Passers from the deep

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Unfortunately nobody else in out midfield/defence can run the game to supplement Pogba. We need someone

a) Who can control the game.
b) Someone who can bring the ball out of the defence and recycle possession.
c) Someone who can switch flanks, good at occasional long pass and switching flanks etc.
d) Good defensive shield.

In a ideal situation we can find all of this in a single player, but that'd be difficult/pricey.

Which combination of CB/CM/DM would tick all the boxes above?

 

[haram]

Regardless, Pogba still needs to contribute in deeper areas and help with build up because he is fully capable and has the talent to do it. We do not need to "free him".

 

[NYAS]

We need to free Pogba to operate closer to attack if we are to get the best out of him. Unfortunately nobody else in out midfield/defence can run the game. We need someone

a) Who can control the game.
b) Someone who can bring the ball out of the defence and recycle possession.
c) Someone who can switch flanks, good at occasional long pass and switching flanks etc.
d) Good defensive shield.

In a ideal situation we can find all of this in a single player, but that'd be difficult/pricey.

Which combination of CB/CM/DM would tick all the boxes above?

Alderweireld/Neves/Sander Berge

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Regardless, Pogba still needs to contribute in deeper areas and help with build up because he is fully capable and has the talent to do it. We do not need to "free him".

He will. He'll play his usual midfield to attack link. Start attacks and make late runs into the box. But the less time he spends in front of our own defence, the more we use him wisely. Anyway this is not about Pogba.

Point was we need to supplement him with other players who can run the game in case some opponent decides to man-mark Pogba for example.

 

[haram]

He will. He'll play his usual midfield to attack link. Start attacks and make late runs into the box. But the less time he spends in front of our own defence, the more we use him wisely. Anyway this is not about Pogba.

Point was we need to supplement him with other players who can run the game in case some opponent decides to man-mark Pogba for example.

Yes, we do I agree with that. I don't want people saying that he shouldn't be in these zones or not defending though. Hopefully we are done with that bollocks narrative.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Alderweireld/Neves/Sander Berge

Not familiar with Berge, but other two are good fits. Neves especially.

We can put up a cheeky bid for Marquinhos too. Really rate his style and versatality.

 

[Hawks2008]

Ruben Neves

 

[willhse456]

I would love Alderweireld and Tielemans, think both would be realistic and would improve us so much. I think what people don't realise is that if we keep possession a lot more, we don't need a Herrera type midfielder. Fred/Matic at the base should be enough, with Tielemans and Pogba in front.

 

[Harry190]

If anything I've learnt from watching football for almost 30 years now, it's that being two footed and being able to pass are the greatest and rarest assets in football. Good luck finding those. Very often, they don't even show up because they lack the other skills that go alongside it.

 

[P-Nut]

If anything I've learnt from watching football for almost 30 years now, it's that being two footed and being able to pass are the greatest and rarest assets in football. Good luck finding those. Very often, they don't even show up because they lack the other skills that go alongside it.

Strangely Pereira has both of those skills and still can't make it here.

 

[Harry190]

Strangely Pereira has both of those skills and still can't make it here.

The guy can't pass. Not on the level I'm talking about. Carrick, Pirlo, Scholes, Xavi.

 

[P-Nut]

The guy can't pass. Not on the level I'm talking about. Carrick, Pirlo, Scholes, Xavi.

Well yeah, you're talking the best passers of their generations. He's an attacking midfielder of course he can pass a football

 

[RussellWilson]

Ruben Neves

This guy is the Portuguese Jonjo Shelvey. Moutinho controls the tempo and play of the Wolves team. Neves hits a nice Hollywood pass but that's about it.

 

[breakout67]

No we don't. Freeing Pogba worked for about 10 games until teams adapted to the work horses in our midfield and cut off the supply. No amount of 'freeing' Pogba will work. Midfielders need to pull their weight they can't just be there to do the yards for other people or in Pogba's case stroll around near the forwards waiting for the ball.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

No we don't. Freeing Pogba worked for about 10 games until teams adapted to the work horses in our midfield and cut off the supply. No amount of 'freeing' Pogba will work. Midfielders need to pull their weight they can't just be there to do the yards for other people or in Pogba's case stroll around near the forwards waiting for the ball.

