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Midfield Selection


AndyBM

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I dont like making topics as there people on here that like to always rip in to whoever starts one, however, i was thinking earlier, when we all comment on midfielders, the way they play gets mentioned, which is understandable, so i was wondering what you all think as to what type of midfielders they are, either attacking centre mids, defensive centre mids or box to box type of centre mids

 

thanks

 

key:

ACM

DCM

BCM

 

 

Ireland

El Ahmadi

NZogbia

Holman

Westwood

Delph

Makoun

Sylla

Petrov

Bannan

Herd

Gardner

Carruthers

Edited by AndyBM
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This is how I see them I suppose, some of them are a bit flexible and could fit in to different groups.

 

 

ACM

 

Ireland

NZogbia

Holman

 

Gardner

Carruthers

 

DCM

 

Westwood

 

Makoun

Sylla

 

BCM

 

El Ahmadi

Delph

Petrov

Bannan

Herd

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This is how I see them I suppose, some of them are a bit flexible and could fit in to different groups.

 

 

ACM

 

Ireland

NZogbia

Holman

 

Gardner

Carruthers

 

DCM

 

Westwood

 

Makoun

Sylla

 

BCM

 

El Ahmadi

Delph

Petrov

Bannan

Herd

Is westwood a defensive midfielder? He doesnt defend very well at all

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Not including Petrov (as unlikely to play again), Gardner and Carruthers (as haven't seen enough to comment).. I would say that midfield players we have are very unbalanced..

We have 3 AMC in Ireland, Holman and NZog, 2 of these very rarely play.

We then have 1 Dmc in Herd, who again doesn't play very often. Thought Sylla was meant to be a Dmc but he has played higher up the field.

After that we have a collection of players that don't really fit into the 3 select midfield positions. Whilst all have varying attributes, they are all pretty similar in that they are passing footballers. We don't really have a box to box type that regularly runs beyond the strikers, gambling on balls into the box and then tracks back as well (Milner/Taylor as an example). However, we also don't have that stereotypical "hard" defensive midfielder who will just tackle and play a simple pass. Our midfielders all hang around the middle of the pitch.

Despite the numbers we have, for me it is our weakest position and reinforcements (1 Acm, 1dcm at least) are required should we want to improve on our current league position

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This is how I see them I suppose, some of them are a bit flexible and could fit in to different groups.

 

 

ACM

 

Ireland

NZogbia

Holman

 

Gardner

Carruthers

 

DCM

 

Westwood

 

Makoun

Sylla

 

BCM

 

El Ahmadi

Delph

Petrov

Bannan

Herd

 

 

 

When you see it set out like that,you realise how weak our midfield is, despite having 13 names in the list. ACM is particularly weak. Only Zoggy has put in anything like a shift this season and he often misfires.

 

Zoggy, Delph, Westwood, Sylla, El Ahmadi. I wouldn't look beyond them for regular selection. Maybe Holman as back up. And I would be seriously looking to strengthen.

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We have a lot of midfielders but at the same time we're really struggling in that area !

 

I think Westwood has cemented his spot !

 

Other two are a choice from :

 

Delph ..

Sylla .. 

N'Zogbia .. 

Bannan ..

KEA ..

 

I think if Gardner comes back .. Maybe a trio of :

 

Sylla .. Westwood ..

 

Gardner ..

 

Would be solid ?!

 

For now .. 

 

I think I would start KEA against Sunderland .. the same team who he missed his place for in our away game with them !

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Our midfield really is a mess. We have 13 players who can do a little bit of everything but isn't really good at anything which is why it's hard to say what their best position is.

They have shipped in something like 4 goals all season while helping to create the worst defensive record in club PL-history.

 

Westwood is functional while the 2 players with most natural ability imo (Ireland & N'Zogbia) doesn't seem mature enough to deliver. The rest are squad players at best, some of them are young(ish) and might develop but haven't yet.

 

For the money spent on 13 average midfielders we could easilly get 2-3 really good ones and still keep the promising ones like Westwood, Gardner and so on.

