Emre Can

[BigChief]

i'd prefer Lallana back in there instead of can

hendo - wijnaldum - Lallana

he presses better and moves it better from defence to attack.

Unless of course - when you say big boys you big tall ****ers - in which case then Can starts to push for a place for his added height extra

Yeah, sort of big boys in terms of height. But mainly in terms of dominating the midfield against the 'better' ball passing teams while freeing up Lallana to work his magic with Coutinho and Firmino up front. That, by implication, puts Firmino in his best number 9 position.

Of course, when Mane returns then its back to a 4-2-3-1 with no place for Can regardless of opposition.

[PTP]

Have to agree - prob not the right thread so will post it there in a second - but after looking a bit leggy and tired/lost recently firminho looked much better yesterday when playing more central

[Shaggy]

[ame]https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/821025221209686018[/ame]

[Lecter]

Thats quite interesting that

I think it important to have a blend of midfielders and I still think we dont have enough options

We have plenty of people to press high up the pitch but I still dont think we have enough to cope when teams go long and its a fight for 2nd balls

I actually think Can is more suited to the rough and tumble and physical style of competing for 2nd balls the only man who is close to him in this is Henderson (and maybe Milner) the rest imo are too lightweight and try and resort to just nicking balls / closing down

[Big-Red-Ed]

Can hasn't been at his best recently but he has been coming back from injury. But yesterday. I can't believe he's getting stick. For me I thought he was fantastic.

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[Fierce]

Can hasn't been at his best recently but he has been coming back from injury. But yesterday. I can't believe he's getting stick. For me I thought he was fantastic.

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He has a tendency to give the ball away at times, that seems to stem from not doing the simple thing when it's too dangerous to not do

That said, it's those moments that can change games; it just seems that for whatever reason of late (until yesterday) he didn't get it quite right and it can result in conceding possession

[Exiled_red]

Thats quite interesting that

I think it important to have a blend of midfielders and I still think we dont have enough options

We have plenty of people to press high up the pitch but I still dont think we have enough to cope when teams go long and its a fight for 2nd balls

I actually think Can is more suited to the rough and tumble and physical style of competing for 2nd balls the only man who is close to him in this is Henderson (and maybe Milner) the rest imo are too lightweight and try and resort to just nicking balls / closing down

If we are playing 3 CMs we need more options at present we only really have Henderson, Wijnaldum, Lallana and Can who play there regularly. Meaning it's 3 from 4, but Lallana has been covering the attacking positions recently.

We have Lucas who can play there but his role is coming on for the last 10 mins to shore things up, I doubt we'll see him start a PL game unless we are desperate. Beyond that it Grujic who we have barely seen yet and Stewart, IMO we need one of those to step up and someone else to boost the numbers.

[Rich]

He was much better against United, he still doesn't make my first choice 11 when everyone is available though.

[red g]

not having played the game, 5 tackles seems such a low number over 90 minutes!!

[Lecter]

not having played the game, 5 tackles seems such a low number over 90 minutes!!

Seems low to me as well

[Darkon]

I don't think it's all that low the game considered. In most games there are not that many tackles really, most turnovers happens by poor passing, interceptions, blocked shots/crosses, clearances either by foot or headed away or the gk doing his thing. Not that many proper tackles are there. And considering united spent the last 25 min or so hoofing the ball...

[BG1973]

He looked most impressive when in defence. A midfielder at the back always looks a rolls Royce on his day.

But it's hard to know what he's best at in midfield and he's 23 now.

Problem of being quite good at everything, but not brilliant at anything.

If anything he'll turn into a great DM.. one day.

At 23 He needs to play more than he does though - he should be developing fast at this point in his career and he's stagnating..

[RichC]

It's good for tackles per game.

[BG1973]

That's great.

Henderson, the unsung hero.

[RedReet]

Does it not need to be a clean tackle to register, ie. tackle and retain posession? Tackles that go out of play or to an opposition player therefore don't count. Definitely was the criteria a few years ago.