I’m not sure why people seem to be so convinced on this point. He could well come here and become immediately shite. We have some of the best midfielders in the world, but they’re struggling at the moment. The malaise might just run deeper than having that magical one or two people to come in and solve everything.
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Or he comes in and plays like he has been and helps to save our season. The issue is that we will have to over pay for whoever we bring in…will
We do that??
Worrying about midfielders adapting is only really relevant when we’re good.
What is there to adapt to at the moment, our well drilled system?
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Yup, a disruption to our game plan would be an improvement I feel.
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4yrs ago the midfield trio were the workhorses of our team,those horese are now knackered and have been for about a yr and a half .They need replacing with fresher players who are hopefully of similar quality ,but if not of similar quality then a couple of players who can physically compete at a decent level .
We have no mids who can compete in tackles,win the ball and do it for 90mins week in week out.They’re either injury prone,knackered or it’s not in their game.
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Mikel Merino? Having a good season. Box to Box player. Tall and strong, has played in prem when he was younger.
“I think the challenge wouldnbe to sign midfielders who take us straight back to the top of the league. There’s only a couple of those kind of players who could do it and they’ll be extortionate.”
Curious. Which players are you thinking here?
My wording is clumsy but I mean that there are some ‘complete’ midfielders like Bellingham who could be considered as immediately capable of playing at a high level and be one of our best players.
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I wonder how the Nunes next summer links are connected to Bellingham (who, I know, might be looking less and less likely as this season progresses). One of the alternatives or viewed as another/second central midfield addition? Depends also how much money we’d have. Without top 4, I can hardly imagine us going for both Bellingham for the reported fee what it would take and then also Nunes.
I would assume we still need two regardless even if Morton and Bajectic are being promoted.
I would hope it’s an addition to and not alternative to Bellingham. Doesn’t Nunes sit a bit deeper as more of a Fab type player?
My understanding is no, more of a dynamic #8 type of player who combines athletic and technical qualities.
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Maybe it is something like:
Caicedo or Kone
Bellingham or Nunes
With numerous variables to be sorted out as to which way it goes.
Add the the pairing the best of what the old guard has left, and some good young players, and we might be ok, even in a future sans Bellingham.
Still, I’m hoping it will be both Bellingham and Caicedo. When coupled with the players we already have, I think there would then be enough there to do well against any type of opposition, whether they want to have a go, or sit back.
There was a lot of noise around our interest in him last summer. Has there been any clarification as to why we didnt go and sign him?
The Athletic have reported that we just didnt think he was ready for the prem at this level of competition. Wolves have not been a great platform for him to succeed in but the fact he has been pretty poor for the first part of the season and only recently started showing decent form suggests we might have been right. If we had brought him in to a well functioning team, a slow Fab like introduction in the team could have soothed over that transition, but given what has happened to this team, he would have been required to step in and his struggles would have left him exposed.
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His form at Wolves appears to be almost directly correlated to the position in which he’s played.
Lage gave him a sort of right sided attacking midfield role - far too high up the pitch and often too wide.
Lopetegui has dropped him deeper a la his role at Sporting, and his form has dramatically improved for it.
If he was to come here you’d think he’d be in direct competition with Thiago rather than Henderson/Elliot.
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I havent watched enough of Wolves to know, but their reporting said he started the season under large in a familiar role, he was just a bit off the pace and lazy. The advanced heat map positions seemingly a result of not getting back to do his defensive work. Once Large was fired the caretaker tried to accommodate that by pushing him further forward so he had less defensive responsibility, but that didnt work either. Under Lopeteuigi he has reverted back to his proper position and just the main difference from the beginning of the season is that he’s now putting in the shifts he wasnt at the beginning of the season.
Again, I cannot verify any of this, but that was how the Athletic has described his season so far
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Would be good to have fresh blood at both #8 positions.
The slightly more deeper/controlling one of Thiago.
The slightly more higher/dynamic one of Hendo.
Even if those can also change when par example Elliott plays RCM, he is naturally a different players to Hendo.
But my point is that I don’t want only workhorses, that is not the answer in my opinion. Would be too lazy.
Ideally, I’d want a mainly dynamic midfielder who can also play at least well enough.
And then more of a technical one who can also respond to our working needs.
Keita will leave and Thiago will be 32 soon and, as things stand, entering his final year.
What does that mean for the likes of Jones, Elliott and Carvalho (more used as a forward these days, so not really a topic for him)? We’ll see, but our priority is Liverpool, not individual cases.
Can Fabinho’s status be threatened? Possibly. But it would have to be a serious enough buyer, considering his age, recent contract extension, etc. Maybe get to a position where we don’t need to have both Fabinho and Hendo on the pitch all the time anymore, but more focused on battling each other? So, less games and hopefully better form.
If Millie stays for one more season, it doesn’t matter if we have about 7 CM’s. He’s also used at RB, so that will also depend if by next summer we judge Ramsay is useful for us in the present.
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I haven’t watched many Wolves games, so I’ll defer to those who have, but that explanation doesn’t ring true at all.
The relevant excerpt
So slight change in shape from a 1-2 to a 2-1 but still similar enough to what he was being asked to do at the beginning of the season and just doing it better.