No team should be that reliant on a single player. If you want consistency, then it must be a balanced effort as even top players have slump in forms. If we lose a game every time Pogba has a slump, we are not really a good team enough to win the league.

Anyway,enough about Pogba here. This is about players to supplement him and have alternative passing options.

 

[R77]

We need creativity and confident passing ability all round, to be fair, from front to back. When we do try to implement a quick moving and passing game, it's high up the pitch with the involved players invariably being fairly close together. Aside from the occasional through ball when the stars are aligned, anything beyond a relatively short pass is often lateral or backwards. It's why we can be so easy to defend against and contain. We need a real, quality wide player or two as well, to stretch the play and pass and move beyond close quarters.

Whilie not necessarily Rice himself, I'm of the mind we need a player of that ilk (that's not Matic). Someone with great positioning to screen the defence, more or less creating a back three without the ball, so that Pogba +1 (Fernandes?) and the full backs can push up and create forward numbers and pressure across the width of the pitch.

 

[Gopher Brown]

Going by what WhoScored says, the statistically best midfielder at the moment is Teji Savanier at Nimes. Never heard of him, does anyone know anything about him?

Although, according to them Tiemoue Bakayoko is number 2, so I doubt that can be trusted.

 

[breakout67]

No team should be that reliant on a single player. If you want consistency, then it must be a balanced effort as even top players have slump in forms. If we lose a game every time Pogba has a slump, we are not really a good team enough to win the league.

Anyway,enough about Pogba here. This is about players to supplement him and have alternative passing options.

I think we should get midfielders that are top players already or have potential to be so. If it were up to me I would move on Matic, Herrera and Mata, and bring in Rabiot, Fernandes and Aouar.

 

[AgentSquirrel]

Unfortunately nobody else in out midfield/defence can run the game to supplement Pogba. We need someone

a) Who can control the game.
b) Someone who can bring the ball out of the defence and recycle possession.
c) Someone who can switch flanks, good at occasional long pass and switching flanks etc.
d) Good defensive shield.

In a ideal situation we can find all of this in a single player, but that'd be difficult/pricey.

Which combination of CB/CM/DM would tick all the boxes above?

This. The inability to switch play is one of the biggest issues we have, and it's purely down to the fact that we don't have a midfielder who can consistently pass a long ball accurately. Carrick and Scholes were both masters of this and we haven't replaced them. As for who to go for, I genuinely don't know. Nearly every team we've come up against in the past few months have had a midfielder able to do that, to the point where the difference between them and our midfielders, is stark.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Jorginho, Ruben Neves,

 

[Scholsey2004]

Unfortunately nobody else in out midfield/defence can run the game to supplement Pogba. We need someone

a) Who can control the game.
b) Someone who can bring the ball out of the defence and recycle possession.
c) Someone who can switch flanks, good at occasional long pass and switching flanks etc.
d) Good defensive shield.

In a ideal situation we can find all of this in a single player, but that'd be difficult/pricey.

Which combination of CB/CM/DM would tick all the boxes above?

We must sign alderweireld this summer surely. Admittedly he's a little longer in the tooth than is ideal but for 25m he'd immediately provide a capacity to play out from the back that you could argue we haven't had since Rio. In a lot of ways the midfielder you're describing is matic but of course he isn't particularly mobile or energetic. You could argue that spurs midfield is far more effective than ours despite not having a real playmaker so much as a good stopper. Herrera's replacement also needs to be a far more creative player, as does Mata's. Pogba can't continue to be our only consistent creative outlet.

 

[Scholsey2004]

I think we should get midfielders that are top players already or have potential to be so. If it were up to me I would move on Matic, Herrera and Mata, and bring in Rabiot, Fernandes and Aouar.

Rabiot is going to real. Fernandes makes sense. We've been linked with eriksen as well. Aouar I keep seeing eulogised on these threads although I've not actually seen him yet.

 

[Canagel]

No passing CB in the club. Fred is the highest passer of the last games in the whole team and he's all rounder midfielder- not ssomeone to carry the burden of passing alone.
All the top clubs has at least one CB averaging 60+ passes every match and one CM averaging 70-80 passes.

