I disagree. A PL proven player is much more vital. He’s already used to the physicality and tempo of our league. I think he’d do even better in a better team.
Quick one then, Bruno or Maddison in Jan 2020...?
60m is definitely lot, might take him for 50m though. But he’s an upgrade in my opinion. He offers something we don’t have.
Fred / Mctomminay can't hold the midfield on their own in the shape of a 4-3-3 Rice can. He offers more defensive discipline and maturity and the biggest contributor is (potentially) we can finally go into games with two advanced 8's offering the team more of a presence in possession of the midfield. Rice opens doors tactically, if the managers intention is to play a double pivot however as a preference, we are better off looking elsewhere.
Yeah we won’t be doing that.
On what basis ? remember Ole reverted to a double pivot because of the lack of options in the midfield it was circumstantial.
Bruno resembles nothing like those 3 though, and Bruno will play.
You know West Ham have been shit most of the time besides this season. Not sure why we would want to sign players that look good in poor teams. Fred and Scott are playing for Man Utd and that means it's just different to any other team in the PL. The level of expectation is just different which means it comes with a different set of expectations. Ask Harry what that feels like....
What makes you think that way? Before when Pellegrini was still manager, Pellegrini his former manager made statement that he’s a holding midfielder. ‘’So I think that is a player that – I can’t say he will have a brilliant future – but he is pressing and at this moment he is the best holding midfielder of England.”
He is a holding midfielder no question but he will still need support defensively off the ball or we'll get over-run in midfield if we play with two advanced #8s like some have suggested similarly to how Man City have played under Guardiola at times in the last few years.
Our biggest asset is...? And who can afford to buy it?
Don‘t you think we have too many box to box already like McT with VDB is considered as creative box to box?
I think we have quantity rather than quality hence it affects our ability to transition play effectively. If Ole sees VdB as that player then I will sit back and be patient and see how things work out because in the long-term it might suit us better with Hannibal Mejbri potentially being a viable candidate for the role. But if I'm honest, I'm happy with Fred being our DM for now rather than spending huge money on Rice which I feel could be better spent in other positions in a market affected by Covid.
Pogba but yeah the problem is finding a buyer in a market so decimated by COVID
I'm actually confused about what is your view on choosing creative box to box over holding midfielder whether it's for short or long term. In my opinion, based on this season's progress so far, we should be looking for to improve our current squad to go toe to toe in the league against Liverpool with VVD fit & Man City. And based on the current squad, what we don't have is holding midfielder because Matic is no longer good enough at his age.
There is no doubt that Fred is capable of showing that energy and legs in the midfield but still feel we need a proper CDM alongside him, however you make a very good point about needing to consider whether we need to spend the money in the other areas of priority. I find myself keep changing my mind on which is the most important positions to address in the summer so this is certainly a very tricky but important decision to make.
You could be right and a DM with good positional and line breaking ability could be what this team needs. But I'm not sure Fred and McTominay would improve our build up play in the #8 role to the requisite level to challenge for the top honours.I'm actually confused about what is your view on choosing creative box to box over holding midfielder whether it's for short or long term. In my opinion, based on this season's progress so far, we should be looking for to improve our current squad to go toe to toe in the league against Liverpool with VVD fit & Man City. And based on the current squad, what we don't have is holding midfielder because Matic is no longer good enough at his age.
Box to box is a hard-working with good all-round abilities, they are capable to tracking back to make tackles and blocks and also carry the ball forward or run to the opponents box to try to score. That's basically McTominay especially what he has shown against Leeds United. VDB is also in the category which shown the stats below (7 goals and 3 assists in 18 games as box to box in 19/20). While Fred is more of a CM, he doesn't offer end product but he offers passing through the line from deep area, energy to press and defensively very good & discipline but he has big weakness with his composure when making passes and defending a one on one situation to let players dribble past through him with physical strength and dribbling ability.
In my opinion a holding midfielder who has composure on the ball and can defend one on one situation without conceded fouls too often will be able to get the best out of Fred, McT & VDB.
Football is about playing from the back nowdays means two ball playing centre back are needed and also part of their role to provide the incisive line breaking passes from a deeper role. Fred is also underrated in this aspect due to his erratic play that tends to give the ball away but when the passes were on, he always aim to play the incisive line breaking passes.
To put things into perspective, with respect to Bruno, who says Maddison couldn’t have had the same impact with us?
Yeah I have to admit it does feel like a lot and perhaps need to look at the european market for someone instead
We are not going to all of a sudden change to 433. Secondly, if we were to go with that formation, you get a deep lying playmaker. Rice is not that.
He’s not. Secondly, we play 2 because our central defenders get exposed by full backs constantly being high up the pitch. Rice isn’t going to change that.
We play to because none of them is a proper CDM, with the required instincts and tactical nous. Fred will run his guts out and cut so many balls, win tackles, but will get bypasses with a single touch and you find attackers running directly at out CBs unopposed, same with McT. That's why I feel a top CDM is vital for us going forward.
Bruno is a proper number 10, I don’t see any way that we’re gonna be playing with a single defensive midfielder and a number 10.
Matic is a proper CDM. We’ve never played with a single pivot with him. Rice isn’t going to make a difference with the defence - that exists because the personnel we have are too slow so need protecting. Rice would just cause another problem with unadventurous/slow passing from midfield.
We can imo, a CDM like Rice, Bruno, and a B2B balanced midfielder who can contribute in attack and play his part in defense. I have criticized Pogba in the past, but in the last couple of matches I've been surprised by his application and he has played very well as that second B2B midfielder. I also think Donny can play in that role, he was very good in the CL when he got employed deeper against the Turkish side.
Matic is a proper CDM who is long past his best, if we had the 26 year old Matic in our squad, we won't be talking about needing another CDM. Maguire isn't the only slow CB in the league and it really isn't the problem regarding our defense and defensive shape, even with both Fred and McT we tend to get exposed down the middle very often.
