MadDogg
Full Member
Seriously?My point is simply this. The second deep midfield does not have to be defensive oriented. Let alone very exceptional defensively. Jorginho is no different from a Pogba defensively in my book. The one thing that improved at Chelsea was the defence, not the midfield. That took them from what they looked like under lampard to UCL Champs. Our biggest issue has been being forced to use 2 more defensive oriented players in Midfield because of our defence. No amount of importing better midfielders will change that till the defence issue is solved.
I mean, just by the eye test I don't know how you can say that. Jorginho does a shitload of defensive work. And then when you look at the stats Jorginho is miles ahead of him. When I did my big midfield stat thread midway through last season Jorginho had the 4th most successful defensive stats out of the 27 midfielders I checked in the league, behind only Ndidi, Kante and Fred. Meanwhile Pogba was 22nd out of those 27 midfielders. Looking at the stats from the end of the season Jorginho is above the 70th percentile in pretty much every aspect, with some as high as 95th (successful pressures and interceptions). Meanwhile Pogba is significantly below average, sitting from 16th-40th percentile with all his defensive stats (although that's not perfect as it includes the games he played on the wing).
Improving our defence is one aspect which will obviously make a big difference, but it won't allow us to suddenly play a defensively poor central midfielder as well as two defensively lazy wingers. Both central midfielders need to be solid defensively. That doesn't mean they are defensive midfielders. But they have to do their fair share.