Midfield experienced General

[Jazzy_Jeff]

I can see where you’re coming from.

 

Ndidi is a great tackler/recoverer of the ball

Tielemans is silky 

Mendy is similar to ndidi

choudhury and praet bring energy 

 

we need someone who can get stuck in, move the ball quickly and raise the tempo.

 

id love madders to be that man but needs to learn when to pass and when to travel. He can be a bit of a show pony at times but I think with some coaching and experience he can be this player 

[Chocolate Teapot]

I've said this for a while. I think they thought Hamza could do this role but he's miles off it.

[kingfox]

Shouldn’t have loaned out Matty James

[Chocolate Teapot]

Linked with Diawara from Roma in Jan. Violent ball playing midfielder- fits the bill for me.

[filbertway]

25 minutes ago, Abrasive fox said:

I've said this for a while. I think they thought Hamza could do this role but he's miles off it.

He's got the mobility but he's not premier league standard, definitely not top 6, in terms of his ability or footballing nouse. In my opinion of course. I assume he's handy to have as a body a player that meets academy quotas though.

 

His physical attributes should see him playing championship football at the least though, assuming he actually wants to play football in his career I can see him moving down to the championship eventually.

[filbertway]

15 minutes ago, Abrasive fox said:

Linked with Diawara from Roma in Jan. Violent ball playing midfielder- fits the bill for me.

Definitely gonna struggle to tell the difference between this chap and Wilf if we bag him! haha. One of them will have to go with Fofana to the hairdresses and get that bleach blonde look. God damn I'm in love with Wilf's smile 

I'd happily be in a wilf and ricky p love triangle

 

 

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

How experienced? Do realise Wilf has now played over 120 games for us 

. he is not a leader...!!!

What we are discussing is a leader in the midfield who has the respect of all around him and can dictate the game.

  We need a minder for Tielemans, to allow him to go forward whilst this player shores up the midfield.

 I have touted Ibrahima Diallo  to come in, better passing range than Wilf, can go forward or hold the midfield. If you can imagine a live wire like Ricardo in the Central midfield and the energy he brings, you will  get to understand what I mean. 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

We don't need a midfield experienced General...we need an experienced midfield General.

[Crocyfox79]

2 hours ago, Babylon said:

Even if that’s possible (I doubt it would have made a difference), why would we have signed someone on loan to sit say Maddison on the bench and stunt his development. 
 

I don’t even think he’s what we are crying out for. Plus he’s probably be on the bench as we play 9 defenders each week.

What about some players from braga 

[Chocolate Teapot]

16 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Definitely gonna struggle to tell the difference between this chap and Wilf if we bag him! haha. One of them will have to go with Fofana to the hairdresses and get that bleach blonde look. God damn I'm in love with Wilf's smile 

I'd happily be in a wilf and ricky p love triangle

 

 

I named my dog wilf so you know how much I love him.

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

Imagine the uproar of we were playing/adding value to a Chelsea player over developing our own promising midfielders like Youri, Maddison and Praet imagine if he had bad game or two(which he had at villa). 

 

The club aren't going to sign 26 year old Chelsea cast offs on loan so Chelsea can flog them for huge money next summer. Nor should they we don't operate like that nowadays. 

...exactly this!!!

Funnily enough, if you looked on the transfer Topic you would see that perhaps 90% of the posters did not want him here.

[foxes_rule1978]

 

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

Easy to say in hindsight.

 

I don't think a single City fan would have been happy with us signing Ross Barkley.

On loan no, but buying him for a good price I would like 

[Finnegan]

He's magic, you know... 

[Leicester_Loyal]

55 minutes ago, Abrasive fox said:

I've said this for a while. I think they thought Hamza could do this role but he's miles off it.

Yeah I don't think his passing will ever be good enough to play in this role for us on a regular basis.

[SouthStandUpperTier]

2 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

If this side played consistently to its very best then then we would be winning Premier league and champions leauge titles. This level of consistency is just not realistic within how we are operating currently. 

 

Our whole model is too buy incredible young talent and help them reach their potential then sell on when they arrive at their peak.

 

This model is working absolutely brilliantly for us in terms of becoming and sustaining ourself as a force in English football. 

 

We finished 5th last season and currently sit in 4th place so are inconsistencies are actually pretty consistent. 

 

I know I'm asking for a miracle but this board needs to accept that there will be peaks and troughs over a season and try to avoid mass hysteria when we lose a couple of games. 

 

Finally not 100% sure what you mean by an"general" but we already have one of the best midfield players in the league in youri a player who not only shows leadership qualities and constant communication but is also an incredibly forward thinking player. Oh and Wilf is back and he's the best defensive midfielder in the leauge so between those two and Praet, Choudry, Mendy and even madders as an 8 I think we are pretty well stocked in that area!

Basically, I think he means someone who shouts a lot. As if that would make a difference.

[Kierzz]

I've always thought Capoue would have been a good signing from Watford. 

 

Good experienced premier league player who wouldn't be a starter but could play in certain games when we need a more experience on the field and another physical player in midfield. He's a good tactician as well and can set the tempo.

 

We don't really have a physical, tall midfielder to come in when Ndidi isn't playing which is why I think Rodgers has opted to play 3 CBs.

