I think the intended set-up is fine(having 2 #8s in front a #6), but I don't like Casemiro as the deepest midfielder during build-up phases and I actually think he's the biggest problem in this set-up.
I'm surprised Ten Hag thinks he's fine for the role.
Well you are right. But it would take somebody like prime Kante to make it work. Though as
@glazed mentioned, even he would struggle and functioned best when paired with a deeper midfielder like Jorginho who had some defensive ability too go with his top level passing ability. We have neither.
Even if we had the best DM around that could cover ground amazingly well, Bruno and Mount is just a bad balance ahead of that. We should have found a go between that could supplement Casemiro and Bruno. In my opinion Caicedo was that man.
A key piece of context here (which I don't have the answer to) is why this shift towards that particular set-up is suddenly taking place?
It's clearly not a coincidence that all these managers have decided to move towards these double AM systems at the same time, they're obviously responding to tactical shifts in the game, but without knowing how costly it would/wouldn't be for us not to follow suit it's hard to judge the wisdom of wanting to move us in that direction too.
Because in isolation this isn't what I would have thought the obvious set-up for our team in particular would be, but clearly something is prompting managers to think this is the solution du jour.
It's interesting but I think it's largely trying to copy City. I think City have done it to help beat teams that pack the back line as it allows more options to rotate across the front, different runners in behind and to play between the lines with more option.
The issue is that City have defenders that have more class on the ball than our better players. John Stones played us off the park in the FA Cup final when he stepped into midfield. Their defenders are essentially their deep playmakers. Arsenal might make it work because their team is far better in possession and under pressure. Us however, its just not suitable for our players. I had hoped ETH would have more of an affect on improving us in possession, but that hasn't been the case really, not to a good enough extent.
A midfield of enzo Caicedo & Lavia would destroy this lot. Hopefully we get our shit together somehow.
Unfortunately I think that's inevitable now, we simply aren't going to buy a new midfield anytime soon.