The Midfield Conundrum

[Foxes96]

Sverre Nypan on Loan

Sign a young physical box to box player 

Sell Soumaré 

[FoxinNotts]

1 minute ago, jv1 said:

Absolutely no chance hamza is the answer to the question in centre mid either - short memories - he is bang average in their - second choice right back is my limitation with him - we need to go out and get 2 decent loans in the middle to rotate around winks - it shouldn’t be rocket science- we need legs in there and people who can love the ball quickly - winks is more than good enough to do that at this level - skipp should be a bench warmer and soumare should never wear the shirt again 

but is he better in there than Skipp or Soumare ? - I think so

[Pliskin]

Just now, FoxinNotts said:

Not sure i agree with this. He misplaced one pass, as far as i could see. You  can't pair him and Vestergaard together. Anyone next to Vestergaard is going to suffer. 

 

Worrying that Marti doesn't see that! Nelson with Faes (at this level) OR Okoli, is fine.

Perhaps you’re right. Okoli is the pace and the muscle, Nelson would be my natural choice too. Like you say with a better partner he would look better. I hate Vestergaard his pac will destroy us if we’re not careful. Marti needs to watch that Sheff United game to see what can happen. 

[jv1]

Just now, FoxinNotts said:

but is he better in there than Skipp or Soumare ? - I think so

Nah I don’t - all 3 of them are useless in cm 

[Blue-fox]

Hamza is 100% better than both Skipp and Soumare. 

[STUHILL]

2 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

It’s the central box that’s the issue, not just CM. Okoli and Vesty were poor too. Amazing how we all wanted Okoli, many saying he would be a class above, he looked utterly garbage today. The odd show of strength, but on the ball he is a disaster. And Vesty will just get caught all the time by pace. I’d dread to think what Bristol could do to this team……

Me included. I think I just so badly wanted Vesty and Faes to be pushed out the club. But, when Faes came on, him and Vesty looked like the pairing from 2 years ago, and were confident in defence and attack. A real step up from Okoli. Still early, but if we can't get rid of Faes and Vesty, then they should be starting together, with Nelson and Okoli as back-up. Perhaps, Nelson can push his way into the team ahead of Vesty, but Okoli really didn't look too good today. 

[FoxinNotts]

13 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

we have Alves, Golding, Braybrooke, we need to figure if these players can play a part

this pair need to be loaned out

[moore_94]

2 minutes ago, jv1 said:

Absolutely no chance hamza is the answer to the question in centre mid either - short memories - he is bang average in their - second choice right back is my limitation with him - we need to go out and get 2 decent loans in the middle to rotate around winks - it shouldn’t be rocket science- we need legs in there and people who can love the ball quickly - winks is more than good enough to do that at this level - skipp should be a bench warmer and soumare should never wear the shirt again 

Even if he is bang average I think he will still be a bit of a better option in there than Soumare and Skipp and can at least offer a little bit of something

 

He will at least get involved a bit on the defensive side

 

Soumare and Skipp won 1 tackle between them today

[coolhandfox]

Play Wink as the hold DM, El Khannouss as the 8 and bring in a 10.

[sharpylcfc]

Can see Brownhill coming in before the end of the window. 

[em9999]

2 minutes ago, sharpylcfc said:

Can see Brownhill coming in before the end of the window. 

Thought he was West ham bound 🤔 

[kingfox]

In pre season it was pretty evident that the midfield needed more energy added to it. In a system like this, you need players who can press and cover ground, look at Bournemouth for example with players like Tyler Adams and Ryan Christie, they might not be the most glamorous of players, but they’ll bloody get stuck in. 
 

We’ve lost those kind of attributes with Ndidi. Soumare will forever be lazy. While whether it’s Winks or Skipp, I’d rather see one of them as the 6 with a box-to-box 8 with some defensive nous coming in. 
 

In an ideal world, I’d revamp the whole midfield completely, but whether it’s 1-2 signings in this position, they must have defensive nous, ability to press and ability to cover ground. 

