Central Midfield is The Problem

Waz afcb said:
Agree. But he does have the ability to pick the ball deep and drive forward with it, but again that relies on teams playing a high line against us. Most have worked our system out.
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It also relies on individual brilliance from one or more of our players to work. That’s just not sustainable.

I do get the argument that if the fab 4 perform we can and have blown teams away. It just seems a case of crossing our fingers and hoping for the best rather than any level of finesse.
 
Tinpot Club said:
It also relies on individual brilliance from one or more of our players to work. That’s just not sustainable.

I do get the argument that if the fab 4 perform we can and have blown teams away. It just seems a case of crossing our fingers and hoping for the best rather than any level of finesse.
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Another issue with the system is that is relies heavily on King and Wilson to hold the ball up, when they’re off their game we find ourself under spells of extended pressure due to lack of bodies in the middle. It often feels like we have less players on the pitch than the opposition.
 
Well, the other obvious problem is that when you fall behind due to an unnecessary, stupid penalty, the whole system of a team like Fulham changes and it becomes very frustrating and difficult to break through.
How many times have we fallen behind to weaker teams only to end up ramming our heads against a closed gate?
 
Eddie's midfield mystery....

Why hasn't he strengthened in midfield when it's been blindingly obvious we need quality recruitment??

Maybe ... he's stubborn Eddie, committed to his present tactics of speedy breakaways that slice straight through the middle third. If so, he's running a high risk and has been caught out weekly by opposition with competent defences that contain our thin approach work.

OR, maybe... he's tried to bring in quality players of the sort often canvassed on this board .... Hughes, Allen, Cairney etc. And maybe they turned us down. I prefer this explanation because if he's not bid for decent CMs there's a serious fault in his approach and we dare not start 2019-20 with the same, unbalanced squad.

Why doesn't Eddie strengthen midfield when we have on-pitch injuries or loss of form. Gawd - there's no midfielder on the bench ... we've got nothing there.
 
As previously said, wish people would stop blaming Gosling for these shocking performances!

Where’s the £50m England international striker?
Where’s the winger that at the minute looks like he thinks he’s too good for us?
Where’s the Welsh player of the year and PFA young player of the year nominee?
Where’s the World Cup quarter finalist central midfielder?

Gosling isn’t meant to be starting games 4 years into the Prem however we find ourselves in this situation, not Dan’s fault! All the players above have much more natural ability than Gosling however go into hiding much more than him!

At least when the tough gets going he looks like he’s still giving 100%

Eddie certainly needs to bring some players back down to earth quickly since far too many players are going through the motions at the minute and it’s clear the see that central midfield is a problem tactically. Personnel wise their doing all they can!
 
IMHO 4-4-2 is not outdated. In addition, this seems to be the only formation that most footballers understand!

The classic 4-4-2 involves 2 ball winners in midfield and 2 out and out wingers.

If we are to persist with that formation, I would like to see us push the boat out and try and sign a dominant classy midfielder such as Jonjo Shelvey. Having said that though, Brooks is a clearly a talent - but for me is not a right winger, so would not appear to slot into such a classic 4-4-2 formation?

Our team has been ravaged by injuries this season so we may not have had the chance to see our best team in action.

For me our best team would be Ake, Cook and Mepham as a back three, Wee Man left wing and Adam Smith on the right, Lerma and Lewis Cook in the middle with Brooks either given free role or playing behind Wilson and King up front.

What a team!, although highly unlikely to be tried due to likely summer transfer activity and also because EH knows a lot more about team selection than me!

UTCIAD
 
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