 

[Scholsey2004]

There is of course another alternative. Sign alderweireld and another techically decent centre back like michael keane and a right wing back like trippier or wan bissaka and play a system more like spurs. All you need then is a blocker in midfield. Regista's are so hard to find that we could be looking for one for years.

 

[duffer]

Unfortunately nobody else in out midfield/defence can run the game to supplement Pogba. We need someone

a) Who can control the game.
b) Someone who can bring the ball out of the defence and recycle possession.
c) Someone who can switch flanks, good at occasional long pass and switching flanks etc.
d) Good defensive shield.

In a ideal situation we can find all of this in a single player, but that'd be difficult/pricey.

Which combination of CB/CM/DM would tick all the boxes above?

David Luiz is your man. £80 million.

 

[Yagami]

As far as CMs go:

Stefano Sensi of Sassuolo reminds me of Verratti. Not saying he's as good or will be, but he's very similar. Comes deep to pick the ball off the GK/CBs, excellent first time passer to get out of tricky situations, has a quick turn on him to avoid a pressing player, is very good defensively despite his size.

Andre Gomes is really good as a DLP, imo. Good passer with both feet, can carry the ball upfield, is very strong on the ball with excellent ball shielding ability so rarely gets dispossessed by a pressing opposition player. Problem is he's like Fellaini in that he's very slow off the mark so, if he's not next to someone like Gueye who can cover a lot of ground, it could be a problem.

Outside of the big clubs, I think Banega is still the best of the lot, but, at this point, it's probably not worth looking at him. Cazorla's still great, too, but, like Banega, that ship has sailed.

 

[jesperjaap]

 

[SteveJ]

David Luiz is your man. £80 million.

Unless you offer us £90 million, we won't take him.

 

[Tarrou]

Tonali looks too good for us

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Jorginho in midfield & De Ligt in defense.

Banega for a short term & cheaper option. However, I’m still having faith in Fred so we don’t need to spend much of penny for this role. He might not be Carrick or Alonso, but I think he can be the next Fernandinho.

 

[Pexbo]

David Luiz is your man. £80 million.

Bargain really considering you will buy him back for £100m

 

[Rozay]

Italy have a great bunch coming through and I think they would present a good place to find a player with top potential at good value.

They all have different strengths and weaknesses though, and not all are metronomic passers per se:

Barella - quite possibly my first choice central midfield signing. Not metronomic per se, but far more dynamic of your average midfielder of that type. Seeing what Herrera gives us, especially in big games, I think it would be a mistake to replace him with someone who is just good on the ball. Barella is like Saúl in style. He can tackle and cover a lot of ground. He can dribble and score goals, and pass the ball well. An all rounder, which I believe is what is needed for such a role.


Tonali - a young player, with a slight build but definitely a metronomic type from what I’ve seen. Off the ball he won’t go hunting it down and winning it back as much (although he’s tougher than he looks), but he will help control the ball in possession. With an aggressive and mobile DM behind him like Rice, he could be a good balancing option with Pogba. Great technical player, 6 or 8.

Pellegrini - slightly more offensive version of Barella, but with better technical ability and less aggression. Pellegrini has plenty of class on the ball, and is a great passer. He is more of an 8/10 hybrid than a 8/6.


Sensi - only seen one game of his, but read more and seen plenty clips. Broken into the full national team for Italy, and I’d go along with the description above of him being similar to Verratti from what I’ve seen. Box to box who is aggressive and can dribble with the ball. Good all-rounder.


Zaniolo - the jewel of Italian football at the moment. More of a 10 to me, but has the required physical abilities and drive to operate similarly to Kevin De Bruyne I think. Would again require the right sort of DM behind him who would do a lot of donkey work. But he’s not lazy, and is big and strong. Similar to Gerrard or KdB.

As I said, these players represent top value, and every single one can probably be signed for less than 50m (which would please the ‘why not sign both?’ brigade!). All have different merits, and Pellegrini, Tonali and Zaniolo in particular would require us to get a very strong DM behind them.

 

[sideshow_bob]

CM - Rabiot / Ruiz

DM - Rodrigo / Brozovic

CB - Koulibaly / Skriniar / Elvedi / Varane / Bartra / Herelle / Andersen / Romagnoli / Maguire

 

[Rocknrolla69er]

Italy have a great bunch coming through and I think they would present a good place to find a player with top potential at good value.

