Herrera at Holding

Jacky Quacky

made eight consecutive posts about Fellaini once
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I feel like this is his best position. He's got great tenacity which is needed for such a high tempo league. Fellaini doesn't influence the game enough as he should and Pogba is not a DM, instead, take Fellaini out and replace him with Mata then push Pogba and Mata further up the pitch with Herrera as the sole DM. This will lead to us having greater influence in the middle of the pitch and will allow Pogba the freedom he needs to do whatever he wants. Mata would be there for his ball retention and ability to strike quick passes which Fellaini is not good at.

De Gea
Valencia Bailly Blind Shaw
Herrera
Mkhitaryan Mata Pogba Martial
Zlatan

Anyone think differently?
 
I think Fellaini is a deserved starter. Replace him with Mata in that line up and you have something.
 
I am not a fan of him holding, not in a Mourinho side. People forget that he still isnt the best reader of the game and is too rash at times and not defensively the most disciplined. His long passing is too inconsistent. I think we should play the palyers at their best position, Herrera being an 8 or B2B. He will look good in a few games and people will go over the top, then look shite in another and getting destroyed.
 
Pogba can't play as a DM.

Has to be herrera or schneiderlin

Mourinho pulled a deschamps (nightmare) today - conte and allegri never ever played pogba as DM
 
He will have to adapt his game, but I like the fact he's a dynamic player and fits into the type of side we're building. His passing is also great on the counter-attack - obviously not at Blind or Carrick's level, but he can pick out runners from deep.
 
He has quick feet, is very aggressive and has great stamina and knows how to tackle. I think he could do a good job there, but why strip him of his creative qualities? He moves the ball so elegantly further up the pitch.
 
Right now he looks a great foil for Fellaini and Pogba as part of a midfield three but I can't see us starting like that any time soon
 
He's way too rash a tackler. Got beaten a few times today like that. Once on a City break.
 
Na there's usually a gaping hole in midfield when he plays there.
 
Rossa said:
He has quick feet, is very aggressive and has great stamina and knows how to tackle. I think he could do a good job there, but why strip him of his creative qualities? He moves the ball so elegantly further up the pitch.
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Because we might have better options for creativity. Herrera as a holding/more defensive midfielder in a midfield 3 is an improvement over Fellaini in certain situations.
 
He's looked very sharp so far this season. But I wouldn't play him as a holding CM.

I'd go for:

-----Fellaini------
Herrera----Pogba
 
izec said:
I am not a fan of him holding, not in a Mourinho side. People forget that he still isnt the best reader of the game and is too rash at times and not defensively the most disciplined. His long passing is too inconsistent. I think we should play the palyers at their best position, Herrera being an 8 or B2B. He will look good in a few games and people will go over the top, then look shite in another and getting destroyed.
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He looked fine today and he was sitting deep.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
He's looked very sharp so far this season. But I wouldn't play him as a holding CM.

I'd go for:

-----Fellaini------
Herrera----Pogba
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Fellaini would leave a massive gap for other players to exploit because of his lack of pace. We saw it today.
 
Herrera doesn't have the discipline to be deployed as a holding CM. He should play on the right in a 3-men midfield where he plays his best football through his constant pressing and harrying as well as short, quick passing game.
 
NinjaZombie said:
Because we might have better options for creativity. Herrera as a holding/more defensive midfielder in a midfield 3 is an improvement over Fellaini in certain situations.
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The options depend on the opposition, I think. Overall, Herrera eclipses Rooney in the ten position, imo. Alongside Pogba in a 4-3-3 with a holding midfielder ala Carrick/Blind/Schneiderlin I also think he would excel.
 
Jacky Quacky said:
He looked fine today and he was sitting deep.
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He looked fine at times today, could have a mare the next game. I am not convinced that he is a very good holding midfielder, especiall starting week in week out. He was good because he was up for it, he could have played on the right wing and still look good.
 
ReDDHDevilS said:
Herrera doesn't have the discipline to be deployed as a holding CM. He should play on the right in a 3-men midfield where he plays his best football through his constant pressing and harrying as well as short, quick passing game.
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He played his best game there against Chelsea where we should've gotten a result.
 
We should try Blind as holding and put Smalling back in the defence
 
Fernandinho is a holding midfielder yet he is very similair to Herrera. Both quick, nippy, and aggressive in their play.
 
Jacky Quacky said:
Fellaini would leave a massive gap for other players to exploit because of his lack of pace. We saw it today.
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It's pretty much a three man midfield. Herrera wouldn't be very offensive in that role. It's how loads of teams play these days. One DM, one regular CM and one attack minded CM. Felliani isn't ideal but it's better to put Herrera in there to support him than Pogba.
 