 

Really hope we see a total revamp of the midfield (and defence) this summer

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I have absolutely zero confidence in any of them really. You couldnt pick me a line-up where I would say, yes that looks ok. All combos are pretty much well below premiership standard, and I fully believe its the midfield who are most to blame for our current position.

Over the course of the season

Theyve offered minimal protection to the defence.

Theyve created very little

Theyve retained possession poorly

Theyve offered zero in terms of goal threat bar the odd one or two

The crossing is appalling

The set pieces are appalling

There is zero bite/steal.

Honestly the worst group of midfielders I have ever known at the club, and I still stand by that its one of the worst midfields in prem history.

All that comes with acknowledgement that things have improved recently.

Edited by Woodytom
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great feedback, cheers

 

whats thats saying, 'jack of all trades, master of none' that  kind of sums up most of our midfielders maybe?

 

ive said in another thread, with so many, i think maybe we would need to sell 3 midfielders to buy 1 better, 6 = 2

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I have absolutely zero confidence in any of them really. You couldnt pick me a line-up where I would say, yes that looks ok. All combos are pretty much well below premiership standard, and I fully believe its the midfield who are most to blame for our current position.

Over the course of the season

Theyve offered minimal protection to the defence.

Theyve created very little

Theyve retained possession poorly

Theyve offered zero in terms of goal threat bar the odd one or two

The crossing is appalling

The set pieces are appalling

There is zero bite/steal.

Honestly the worst group of midfielders I have ever known at the club, and I still stand by that its one of the worst midfields in prem history.

All that comes with acknowledgement that things have improved recently.

 

So in 21 years, with 63 relegations and numerous teams going close, we still have the worst midfield in the history of the Prem? Do you know each of those 63 relegated sides midfields well enough to make some bold claims?

All seems a bit sensationalist to me.

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I have absolutely zero confidence in any of them really. You couldnt pick me a line-up where I would say, yes that looks ok. All combos are pretty much well below premiership standard, and I fully believe its the midfield who are most to blame for our current position.

Over the course of the season

Theyve offered minimal protection to the defence.

Theyve created very little

Theyve retained possession poorly

Theyve offered zero in terms of goal threat bar the odd one or two

The crossing is appalling

The set pieces are appalling

There is zero bite/steal.

Honestly the worst group of midfielders I have ever known at the club, and I still stand by that its one of the worst midfields in prem history.

All that comes with acknowledgement that things have improved recently.

 

So in 21 years, with 63 relegations and numerous teams going close, we still have the worst midfield in the history of the Prem? Do you know each of those 63 relegated sides midfields well enough to make some bold claims?

All seems a bit sensationalist to me.

 

 

 

The 63 relegated teams make up 15% of the premiership population. So I believe its possible that our midfield could be better than all of those teams, yet still be in the worst lot. (Not that I believe our midfield is better than all 63 teams that have been relegated). Were not talking of a handful of teams here. A lot of midfields have existed in this league. 420 to be exact! So if we fell in the bottom 100 (which I have absolutely no doubt they do - without fully knowing all sides midfields) then they can still be considered as one of the worst - certainly in the bottom section anyway.

 

Also,

 

Do bad midfields only exist in teams that are relegated?

Do good midfields only exist in teams that stay up?

 

I dont actually see the 'definite' link to relegated teams, that you've solely pinned your argument too

Edited by Woodytom
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Wat..?

 

You really aren't making much sense - you would be better off just admitting that you were being deliberately over the top about our midfield. 

 

 

I dont believe I am.

 

I have said all season how poor I think it is, originally on paper and now in terms of performance.

 

If Im being over the top and its not one of the worst then what is it? One of the best? One of the ok midfields? Theres pretty much only one pigeon hole left.

Edited by Woodytom
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we could say we currently have the worst midfield in the prem, but its our attack line that is better than the three clubs below us?

 

either way, its certainly an awful midfield, we do have some good midfielders (generally speaking) in westwood, nzogbia, gardner and even ireland, but for whatever reason, zoggy and ireland arent performing to their best ability as they were at their respective previous clubs

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