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SkegbyCanary

Defensive Midfield Conundrum....

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With just over a week of the transfer window left we're all waiting to see who City manage to bring in. But what if that player picks up an injury and is out for a few or more games?

City go on about having cover in every position but I can't see it in the defensive midfield area. Otherwise they would been in there against Liverpool and Man City.

Gilmour or PLM don't appear to be that player so who? Kenny McLean perhaps?Or do we need to recruit two new players in that position?

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what became clear yesterday is gilmour, rupp &  kenny (& rashica as the attacking left player) offer no wide protection to the left back and we were probably marginally worse second than first half.  None of  them provide that physical element we are missing,  or the ability the shield the back line or the ability of either skipp or buendia to win the ball back.   Gilmour at the base may prove to be  a poor choice for the base despite the occassional flourished ball out wide.  

PLM has some physicality and has offered limited success in front of aarons while being the best of the middle 3 for probing through balls and goal threat.

Lungi appears to be an option but farke doesnt seem to want him

At the moment it feels a big step to assume that this formation with this squad will fare better against lesser sides than the last two PL champions,  so either personnel &/or formation has to change.     

  

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24 minutes ago, ZLF said:

what became clear yesterday is gilmour, rupp &  kenny (& rashica as the attacking left player) offer no wide protection to the left back and we were probably marginally worse second than first half.  None of  them provide that physical element we are missing,  or the ability the shield the back line or the ability of either skipp or buendia to win the ball back.   Gilmour at the base may prove to be  a poor choice for the base despite the occassional flourished ball out wide.  

PLM has some physicality and has offered limited success in front of aarons while being the best of the middle 3 for probing through balls and goal threat.

Lungi appears to be an option but farke doesnt seem to want him

At the moment it feels a big step to assume that this formation with this squad will fare better against lesser sides than the last two PL champions,  so either personnel &/or formation has to change.     

  

The point about Skipp and Buendia is spot on. So important to our “turnovers” last season. Let’s see what happens during the remainder of the window and when we’ve played “lesser opponents”. 

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Skipp is a huge loss as his pace and strength in the tackle enabled him to provide a lot of cover for Hanley/Gibson who are not exactly quick in Premiership terms. I would guess that PLM was intended to be the replacement. Early days but don't think he will provide the answer. Should have spent more to fill this gap instead wasting bit and pieces on mediocre forwards. Of course we all know the real problem, the gap between the two divisions is now very substantial. Just consider the amount of experience and quality who are currently  sitting on the benches for the likes of Liverpool/Man City/Chelsea.

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35 minutes ago, Deptford Yellow said:

Left field suggestion here - should we have given the ever-green Tettey another year ?

Tettey 😢:classic_sad:

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2 hours ago, Deptford Yellow said:

Left field suggestion here - should we have given the ever-green Tettey another year ?

One of the players who could have held his head high from our last dismal Prem attempt.

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8 hours ago, York Canary said:

The point about Skipp and Buendia is spot on. So important to our “turnovers” last season. Let’s see what happens during the remainder of the window and when we’ve played “lesser opponents”. 

Absolutely this, how many of our goals last season came from Skipp or Buendia winning the ball back? I’d say it’s probably a fairly high percentage. The issue with losing Buendia was the fact you were both getting rid of the best attacking and best defensive player in our squad in one go! Add to that Skipp not being replaced leaves a massive defensive hole. I’m not bashing the players we have signed as I think we have invested well and bought some exciting talent, but we are stIll missing two defensive monsters and until we replace them we are in trouble. 

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7 hours ago, CDMullins said:

One of the players who could have held his head high from our last dismal Prem attempt.

He wasn't good enough then and he certainly isn't now. I love Tettey but our failure to upgrade him last time round was one of the main reasons we struggled so badly.

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32 minutes ago, king canary said:

He wasn't good enough then and he certainly isn't now. I love Tettey but our failure to upgrade him last time round was one of the main reasons we struggled so badly.

I didn't suggest he was, I said he was one player that every time he walked off the pitch could hold his head up high, he'd given his all.

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14 hours ago, ZLF said:

what became clear yesterday is gilmour, rupp &  kenny (& rashica as the attacking left player) offer no wide protection to the left back and we were probably marginally worse second than first half.  None of  them provide that physical element we are missing,  or the ability the shield the back line or the ability of either skipp or buendia to win the ball back.   Gilmour at the base may prove to be  a poor choice for the base despite the occassional flourished ball out wide.  

PLM has some physicality and has offered limited success in front of aarons while being the best of the middle 3 for probing through balls and goal threat.

Lungi appears to be an option but farke doesnt seem to want him

At the moment it feels a big step to assume that this formation with this squad will fare better against lesser sides than the last two PL champions,  so either personnel &/or formation has to change.     

  

This was and is so important to our play, it was very clear that whoever is playing LB, the midfield has to help out.

I discussed this point with my son only last week. It is vital to our play that ALL players on the pitch need to be aware of where the opposition are focusing on for their attacks and the appropriate support is needed. In this case Dimi was left exposed and ManC exploited it.

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7 hours ago, AJ said:

Absolutely this, how many of our goals last season came from Skipp or Buendia winning the ball back? I’d say it’s probably a fairly high percentage. The issue with losing Buendia was the fact you were both getting rid of the best attacking and best defensive player in our squad in one go! Add to that Skipp not being replaced leaves a massive defensive hole. I’m not bashing the players we have signed as I think we have invested well and bought some exciting talent, but we are stIll missing two defensive monsters and until we replace them we are in trouble. 

I seem to remember that up until last season people were berating Buendia for not chasing back to help out defensively. DF drummed that into him. Is it unreasonable to think he could do the same with the new additions?

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14 hours ago, Deptford Yellow said:

Left field suggestion here - should we have given the ever-green Tettey another year ?

No 

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31 minutes ago, bagpuss said:

No 

Well maybe just as a back up ? We do seem to missing some ballast in the centre of the park - fingers crossed Webber’s got it covered ...🤞🏻

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