I don't think it's his best position, and personally don't think he'll be used there that much this season. Think Fellaini got moved further up today because Jose planned to play more direct in the second half, and to a certain extent, it worked. Fellaini got a few knock downs, more notably to Ibra, and he got a few shots off.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
It's pretty much a three man midfield. Herrera wouldn't be very offensive in that role. It's how loads of teams play these days. One DM, one regular CM and one attack minded CM. Felliani isn't ideal but it's better to put Herrera in there to support him than Pogba.
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The DM should be Herrera, then the regular CM should be Pogba and the attack minded CM Mata
 
Jacky Quacky said:
He played his best game there against Chelsea where we should've gotten a result.
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Against a Jose team who recorded their lowest possession at Stamford Bridge over a decade!

He may do it in certain games but then again would get totally exposed in others.
 
Jacky Quacky said:
The DM should be Herrera, then the regular CM should be Pogba and the attack minded CM Mata
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I'm not convinced Herrera is good enough defensively for that but against a lot of teams it is probably worth a trial. The main thing for me is to have three in there. Who the other two is debateable. I don't really rate any of our options are dead certs.
 
ReDDHDevilS said:
Against a Jose team who recorded their lowest possession at Stamford Bridge over a decade!

He may do it in certain games but then again would get totally exposed in others.
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He hasn't been given a chance to show himself there consistently. So far he has done extremely well in that position.
 
Played well today but I don't think this is his best position. I'm hoping Schneiderlien starts impressing and gets a chance.
 
Only in certain games. He is a difficult player to judge because of his inconsistency. Fellaini has earned his spot in a 2 man midfield while Herrera should be the third man in 433.
 
Sb_16 said:
Only in certain games. He is a difficult player to judge because of his inconsistency. Fellaini has earned his spot in a 2 man midfield while Herrera should be the third man in 433.
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Fellaini hasn't earned his spot. He wasn't good enough today.
 
I don't care who it is - but we need a 3 man midfield with someone that is disciplined to sit in.

There was acres of space in the middle today. Pogba has to wander a bit to get on the ball so we desperately need someone to hold the middle.
 
What the feck has happened to Schneiderlin? Prior to this season started many on here taught he would become prominent in that role. Nevertheless, Herrera is more suited in the box to box role. He will be to restricted in that holding role because his offensive play is much greater than his defensive one.
 
Still think Schneiderlin is more suited to the holding role, but it looks like he's not allowed. Before the season started I wanted to see Schneiderlin and Herrera alongside Pogba, still think it has a lot of potential, tho clearly Fellaini deserves to be in contention.
 
Adebesi said:
Still think Schneiderlin is more suited to the holding role, but it looks like he's not allowed. Before the season started I wanted to see Schneiderlin and Herrera alongside Pogba, still think it has a lot of potential, tho clearly Fellaini deserves to be in contention.
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Strongly disagree. Schneiderlin is far from holding role. IMO his best is a destroyer #8 along side a holding #6. So maybe in some game when we have to shut off shop?
 
I always pipe into threads like this to make the same point:

A defensive midfielder is somebody who defends in the middle third by harrying opponents.

A holding midfielder is somebody who holds position in front of the defence and acts like a third centreback as much as a creative force.

It's the difference between Fetcher and Carrick. I never though Herrera could fulfil the latter description, but I'd like to see him tried there again. All the interviews he gives suggest he's an unabashed student of the game. If anyone can adapt to the positional demands of the role, it's him.
 
Schneiderlin holding.
Herrera or Basti a little further forward.
Pogba even a little further forward.



But we have Fellaini as holding midfielder, and Rooney floating around doing nothing. Deserve failure.
 
Adebesi said:
Still think Schneiderlin is more suited to the holding role, but it looks like he's not allowed. Before the season started I wanted to see Schneiderlin and Herrera alongside Pogba, still think it has a lot of potential, tho clearly Fellaini deserves to be in contention.
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Schneiderlin's a crap passer so it's a big hindrance having him at the base of our midfield. Herrera's distribution made a massive difference to our midfield play in the second half.
 
I'm not sure Herrera's disciplined enough to play there long-term but he showed again yesterday that he's capable of doing a job.

This situation should have been remedied during the summer though, it was obvious from the start that the current crop of midfielders wouldn't hold up against a well functioning team.
 
.......fellaini\schneid
...herrera
...................pogba

The only way forward. We won't click as a team until this happens.
 
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