The man in the middle orchestrating things, passing balls out wide, pushing forward and receiving the pass to lay it off to the other channel, the player who will take a defender on and beat him and put a striker in on goal, the m/f general, the "go to" man when things get tough who can drag a game round by the scruff of the neck and push it on. Captain can't be expected to keep doing that if he is one of the wingers, he can't pass to himself in the middle! And the whole of the middle going forward needs covering, so putting SG on a wing means he only operates one side of the pitch, cutting in if required.
Can we really afford Xabi & Momo as 2 d/m leaving the path in front of them exposed expecting the strikers to keep dropping back deep? Momo tries, but isn't equipped for coming forward is he, and the more I see Xabi, the more I think he's a luxury just sitting in the middle (in our half though) doing half a Molby role, prob great in a five man m/f, but in a 4-4-2, are we leaving ourselves exposed in the middle going forward? A striker playing deep is not really a go to man is he, unless he's Henry of course!
Who do you think in January/next Summer could fill that role then, or do we just SG back in that pocket and work round that, with putting our current wingers on and dropping Momo or Xabi?
Would a flair player who can take on players and beat them be the answer even, or is there something more fundamental going on that Rafa is trying to tinker with?
Don't wish to cover ground that has been done to death over the last day, just offering a different angle that I have yet to see covered, and is it sacrosanct that SG, Momo & Xabi have to be accommodated?
Can we really afford Xabi & Momo as 2 d/m leaving the path in front of them exposed expecting the strikers to keep dropping back deep? Momo tries, but isn't equipped for coming forward is he, and the more I see Xabi, the more I think he's a luxury just sitting in the middle (in our half though) doing half a Molby role, prob great in a five man m/f, but in a 4-4-2, are we leaving ourselves exposed in the middle going forward? A striker playing deep is not really a go to man is he, unless he's Henry of course!
Who do you think in January/next Summer could fill that role then, or do we just SG back in that pocket and work round that, with putting our current wingers on and dropping Momo or Xabi?
Would a flair player who can take on players and beat them be the answer even, or is there something more fundamental going on that Rafa is trying to tinker with?
Don't wish to cover ground that has been done to death over the last day, just offering a different angle that I have yet to see covered, and is it sacrosanct that SG, Momo & Xabi have to be accommodated?
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