Any new CM talents emerging?

[Sarni]

I meant to say Lazio, thanks. How is saying Asamoah's been linked to us a fallacy?

Lazio aren't top either, Juventus are.

Lazio have Hernanes by the way, he has been linked with us but I think it was before he moved there. Apparently very good.

 

[davisjw]

How did ronaldo contribut to the strength of our midfielf??? The rest of the midfield provided him a base to go do his stuff. I am by no means criticising him but he never tracked back, he never got stuck in, he made few direct assissts and he hardly ever passed the ball. Therefore he can not be considered a midfielder.

Granted….its easier for midfielders when you have a player like that in your side because he was the best. He terrified teams and created space for others as he drew defenders towards him. But all of that is totally irrelevant as we are talking about central midfield are we not?

As a midfielder he drove the offense. And as a midfielder, due to his skill on the ball, he was able to take pressure off the midfield by holding onto the ball longer and making passes.

Defensively he was always crap, but as a midfielder he was never asked to come back. He was asked to stay forward a bit, take the ball and relieve pressure.

We don't have anyone in our midfield who can relieve pressure. No one except for Cleverly wants to hold onto the ball.

 

[KingMinger22]

City's midfield is comfortably better than ours. De Jong is as good a defensive midfielder as Carrick, Toure is better than anyone we have in midfield, Silva is a class apart and Nasri would have been a huge improvement for us in the Summer - everyone agreed on that when we were interested.

Chelsea's midfield is slightly better than ours too. Mata offers a lot of creativity, Lampard has been good lately, Mikel is a decent defensive midfielder and Ramires is at least as good as Anderson.

Arsenal's midfield is better. Wilshere is comfortably better than anyone we have, Ramsey is every bit as good as the likes of Anderson and Cleverley if not better, Arteta has been a good PL player for years and Song is a very solid defensive midfielder, about Carrick's level as well.

Liverpool's midfield I'm not sure about. Adam is a good creative player, Lucas is a solid defensive midfielder and Henderson hasn't looked that bad but I feel they were better last season with Meireles instead of him. Still, Gerrard when in form is better than anyone we currently have so they might edge it there.

Then there's Tottenham that you didn't mention - and they have a much, much better midfield than us, not even a question.

I'd rate our midfield as 5th or 6th in the league, depending on where I put Liverpool.

Agreed. I would put Lpools above ours to be honest.


The amount of mediocre teams that our play us in midfield is shocking.

Arsenal have two youngsters who I would love to have in our MF in Wilshere (future superstar IMO) and Ramsay.

In the last three years a sickening amount of top quality talent has moved to our rivals.

 

[Devil may care]

As a midfielder he drove the offense. And as a midfielder, due to his skill on the ball, he was able to take pressure off the midfield by holding onto the ball longer and making passes.

Defensively he was always crap, but as a midfielder he was never asked to come back. He was asked to stay forward a bit, take the ball and relieve pressure.

We don't have anyone in our midfield who can relieve pressure. No one except for Cleverly wants to hold onto the ball.

I think another factor was oppostition midfields didn't push up on our midfield as much when we had Ronaldo as teams were scared of leaving too much space for him to run at their back 4, so as a rule teams played deeper agaisnt us than they have done the last two seasons.

 

[Name Changed]

If we do win the league (which I doubt we will), it will be because of our defence and forwards, as it usually is. All our midfielders when on form are excellent. But they don't perform consistently at that level anymore for whatever reason. We certainly lack in talent when compared to the other top PL teams.

 

[mu77]

How did ronaldo contribut to the strength of our midfielf??? The rest of the midfield provided him a base to go do his stuff. I am by no means criticising him but he never tracked back, he never got stuck in, he made few direct assissts and he hardly ever passed the ball. Therefore he can not be considered a midfielder.

Granted….its easier for midfielders when you have a player like that in your side because he was the best. He terrified teams and created space for others as he drew defenders towards him. But all of that is totally irrelevant as we are talking about central midfield are we not?

if you had the ball at your feet and needed to pick a pass what an out ball choice you had with CR on your side. space is what every ctr mid wants and he provided that in spades. don't be fooled by his miss in any side. from defenders to forwards -he made everything easier going forward - n at the back , would you dare to attack his side for fear of the counter.

 

[ben_foster]

It's a stupid argument.



Man City's midfield is better than ours by far. Madrid have a better midfield. Many teams do. feck it, Tottenham do. Our midfield is a good one, it's not horrible. But is it too much to ask it be improved? Cleverley is our best midfielder. I think that says a lot. I think Sarni's post says it all.



Ronaldo's mere presence on the field held back the winger and full back, giving our midfield more space. He was a brilliant outlet for Carrick's deep balls (no homo). He could kill you on the break if you played a high line, so all except the biggest teams would play deep, offering our midfield more time and space. It's fair to say he covered the midfield's deficiencies, which are becoming exposed now he is gone. Scholes' retirement doesn't help matters either.

agreed and exactly what i said.

when we are talking about midfields i am talking about central midfeld as that is the area most commonly criticised. so when you compare city's midfield and include silva and nasri and also mata in chelseas midfield then yu have to look at the whole picture.......we have rooney who plays a similar role to silva....we also have nani, young and valencia.......so i maintain.....i would much prefer our midfield over our rivals....

dont get me wrong....id have silva, nasri and wilshire in a heart beat but as overall collection of mdfielders i wouldnt swap our for any other midfield in world football other than barca.

somebody made the point that centrally its not as strong as united midfields of years gone by....and nobody would dispute that. but keane and robson where two of the best midfielder the club as ever had. scholes is one of the best passers of the ball the club as had. giggs is giggs, even ince was superb for us. so against those mdfields our current centre midfield isnt as good. but to say its medicore is just fecking thick

 

[Gambit]

Kein Prince Boateng, who knew.

 

[cesc's_mullet]

'Arry, apparently?