 

 

[dylanlegend]

I can’t think of 1 player in the modern game you can describe as a midfield general- I don’t think they exist in the mould of Keane / Viera anymore.

 

Maybe Henderson?

 

We actually have a really strong dressing room with players like Kasper, Vardy, Morgan, Fuchs and I think this is one of the main reasons we’ve managed to stay a top level team recently.

 

I look at other teams in the league and they don’t come across as having good dressing room leadership at all (especially Man U).

 

People underestimate leadership over quality, Fofana is probably a better footballer than Wes Morgan but would we have won the league with Little Wes in the team instead of Morgan- I doubt it.

[honeybradger]

2 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Agreed, we needed it last season too. If Tielemans is absent or has a bad game, we fall apart. What we need is the next coming of Esteban Cambiasso, someone like that even at his age when he came here (34) would do the job. Best example i can think of in the league right now is Moutinho of Wolves. 

 

Who could we get around Europe? Not sure to be honest. Inter Milan want to get rid of Christian Eriksen, so maybe we could take him on loan for 6 months? I'm sure many on here would hate that idea, but it's grounded in some sense of reality as a short term solution.

Eriksen is not even close to cambiasso, mentality wise cambiasso is a winner whereas eriksen was always one of the first players in that spurs team to drop his head, i remember during that CL run which was one of the biggest moments in spurs history he had his head down and was strolling around against man city, ajax and liverpool and his teammates were the ones to put their all in and dig themselves out of the muck for their comebacks. Loads of talent but eriksen is a serial loser, probably the biggest in that spurs side, not someone we want for leadership qualities.

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

2 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

If this side played consistently to its very best then then we would be winning Premier league and champions leauge titles. This level of consistency is just not realistic within how we are operating currently. 

 

Our whole model is too buy incredible young talent and help them reach their potential then sell on when they arrive at their peak.

 

This model is working absolutely brilliantly for us in terms of becoming and sustaining ourself as a force in English football. 

 

We finished 5th last season and currently sit in 4th place so are inconsistencies are actually pretty consistent. 

 

I know I'm asking for a miracle but this board needs to accept that there will be peaks and troughs over a season and try to avoid mass hysteria when we lose a couple of games. 

 

Finally not 100% sure what you mean by an"general" but we already have one of the best midfield players in the league in youri a player who not only shows leadership qualities and constant communication but is also an incredibly forward thinking player. Oh and Wilf is back and he's the best defensive midfielder in the leauge so between those two and Praet, Choudry, Mendy and even madders as an 8 I think we are pretty well stocked in that area!

We need someone who will seize a game when we are behind or struggling or assert control once in front. Midfield is best for that so I personally think the OP is right.

 

I would love Youri to be that player but at the moment he still sometimes drifts in and out of games or has slumps in his form for games in a row. This is not about skill sets but mental strength. 

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

19 minutes ago, SouthStandUpperTier said:

Basically, I think he means someone who shouts a lot. As if that would make a difference.

It is not about shouting a lot at all but really leading by example by getting involved, not going missing in action. Too many have done that again in recent games. And yes, encouraging the players around you. 

[Babylon]

3 hours ago, Col city fan said:

One of the reasons for this, imo, is we don’t have a midfield general in the side. An experienced bloke who can ‘sort em out’ on the field when needed

Yes and no, they need to bring more to the table than being a "sort em out" style character (I'm sure you probably mean that anyway). You can have your "hard man" types like Jones etc, then you can have your Kante's whose metronome like consistency, energy, enthusiasm and dynamism dragged others along with him. Then you can have your Lennons and Drinkwaters (yeah him), who always demanded more from those around them and took responsibility but were never really that "hard man", "general" type player (Lennon probably the closest). 

 

There could be a number of answers to the problem I think. 

[Col city fan]

3 hours ago, Shane said:

The best midfielders in the league recently (De Bruyne, Bernardo, Liverpools midfield, etc) all have technical ability, but also do the dirty work like tracking back, pressing high & even committing fouls if necessary. 
 

Tielemans, Maddison & Praet quite simply do not have the physicality to match that intensity. Praet does do the dirty work to be fair, but it’s minute compared to some of our rivals midfielders such as Wijnaldum, Holjberg, Sissoko or even midfielders outside the top 6 like McGinn, Ward-Prowse & Soucek.

 

It’s ok to have technical players, but we also need more physical options in the midfield to provide a good balance. For example, Alex Ferguson had technically gifted players like Scholes & Carrick but would always play Darren Fletcher/Ji Sung Park in big games because their workrate, energy & desire was invaluable. We desperately need a Darren Fletcher and Ji Sung Park.

Absolutely spot on

I simply don’t think we have that ‘balance’

Tielemans isn’t the type of player I’m thinking of... miles off that

Edited 4 December 2020 by Col city fan

[UPinCarolina]

Bring back Iborra

[Danny Clender]

[SouthStandUpperTier]

48 minutes ago, Cadno'r Cymoedd said:

It is not about shouting a lot at all but really leading by example by getting involved, not going missing in action. Too many have done that again in recent games. And yes, encouraging the players around you. 

I've not seen any issues that can't be remedied by playing our best players in their optimum formation. Unfortunately our injuries and heavy schedule have prevented us from doing this for the most part. Rodgers can annoy me sometimes, but at the moment, all things considered, we should cut him some slack until we are back (or near as damn it) to full strength.