[Mickyblueeyes]

Skipp cannot be a starter. Runs around but offers nothing and if you watch the danger men, they lose interest when he is about. Plenty of times today, Bilal. Stephy, Fatawu just stood still knowing he would do nothing. Winks, for all his faults got people ticking. 
 

Soumare in that second half just giving up on the ball. Still in play and he’s watching their guy run onto it and “it’s someone else’s problem”. 
 

Neither can be key players this. Both need to shipped out. 
 

Winks and Bilal and build around that. Unfortunately both seem likely to go.

[splinterdream]

anyone know what we're paying Skipp?

[em9999]

2 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

anyone know what we're paying Skipp?

Too much 

 

Do I win a prize 

[Walshy5]

30 minutes ago, sharpylcfc said:

Can see Brownhill coming in before the end of the window. 

No chance!

[leicesterlad1989]

30 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Play Wink as the hold DM, El Khannouss as the 8 and bring in a 10.

Said the same earlier. Bilal isn't a number 10 for me. 

For most games this season, particularly at home, we don't need a "double pivot" Winks, Bilal and anyone else. 

[FoxinNotts]

48 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Play Wink as the hold DM, El Khannouss as the 8 and bring in a 10.

Not sure Winks has the legs to play an out-and-out number 6

 

For me, the defensive midfielder should be a complete dynamo. A Duracell bunny of a player. Great in the tackle, and can then pay it simple.

[Guest]

It doesn't feel like a conundrum we are likely to solve without spending some money - someone who isn't petrified of the ball (rules Hamza out) and has a bit of mobility and physicality is a must. Soumare has it but can't/won't use it, Skipp runs like he's afraid the last of his hair is going to blow away in the wind. I don't know a great deal about Page but surely he can't be much less effective than those two dossers.

 

It's a bigger area of concern than striker for me.

[DJ Barry Hammond]

59 minutes ago, FoxinNotts said:

Not sure i agree with this. He misplaced one pass, as far as i could see. You  can't pair him and Vestergaard together. Anyone next to Vestergaard is going to suffer. 

 

Worrying that Marti doesn't see that! Nelson with Faes (at this level) OR Okoli, is fine.

Vestergaard’s range and consistency of pass is so much better than any of our other defenders. 
 

He’s also not a bad defender either, it’s of course his pace that’s an issue.

 

If you want a defender to play the quarterback role like Marti does, I can understand why he’s gone with Jannik.

[dylanlegend]

Get a top youngest in on loan from Man City / Chelsea. Play them alongside Winks. Skipp as backup. Let Soumare rot in the resrves 

[FoxinNotts]

5 minutes ago, DJ Barry Hammond said:

Vestergaard’s range and consistency of pass is so much better than any of our other defenders. 
 

He’s also not a bad defender either, it’s of course his pace that’s an issue.

 

If you want a defender to play the quarterback role like Marti does, I can understand why he’s gone with Jannik.

How many decent through balls did he hit today?

When was his last 'laser like' pass?

 

He plays a simple pass well... but surely that's the basics of any footballer. - Agreed that its his best attribute, but it's a low bar

[BenTheFox]

Concerning that Barry Bannan in the first half was playing balls that none of our central midfielders are capable of. 

[DJ Barry Hammond]

5 minutes ago, FoxinNotts said:

How many decent through balls did he hit today?

When was his last 'laser like' pass?

 

He plays a simple pass well... but surely that's the basics of any footballer. - Agreed that its his best attribute, but it's a low bar

It’s not through balls really - it’s the pass that cuts out the midfield into the front man that takes the oppositions press/midfield out of the game.

 

He’s so good at it - and it changes the tempo of our play because we bypass the midfield pivots.

[Stadt]

1 hour ago, coolhandfox said:

Play Wink as the hold DM, El Khannouss as the 8 and bring in a 10.

Would be too easy to play through and we’d struggle against any physical sides.

 

We need a proper Ndidi replacement