Could Albrighton play in central midfield?

[frany104]

He doesn't deserve a place in the starting 11. He's our worst player in that starting 11 by a country mile. His crossing/passing is atrocious. His only attribute is he works hard for the team. How Gray isn't getting a game ahead of him is an absolute joke.

[lcfcdamo]

8 hours ago, majaco said:

Midfield is clearly a problematic area.  With a stronger squad this year, we are vastly inferior to last season; we were the best team in England.  Repeating the obvious, losing Kante was massive.  

 

While accepting other areas are weaker this season than last, the midfield would make a huge difference.  I like Amartey but he is inconsistent; praise for Mendy was less than fulsome before his injury; King is questionable at this level.  On the Amartey thread, there is a suggestion that Hernandez could play as a dm.  

 

I wonder if Albrighton may have the qualities.  He works hard, tracks back, is an intelligent footballer, does the simple stuff well, can execute more ambitious passes.

 

 Out wide many of his crosses are wasteful.  Gray deserves more of a chance.  

 

Could Albrighton be a potential solution?

 

 

 

Our u watching the same Albrighton has me???? Hes bin so poor this season he looks like he has put weight on cant seem to pass a ball apart from smack it 2 no1 up front

[VLC86]

1 hour ago, frany104 said:

He doesn't deserve a place in the starting 11. He's our worst player in that starting 11 by a country mile. His crossing/passing is atrocious. His only attribute is he works hard for the team. How Gray isn't getting a game ahead of him is an absolute joke.

Did you see Jeff and Musa at the weekend?

[Guest ttfn]

First 20 minutes of the second half yesterday he was playing a sort of free/roving central midfielder role and he was good. Very clever player.

 

Don't think it's a particularly good shout but nowhere near as ridiculous as some are suggesting. Certainly wouldn't want to see him in a 2, but maybe as a sort of Matt Oakley style tucked-in right winger he's worth a look.

[foxes21]

Albrighton is like Shinji. He gets so knackered by the 60th minute because of the workload.

so of course when tired, their final ball/quality will decrease.

[foxes21]

We need to go back to playing to players strengths. Albrighton's strength is his crossing. Put him on the right wing and let him whip balls into Slimani. Have a fox in the box to support Slimani, feeding off second balls, either Okazaki, or Musa.

 

Right now, because teams are so deep.. Albrighton can't do his trademark long ball over the top. We should be rotating each game, so this is how I'd rotate our attack:

 

4-3-3:

Mahrez Vardy Gray

 

4-4-1-1:

Albrighton Okazaki Kaputska

 

Slimani

[foxy boxing]

what is the obsession with wanting our wide players playing in midfield, I don't get it. albrighton is best at crossing the ball and delivering it to our forwards.in midfield we need players that can tackle and defend and stop the opposition and wide players like albrighton and kapustka won't be able to do that. keep players doing what they do best and not play them out of position.we need quick nimble players out wide and big strong tackling types in midfield. let's keep it simple and don't try and over complicate things

[hornyhollthefox123]

15 hours ago, ttfn said:

First 20 minutes of the second half yesterday he was playing a sort of free/roving central midfielder role and he was good. Very clever player.

 

Don't think it's a particularly good shout but nowhere near as ridiculous as some are suggesting. Certainly wouldn't want to see him in a 2, but maybe as a sort of Matt Oakley style tucked-in right winger he's worth a look.

He normally plays as a tucked in winger from the left hand side..

 

And he was playing on the right hand side as part of a front 3 in a 343 shape second half against Chelsea when we attempted to match them up.. 

 

IMO there's no way he could play centre midfield.. Lacks too many things to be able to compete in there.. At least for us anyway

[dbtcity]

Why do people constantly keep suggesting playing players out of position to fill our problematical cm role??? So far this season I've seen calls for Schlupp, Okazaki and now Albrighton to slip into the role.... they hardly pull up trees in there favoured position so how people can suggest switching them to a position that is probably the toughest area of the park to play is beyond me!!! Lets just play wingers on the wing, strikers up top etc etc

[volpeazzurro]

2 hours ago, foxy boxing said:

what is the obsession with wanting our wide players playing in midfield, I don't get it. albrighton is best at crossing the ball and delivering it to our forwards.in midfield we need players that can tackle and defend and stop the opposition and wide players like albrighton and kapustka won't be able to do that. keep players doing what they do best and not play them out of position.we need quick nimble players out wide and big strong tackling types in midfield. let's keep it simple and don't try and over complicate things

I largely agree with this. It's perhaps also pertinent to point out that Albrighton 'does a job for us' on the left. On the right he'd be putting accurate crosses into the box for someone like Slimani who wasn't an option last season.  It's just that last season we had a sensation player called Marhez who also plays best on the right cutting in. Perhaps Albrighton and Schlupp playing on opposite wings with Slimani in the middle may have been a slightly better option, though I don't sadly see Geoff as up to standard anymore.  Such a big fast bloke should be offering a lot more than he does, he looks absolutely clueless most of the time. Mussa also appears to be pointless also at this moment in time but perhaps requires a season to adapt and bed in like many foreign players. Even Pogba with his price tag isn't pulling  up any trees at the moment. 

