I hear so many people who have been brainwashed by Goldbridge say "We play McFred to protect that centre back pairing". And that is typically followed with "we need one player who can do the job of both midfielder" and that usually leads to a discussion about Declan Rice being that guy. Then throw in "Maguire and Lindelof are too slow' and we have the full trifecta of Goldbridges' agenda brainwashed into the mind of the weak...ugh
Here's the thing....these same people will usually claim Bailly is our best central defender but Ole doesn't trust him because he's injury prone. No doubt he is injury prone, but I don't think that's why Ole doesn't trust him. Positionally Lindelof and maguire are just better. Bailly is an exciting player. He will throw his body at just about anything and makes some big tackles. The thing is, while Bailly is quick to react and throw his body on the line, Magure and Lindelof are already in that position.
"But Maguire and Lindelof are too slow"....ugh....speed is soooo overrated as a central defender, especially in todays game where strikers are typically target men, not speed merchants. The speed merchants are on the wings, and that's our FB's guy to mark. Slow FB's would definitely be a huge problem. I can also count on one hand the amount of times that speed (or lack there of) has cost us a goal. And before anyone says "Tottenham last year", that wasn't caused because of speed. It was caused because Maguire got caught flat footed. A mistake that rarely happens with him (and De Gea should have saved anyways).
But i get it. People want us to play like City (I just threw up a little). And they say "we sit too deep with Maguire and Lindelof but play higher up the pitch with Bailly or Tuanzebe"...For this I call BS. We don't play any higher or lower. Magure and Lindelof are constantly in our opponents half with a good 60 yards between them and our goal. So how much higher do you want them to play? Again, more of Goldbridge's brainwashing.
The other thing is, people seem to think that if we got Declan Rice all of a sudden we'd be playing a 4-3-3 instead of a 4-2-3-1. Questiion? What formation do West Ham play? That's right, a 4-2-3-1 with Soucek along side Rice.
But let's pretend for a second that Rice came in the summer and Ole did switch to a 4-3-3. What does he now do with Bruno? Hate to break it to you folks, but Bruno is NOT a #8. He is a #10. Perhaps he can be taught to be a little more disciplined, but as it is now, he's basically in a free role. that's why we see him chasing down central defenders. You can't have a #8 doing that. it would put everyone out of position. So if we are now playing that 4-3-3 I guess Bruno plays on the wing?
Bottom line is that while I would like an upgrade on Lindelof, their partnership is actually pretty damn good. look at our games vs the big 6 this year. We have allowed 2 goals against with maguire/lindelof partnership and that includes shutting down the best offense in the league not once, but twice. But what about the 6-1 loss to Tottenham you ask? You better check to see who Maguire's partner was for that one...
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