Midfield

[rudedog]

Assuming Jones, who has no discernible stand out qualities, would go on to become a regular in a title challenging team was a hell of an assumption if true.

Seems like Fredo syndrome is spreading within the club. Copied from the Curtis Jones thread..

Not you like you put a negative slant on things Kenneth

Just had a read of that thread from when he broke into the first team and it seems lots of folk seemed to think he would make it:

https://www.est1892.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=90209&page=4

[spud_gun]

Not you like you put a negative slant on things Kenneth

Just had a read of that thread from when he broke into the first team and it seems lots of folk seemed to think he would make it:

https://www.est1892.co.uk/forums/sho...t=90209&page=4

Anyone else comparing him to Zidane?

[Doc_Piptorious]

Houssem Aouar, Carraso, Isco and SAul Niguez were all offered to United as well. I haven;t folllowed there careers but all players we were linked with once......who maybe all **** now, But they need to give up football if they are not better than some of our present team.

Aouar is only 24 and tbh I would have him in our first team at present. Put a couple phytsical guys in there with him and he would flourish imo.

Was in one of the threads here where I said half in jest that for 70m or 80m we could probably have brought in Kone, Thuram and Aouar and had between that trio had two ball winners, two dribblers, two big guys well over six foot, two capable of going box to box and two play makers.

Individually they may not be as good as Fabinho at his best, or Henderson in his prime but right now all of them are PL level players imo, think the eldest of them is 24 and if those three were dropped into our middle right now with Thiago getting as many minutes as he could stay fit for, I would be confident of our back line having less runners coming at ity and our forward line seeing the ball go into their third more often.


No doubt there are loads and loads of players we could name that would improve our midfield, but those three stood out for me in terms of good ability and physicality between them for lowish prices ( if one can call 25m or so per player lowish)

[Doc_Piptorious]

Anyone else comparing him to Zidane?

If it helps I said that he looked a bit like Goretzka in style but not as developed as a player as Goretzka was at the same age.

[Exiled_red]

I think Jones has been the disappointment, I have a feeling that we didn’t bring in that extra midfielder when Gini left as we saw more involvement from Jones.

Maybe due to injuries but he just hasn’t kicked on.

He wasn't ready for that when Wijnaldum left, and since then he has lost about a year to injury, I think that is part of the reason that he hasn't kicked on, the other part is I feel we are trying to develop him into a player playing a role that I'm not sure suits him.

Jones 100% hasnt kicked on like they hoped. But that cant be how you run a squad? Hoping youth prospects make it to the first team?

Seems like he was obviously not the elite level standard in the summer. So not replacing him between then and now is another big whiff for me.

I agree totally that this can't be a way to run a squad, I am all for giving young players an opportunity but that should be to complement the existing midfield rather than depending on those players to step up when a first team player leaves.

[Exiled_red]

He wasn’t a youth prospect then though, the 20/21 season he played 34 games for us.

He was, he was only 20 at the start of that season, he may have played 34 games, but he only started about half of that number in the PL and CL, add to the fact that season was a complete cluster****, with players like Fabinho, Henderson and Milner regularly playing in the back line it was very much all hands to the pump in midfield which was probably why he started so many games.

[Exiled_red]

Also for what it's worth on Jones, I will be amazed if he isn't here next season. The reason being to have a full 25 man squad we need 8 homegrown players at least 4 for which need to be club trained.

At the moment we have Kelleher, Gomez, TAA, Phillips, Henderson, Milner and Ox who count as HG (Jones, Elliott and Carvalho currently are on the youth list). Next season I doubt Phillips, Milner and Ox will be here, there is a good chance that Kelleher might want to move for game time, Jones would need to be included on the senior list that would give us 4 HG players (including Jones) from our current squad plus 4 empty slots. The only way I see Jones leaving is if someone makes an offer that we consider too good to refuse, he wants to leave or if we bring in a load of HG players. At the moment he is worth keeping as a squad option because the chances are it's him or no-one.

[wiw]

Instead of a false 9, two 8's and a 6...what about two 8's and two 10's?, or two 6's and two false 9's?

[red g]

Instead of a false 9, two 8's and a 6...what about two 8's and two 10's?, or two 6's and two false 9's?

Anything has got to be better than the current system of everyone playing as a Number 2.

[Exiled_red]

Anything has got to be better than the current system of everyone playing as a Number 2.

[frank the tank]

Aouar is only 24 and tbh I would have him in our first team at present. Put a couple phytsical guys in there with him and he would flourish imo.

Was in one of the threads here where I said half in jest that for 70m or 80m we could probably have brought in Kone, Thuram and Aouar and had between that trio had two ball winners, two dribblers, two big guys well over six foot, two capable of going box to box and two play makers.

Individually they may not be as good as Fabinho at his best, or Henderson in his prime but right now all of them are PL level players imo, think the eldest of them is 24 and if those three were dropped into our middle right now with Thiago getting as many minutes as he could stay fit for, I would be confident of our back line having less runners coming at ity and our forward line seeing the ball go into their third more often.


No doubt there are loads and loads of players we could name that would improve our midfield, but those three stood out for me in terms of good ability and physicality between them for lowish prices ( if one can call 25m or so per player lowish)

Good player but I can't see him fitting in with our style to be honest.

I wonder was the Bajcetic and Morton and Elliot all lined up to be our next generation midfield but as has been pointed out here, we thought we'd get another year or two at the top out of Henderson and it just hasnt happened that way.

I also think jones hasnt kicked on as he should have. Personally idont think he is a better player than he was 3 years ago. And keita and oxlade never being available either, that has been a perfect storm.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Instead of a false 9, two 8's and a 6...what about two 8's and two 10's?, or two 6's and two false 9's?

Go fish

[little dave hedgehog]

Good player but I can't see him fitting in with our style to be honest.

I wonder was the Bajcetic and Morton and Elliot all lined up to be our next generation midfield but as has been pointed out here, we thought we'd get another year or two at the top out of Henderson and it just hasnt happened that way.

i think there's truth in that.

[calvoboy]

Good player but I can't see him fitting in with our style to be honest.

I wonder was the Bajcetic and Morton and Elliot all lined up to be our next generation midfield but as has been pointed out here, we thought we'd get another year or two at the top out of Henderson and it just hasnt happened that way.

I also think jones hasnt kicked on as he should have. Personally idont think he is a better player than he was 3 years ago. And keita and oxlade never being available either, that has been a perfect storm.

That sounds plausible. When you look at it that way, Fabinho, Thiago and Henderson were a world-class three only a year ago, so with the three young lads to bring through, and Jones, Ox, Keita and Milner as back up then even though they ideally wanted Bellingham last summer they probably thought we'd be OK for another season without him.

A couple of injuries and they panicked and signed Arthur at the end of the window on loan as emergency cover, but I don't think anyone saw how badly the midfield, and Fabinho in particular, would decline this season.

[BobTheCharmer]

I'm looking forward to seeing Arthur tear the league up, or another hamstring, either way, I'm sure it'll be fun.