[Benji]

Intelligent footballer?  He makes the wrong decision about 8 out of 10 times.  I think he's a prime example of a player English fans love because he works hard which clouds over his technical limitations.

 

If you want a player who will run down the wing and whip balls in he's your man - but that's it.

[Guest]

Possibly. If Gray and Mahrez on the wing. Drinkwater playing those killer balls and Albrighton racing at them at pace It could work.

 

There is so much negativity for Albrighton. He was part of the league winning team, so he can't be too shabby. How we easily forget.

[NewEnglandFox]

With Mendy suffering yet another month long injury setback, it's about time to find out if he can work with 3 CMs.

 

However about this Albrighton hate, I hope you also take issue with our fading CBs, missing midfielder, and our inability to score goals from the usual suspects. It's quite odd for him to be the one to single out.

[foxes21]

 

16 minutes ago, NewEnglandFox said:

With Mendy suffering yet another month long injury setback, it's about time to find out if he can work with 3 CMs.

 

Playing 4-3-3/3 CM's now, would be a horror show.

 

A Drinkwater-Amartey-King midfield 3 would leave our lone striker so isolated. 4-4-1-1 for me.

[Wymsey]

4-1-3-2

 

Simpson Morgan Huth Fuchs

             Amartey/Drink

Albrighton  Okazaki   Mahrez 

        Slimani Vardy/Musa

 

Can't afford further CM depletion for time being.

[FoxinNotts]

Yes. But no.

[inckley fox]

6 hours ago, foxes21 said:

 

 

Playing 4-3-3/3 CM's now, would be a horror show.

 

A Drinkwater-Amartey-King midfield 3 would leave our lone striker so isolated. 4-4-1-1 for me.

At least it would only be one isolated striker, instead of two.

 

But yes, I take the point on the 4-4-1-1: Give last year's team, as far as we can, another game or two to work it out. Apparently they spent Sunday trying to do that. Plus Ranieri suggested that some new players have been poorly integrated when he said that senior players should take responsibility to help the newer men. So it makes sense, if not all of the new boys have settled in well, to give the old guard another shot. Albrighton, Simpson, Okazaki and all.

 

If it fails, though, or even if extensive rotation is needed for the weekend, the 4-3-3 makes sense to me. You can play Gray and Mahrez together (unlike in 3-5-2 or, arguably, 4-4-2), allowing both to get into more attacking central positions. You can pick between Vardy and Slimani. You can give Amartey an extra hand, be it Albrighton or King in the middle, allow Drinky to edge forward, and offer more protection for the back four. And still play with plenty of pace on the counter.

[Number 6]

Probably not no. Players should be played in their best positions imo. Could try and sure up the middle by getting our wingers to tuck in more though. 

 

If we're so steadfastly sticking to 442 then I think we should try and make it more compact and narrow.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

On 16/10/2016 at 11:40, Monsell1976 said:

No because he to one footed, and has no composure on the ball, panic's and hoofs it.

/thread

[The whole world smiles]

Marc has played under Martin O'neil, Gerard Houlier, Alex Mcleish and Paul Lambert at villa and Pearson and Claudio at City also for Stuart Pearce for the under 21's. They all watched him train for a couple of hours a day and would have tried different things with him and If they all thought he is a winger, trust me he is a winger.

 

 

[foxes21]

On ‎16‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 11:40, Monsell1976 said:

No because he to one footed, and has no composure on the ball, panic's and hoofs it.

He's not panicking. His job isn't to have composure. His job is to send long balls over the top for Vardy to chase.

 

The first thing Drinkwater or Albrighton do, is look up to see if they can put Vardy through. That's a tactic that's worked so well for us. However this season its made them look wasteful, because the opponents are so deep.

[Monsell1976]

5 hours ago, foxes21 said:

He's not panicking. His job isn't to have composure. His job is to send long balls over the top for Vardy to chase.

 

The first thing Drinkwater or Albrighton do, is look up to see if they can put Vardy through. That's a tactic that's worked so well for us. However this season its made them look wasteful, because the opponents are so deep.

No he hoofs it, and hasn't got a clue, as it's like hot coal in his hands, a lot of the time he doesn't clear the defender, or aimlessly plays it into a channel, nowhere near our strikers.

Just watch him, I have, when we are under the cosh, or just in any part of the game, he needlessly give's the ball away, and the pressure is back on the defenders.

Not saying he's the only one, but he's part of the problem, his delivery has been poor, and with the above, for me it's time for him to sit out, until he performs to a decent standard again.

And that goes for others to, vardy, Morgan etc, if we play poorly like we have, with the same players, making the same poor decisions/ mistake's, we will have the same results, until things are freshened up, they have had plenty of time now.