The Midfield Three

[Philosopher]

11 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Nakamba, Luiz, McGinn for me. 

Harsh on Ramsey but you cannot ignore Luiz performance today. 

So my 3 when everyone is fit and sharp would be:

                                Luiz

     Ramsey                               Sanson

For me this is the best midfield from a technical perspective we can pick. It's also a fast midfield, all three are quick (our fastest central midfielders), which I like. Quick players means a quick press, quick to second balls, and quick to break. All 3 are also capable ball carriers. Throw in that they are also decent passers, composed, good under pressure, and play with their heads up (unlike Mcginn), if we want tiki-taka this midfield is best equipped to deliver it.

I think the contrast between the two midfields (mine and villalad's) highlights that with Luiz we don't really know his best position (I suspect it's as the more attacking of two 6's). And we don't know who our best two 8's are, and we now aren't sure who our best number 6 is. 

Gerrard being a midfielder and a world class one at that, is definitely beneficial to our midfielders. They all seem to have improved.

 

[Delphinho123]

1 minute ago, Philosopher said:

So my 3 when everyone is fit and sharp would be:

                                Luiz

     Ramsey                               Sanson

For me this is the best midfield from a technical perspective we can pick. It's also a fast midfield, all three are quick (our fastest central midfielders), which I like. Quick players means a quick press, quick to second balls, and quick to break. All 3 are also capable ball carriers. Throw in that they are also decent passers, composed, good under pressure, and play with their heads up (unlike Mcginn), if we want tiki-taka this midfield is best equipped to deliver it.

I think the contrast between the two midfields (mine and villalad's) highlights that with Luiz we don't really know his best position (I suspect it's as the more attacking of two 6's). And we don't know who our best two 8's are, and we now aren't sure who our best number 6 is. 

Gerrard being a midfielder and a world class one at that, is definitely beneficial to our midfielders. They all seem to have improved.

 

I'm leaning towards this atm, but I think McGinn starts in a Gerrard side. 

[Philosopher]

10 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I'm leaning towards this atm, but I think McGinn starts in a Gerrard side. 

I does look that way, in regards to Mcginn. But up until now he hasn't had a fully fit Luiz and Sanson to chose. In fact Sanson is still not fully fit. He will probably need a couple of longer sub appearances and 5 or 6 starts to get fully upto speed.

[PaulC]

Sanson has done nothing yet to be considered a starter. McGin  although not being at his best last was brilliant at Palace. Nakamba has done well for Gerrard so far so its a straight choice between Ramsey and Luiz for the other spot. and Luiz looked really good second half last night so he edges it. 

[WooJung]

2 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

We've gone from none of them is good enough combination to genuine excitement over which one is better than the other.

What a difference a bit of coaching and a different few voices makes.

Not a dig at Smith but it always surprised me for a football man he could never get a system to play genuine football as a collective unit.

By signing so many forward players Smith had to play McGinn as a 6 to accommodate that. Which was a failure to get the best out of both the forward players and McGinn himself.

Gerrard comes with a fresh slate and the license to change everything he deems to be ineffective, and that's one of the first thing he addressed.

[MattVillaPortsmouth]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Where does it leave arguable one of our best players?

Good question and 1 of our hottest prospects -  although I only said next game, as many have alluded to our best 3 against Burnley is not our best 3 against Liverpool, different games call for slightly different tweaks.   Luiz at base and Samson mcginn in front against teams with 2 in or bottom half etc

[Vive_La_Villa]

I don’t think people are appreciating how much Mcginn is supporting Cash defensively in this new set up. 

[Guest av1]

I mentioned in the managers thread that I’d been impressed with how Gerrard is utilising the squad and I think that will continue. Nakamba has arguably been our best player during the managers first 3 games, but isn’t going to be needed against weaker opposition. A fit Sanson adds more depth as well so I think we will continue to see rotation. 
 

 

 

[Zatman]

I dont think our midfield was as bad or dramatic as people made it out to be. It looked like they just needed some discipline. Big example is this McGinn is not as exciting on the eye as before but he is a lot better

[MWARLEY2]

Great blend in the midfield with this 3 . Perfectly balanced . I wonder if he will go all out for another midfielder now with Sanson Chuk and Ramsey to add to these 3 . 

[PaulC]

17 hours ago, Zatman said:

I dont think our midfield was as bad or dramatic as people made it out to be. It looked like they just needed some discipline. Big example is this McGinn is not as exciting on the eye as before but he is a lot better

Thats down to the management then 

[lexicon]

On 02/12/2021 at 15:30, Vive_La_Villa said:

I don’t think people are appreciating how much Mcginn is supporting Cash defensively in this new set up. 

It's an important feature of the way the formation works on both sides - the CM is basically a full-back allowing the FB to bomb forward without leaving so much space behind. 

[Adman]

On 02/12/2021 at 13:55, av1 said:

I mentioned in the managers thread that I’d been impressed with how Gerrard is utilising the squad and I think that will continue. Nakamba has arguably been our best player during the managers first 3 games, but isn’t going to be needed against weaker opposition. A fit Sanson adds more depth as well so I think we will continue to see rotation. 
 

 

 

There's not that much weak opposition in the prem though.  Norwich maybe, but they'll want to beat us and like to keep possession which nakamba can break up.  He starts every game for me at the moment and the three pick themselves when available

         Nakamba

McGinn         Luiz

[PaulC]

Nakamba, McGinn and then one of Luiz, Ramsey or Sanson. Guess give Luiz a run and see how he does

[MWARLEY2]

Would anyone be adverse to selling McGinn and Luiz if we got McKennie Tierney and Bissouma in return ( proceedings pending ) 

Just a throw out there idea if Utd do firm up their interest and Luiz shows zero interest in staying. 

[HalfTimePost]

5 hours ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Would anyone be adverse to selling McGinn and Luiz if we got McKennie Tierney and Bissouma in return ( proceedings pending ) 

Just a throw out there idea if Utd do firm up their interest and Luiz shows zero interest in staying. 

Nah McGinn is so important culturally imo. Can't lose Jack and then McGinn too unless you bring in another big character into that dressing room.

On paper it sounds interesting. Bissouma would be brilliant in our midfield. McKennie has been brilliant this year too (don't think they'll be selling him now!) And Tierney has massive potential. On paper we'd be silly to turn that down but it wouldn't sit right with me to have that turnover in midfield and bring in 3 new guys and mortgage the culture and team togetherness we seem to have built over the last couple years.

Tough one though

[paul514]

I’ve said it for a couple of years now but we need two defensive minded midfielders in the midfield three.

We only have two in Douglas and Marv.

Therefore for me, they start, sign another and it’s up for debate.

[tinker]

Douglas is not a DM, he can't tackle, without fouling , doesn't turn very well when closing down and is relatively slow. His best position is more forward but he's not as affective as Ramsey at that either taking into account Ramseys positioning and runs in the box then he's a better choice, just  look at the chances he's getting . 

Douglas will not sign a new contract, it's time to plan without him so we can sell him this Xmas window or in the summer. 

[lexicon]

10 hours ago, MWARLEY2 said:

Would anyone be adverse to selling McGinn and Luiz if we got McKennie Tierney and Bissouma in return ( proceedings pending ) 

Just a throw out there idea if Utd do firm up their interest and Luiz shows zero interest in staying. 

I would be. I definitely don't want Bissouma if he's guilty of what he's accused of.

[Delphinho123]

Oh look, it’s still a problem.