enough yet, maybe a buy back clause inserted in any sale.
Kelleher - reluctantly I’d agree, but he isn’t getting first team starts for a while and he definitely deserves it, with Pitaluga who I believe Allison recommended we sign, sure enough I think he’d be a good understudy.
Keita - do I need to say anything others haven’t already?.
It’s not ‘doing his running for him’. It’s the system.
We used to have Hendo covering the right flank, and Gini covering the left as the full backs bombed on. Without that, Fabinho has a fucking huge area of pitch to cover on his own.
Theoretically yes but in practice, no. I havent seen Fabinho covering either full back position a single time this season.
Anyway, the biggest slight against Fabinho is that players who he is specifically marking are and have been able to literally jog away from him and into goalscoring positions. He is extremely unaware at tracking runs. This is not a new problem for him, and is one of the reasons I have always been cool on him. He was a cog in a well functioning midfield but he was never good enough to do the job individually - the likes of Mascherano would absolutely be able to.