Yes but he isn't that good at defending either. He gets back ok, he just seems to start daydreaming once he's there.
Can't remember any real brainfreezes, to be honest.
I think we need to stop using this diamond midfield thing as it doesn't seem to suit any of our midfielders. Mctominay is left isolated, Pereira and Pogba seem to drift too far wide and struggle to make an impact...I'm not even sure what Sanchez was supposed to be doing.
It was little different when we had Mata, Matic, Herrera etc. as part of the same system.
Yeah, works fine with our first team, as you say, but with less disciplined midfielders coming in, it it naturally won't be as effective. Although, how did you figure that we were playing a diamond? Definitely seemed like a standard 433 to me, with Sanchez and Rom on the wings initially.
If it's going to be four in midfield I think you need Pogba as the furthest advanced, and the two wider midfielders need to be a lot less wide than they currently are. We struggle for options on the ball and end up sat very deep when we don't have it because there's no one there to stop opposition players advancing through the middle with the ball.
I actually thought the players performed really well for the most part yesterday, but they were clearly struggling with the system, particularly in the first half. Second half we seemed to tweak something because Pogba and Pereira were popping up in much more useful areas.
I think Pogba could work fine as the LCM in the diamond, provided a well-drilled structure is there. Agreed regarding the midfielders needing to tuck in more. I think the main issue was that both Pogba and Pereira were playing similar roles of a a kind of roaming playmaker, but what was needed was for one of them to sit as a true #8 when the other floated to ensure the centre of the pitch remained compact, which wasn't happening initially. Personally, I don't even think that it's too different from our usual 433, as long as the two of the three advanced players help to defend the wide positions when tracking back. Yeah, definitely seemed like we switched to more of a 4231 in the second half, with Pereira playing in the hole.
Hang on, if Scott McTom isn't any good at defending, what the heck is he in the team for?
Is tackling etc not defending?
He certainly isn't any sort of creative force or ball player.
He's alright when it comes to tackling, but his positioning needs work. I'm not exactly a fan by any means, but there aren't many other options right now.