They all have different strengths and weaknesses though, and not all are metronomic passers per se:

Barella - quite possibly my first choice central midfield signing. Not metronomic per se, but far more dynamic of your average midfielder of that type. Seeing what Herrera gives us, especially in big games, I think it would be a mistake to replace him with someone who is just good on the ball. Barella is like Saúl in style. He can tackle and cover a lot of ground. He can dribble and score goals, and pass the ball well. An all rounder, which I believe is what is needed for such a role.


Tonali - a young player, with a slight build but definitely a metronomic type from what I’ve seen. Off the ball he won’t go hunting it down and winning it back as much (although he’s tougher than he looks), but he will help control the ball in possession. With an aggressive and mobile DM behind him like Rice, he could be a good balancing option with Pogba. Great technical player, 6 or 8.

Pellegrini - slightly more offensive version of Barella, but with better technical ability and less aggression. Pellegrini has plenty of class on the ball, and is a great passer. He is more of an 8/10 hybrid than a 8/6.


Sensi - only seen one game of his, but read more and seen plenty clips. Broken into the full national team for Italy, and I’d go along with the description above of him being similar to Verratti from what I’ve seen. Box to box who is aggressive and can dribble with the ball. Good all-rounder.


Zaniolo - the jewel of Italian football at the moment. More of a 10 to me, but has the required physical abilities and drive to operate similarly to Kevin De Bruyne I think. Would again require the right sort of DM behind him who would do a lot of donkey work. But he’s not lazy, and is big and strong. Similar to Gerrard or KdB.

As I said, these players represent top value, and every single one can probably be signed for less than 50m (which would please the ‘why not sign both?’ brigade!). All have different merits, and Pellegrini, Tonali and Zaniolo in particular would require us to get a very strong DM behind them.

Great post

Been watching abit of Barella myself and think out of all the above he d be perfect for the Herrera role, giving us abit more drive forward on the ball than Herrera used too. I suppose it depends on what system Ole prefers, as itd be interesting to see the more attack minded Tonali in that role too. I think Pellegrini and Zaniolo take up alot of similar positions that Pogba does so would get in each others way abit like Sanchez. I see abit of Scholes in Sensi with the satnav long passing and through balls, Sensi in a deep role would be a dream for Rashford and Martial but is he strong enough defensivley.

Barella all day long for me

 

[Jib]

Regardless, Pogba still needs to contribute in deeper areas and help with build up because he is fully capable and has the talent to do it. We do not need to "free him".

Eriksen, Modric, KDB etc aren't doing that but Pogba should do it because he's big and black, huh ?
Since we have this tall black midfielder, we shouldn't buy a decent DM and a ball-playing CB like the others big clubs, I'm right ?

 

[Mailo]

Eriksen, Modric, KDB etc aren't doijg that but Pogba should do it because he's big and black, huh ?

Wow - just wow.

 

[Jib]

Wow - just wow.

Not wow, but the harsh reality. It's sad. Pogba can't play higher on the pitch because he's black for a lot of people here.
They don't want to look for a ball-playing CB or a DLP. For them, Pogba is here, we should play him there and buy an average white AM like Isco or Bruno Fernandes and we are all good...

 

[giorno]

Eriksen, Modric, KDB etc aren't doing that but Pogba should do it because he's big and black, huh ?
Since we have this tall black midfielder, we shouldn't buy a decent DM and a ball-playing CB like the others big clubs, I'm right ?

Have you actually EVER seen any of those guys play?

Also waaaay to misunderstand what he said

 

[Jib]

Have you actually EVER seen any of those guys play?

Also waaaay to misunderstand what he said

They hardly ever played in a midfield 2 and when they play in a midfield 2, their task isn't to be the passer from the deep.
Haye you actually EVER seen any of those guys play ?
What an awful post

 

[giorno]

They hardly ever played in a midfield 2.
Haye you actually EVER seen any of those guys play ?

Pogba hardly ever played in a midfield 2 either, except early on for France.

And unless i missed something, nobody was suggesting he should be deployed as a DM

Btw: all of those guys could absolutely play in a midfield 2, and have in fact. The fit is about players and role, not formation