Miguel Veloso...there's a blast from the past. Didn't know how good he actually was, but always looked smooth and classy on the ball.
He was good that season, too, but I just loved watching Amrabat play.
The reason they worked so well together is because, along with them both having a great understanding of where to be on the pitch in correlation to one another, they brought different things to the table.
Both could drop deep (and both preferred to) and, when one did, the other knew where to position himself to further forwards. Veloso was the passer and was a threat with his long shots whereas Amrabat was the ball carrier. The player you could pass to and trust to shield the ball under pressure and carry it upfield. He was fine dribbling and pulling off a la pelopina in his own box like a Verratti for example.
Thing is, at Fiorentina, his manager there didn't like that and made him change his game. He became less a ball carrier and less prone to holding onto the ball with the preference being changed to passing like Veloso.
Personally, I thought he was at his best at Verona where Juric - his manager there - gave him the freedom to carry the ball and whatnot. Their relationship was a big reason for Amrabat's impressive season as he gives Juric a lot of credit for placing so much trust in him. I'm hoping ten Hag allows the same freedom because his game at Verona was similar to how ten Hag used de Jong at Ajax, but we may not see that due to how he's been coached these last few seasons.
