Still it was a mistake that if it didn't happened then the chance would, have most probably, fizzled into nothing. Most penalties are like that.
I also feel that the we're going into circles so let's try and wrap this up. You think that a defence made up of two defensive full backs that create almost nothing when going forward + Fred and McT in midfield & James is creative. What I see on the pitch, the stats and the many fans who are begging Ole to play Pogba & Greenwood and for us to buy Sancho don't.
Or Pogba could have picked someone out in the box? We don't know and nor did Dier. All he knew is a very attacking phase of play was happening and he needed to stop it. He did a bad job of stopping it.
I have never said I think it is creative nor has
@UNITED ACADEMY. Equally you clearly aren't watching the amount of times in a game Shaw is on the overlap or AWB is attempting to go forward too. But it's very hard to create against a deep block every manager complains about it Klopp, Pep etc numerous interviews bemoaning the deep block. The issue throughout the season has consistently been that our BEST creative players aren't on the pitch due to injury. That's a huge difference to saying the team is inherently defensive.
I won't speak for UA but there is a massive difference between accepting McTominay and Fred have offensive and creative abilities at a level below Pogba and Bruno and calling them defensive players. They are not pure defensive players. They are box to box. Both offensive and defensive. Daniel James is also an offensive player. He's built for counter attacking and is our top assist recorder in the PL this season. He's not the most creative but that's never been his function.
I would love us to play one of two set ups:
McT Pogba
Greenwood Bruno Rashford
Martial
Matic
Bruno Pogba
Greenwood Martial Rashford
But those set ups required players that we either didn't have at the start of the season (Bruno) or have been injured for significant chunks (Pogba). I am not sure what you expected Ole to do without his best midfielder and without a player like Bruno until January but I think the fact we've come close with the injuries we've had is admirable.
On a side note the fact you've managed to get
@UNITED ACADEMY and myself to agree on something just shows how far down the path you've gone on this one.
I'll give you City but Leicester? Tielemans - Ndidi - Maddison - if anything that's more 'defensive' that Bruno-McT-Fred since Ndidi is a holding player.
Have you watched Tielemans and Maddison play much? The inclusion of Ndidi allows them much more offensive freedom. I am not assuming a midfield of Bruno, McT, Fred I'm comparing to Pogba, Bruno and Matic or Pogba, Bruno and McT.
I actually think the Leicester midfield is the closest example of what ours will end up mirroring if we play Matic. Hear me out.
Per 90 across all comps (needed for enough data).
If you look at the data you can see Maddison and Tielemans are inherently more creative. I think they are BTEC versions of Bruno and Pogba. Ndidi is clearly a more proactive DM than Matic, but Matic shows more on the ball skill.
Player | Minutes | Goals | Assists | Shots | Key Passes | Pass % | Long Balls | Dribbles | Aerials Won | Interceptions | Tackles | Dribbled Past |
Ndidi | 1982 | 0 | 0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 83.8 | 2.7 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 1.4 |
Matic | 1363 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 84.7 | 2.5 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.9 | 1 |
Tielemans | 2230 | 5 | 5 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 82.3 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
Pogba (not much data) | 548 | 0 | 2 | 1.9 | 2 | 83.3 | 5.5 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 0.8 |
Maddison | 2747 | 10 | 4 | 2.3 | 2.6 | 83.3 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 2 | 1.3 |
Bruno (Includes NOS for sufficient data) | 2700 | 17 | 14 | 3.8 | 3 | 75.6 | 3.5 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 2 | 1.5 |