Frenkie De Jong - Part 3?

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Berbaclass said:
Can you play Frenkie de Jong as a lone #6? Erik Ten Hag in 2019: "He leaves the middle of the pitch too often for that. And if you don’t give him the freedom to go forward, you won’t get the best out of his game."
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‘Lone’ being the operative word. There are many types of sixes, you have the Makeleles and the Pirlos, and various shades in between.
 
InfiniteBoredom said:
‘Lone’ being the operative word. There are many types of sixes, you have the Makeleles and the Pirlos, and various shades in between.
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He isn't a defensive midfielder or a "sitting midfielder" like Pirlo or Makelele he's far more of a combination of 8/10 than he is a 6. He's an entirely different profile to that of a #6. Just because he likes to come deep to receive the ball doesn't make him a 6
 
Rozay said:
I think I’d like that midfield as it would be an 8.5 instead of a pure 10, which should theoretically help us dominate games more. Mainoo, De Jong and say, Onana should be a dominant midfield in a similar mould to Modric, Kroos and Casemiro.
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That’s how I’d ideally see our midfield shaping up long term. I think Fernandes should realistically have a shelf life of another 18-24 months. Once he’s gone, the flexibility to change the midfield to more of one to control possession becomes a lot more desirable.
 
if the board are reported to be clamping down on ETH's control over transfers, and rightly so, it would be a pretty big sign of support for him if they went after his number 1 target from last season. I don't see this move happening. I'd welcome it, think he's the type of player we need, I can't see the board sanctioning it.
 
Mainoo - Bruno - FDJ doesn't work so well for me. We'd need to swap Bruno out for a far more disciplined player I think.
 
Berbaclass said:
He isn't a defensive midfielder or a "sitting midfielder" like Pirlo or Makelele he's far more of a combination of 8/10 than he is a 6. He's an entirely different profile to that of a #6. Just because he likes to come deep to receive the ball doesn't make him a 6
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Him getting better at Barca after replacing Busquets in the line up contradicts this point. What exactly is the profile of a 6 anyway? Pirlo is as far away from Makelele as a player you can find. It’s more about the profile of the player you have and what complements him, rather than the myopic idea that specific position can only accommodate specific type of player, or require specific skill set.

You seem to think being a 6 is synonymous with defensive duties, when there are plenty of example to counter the point. De Jong operates best from deep, both for club and NT, and he’s pretty underwhelming when he has another player occupy that same zone, that’s a 6 in my book, the fact that he likes and is good at getting forward with his runs doesn’t detract from the idea, or was Beckenbauer not a CB because he also liked to bring the ball forward?
 
OleGunnar20 said:
Mainoo - Bruno - FDJ doesn't work so well for me. We'd need to swap Bruno out for a far more disciplined player I think.
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I agree, you would need to get rid of Bruno and sign a DM, I think that would be a good idea. I really want us to move away from 4231 and go to 433.
 
poleglass red said:
if the board are reported to be clamping down on ETH's control over transfers, and rightly so, it would be a pretty big sign of support for him if they went after his number 1 target from last season. I don't see this move happening. I'd welcome it, think he's the type of player we need, I can't see the board sanctioning it.
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I’m sure a lot more people than Ten Hag think De Jong is a top footballer. Going for him if he were available wouldn’t mean anything. If we didn’t sign him, another top club would.
 
Hopefully he wants to leave and Barcelona can sell him. He defends less than my grandmother in a wheelchair. He is also very slow in the construction of the game, which gives the opposing team time for the defensive transition.
 
On a serious note, if we go in for him again then we’ve learnt nothing post Woodward circus.

Having said that, it wouldn’t surprise me if we ended up with De Jong and De Ligt this summer.
 
InfiniteBoredom said:
Him getting better at Barca after replacing Busquets in the line up contradicts this point. What exactly is the profile of a 6 anyway? Pirlo is as far away from Makelele as a player you can find. It’s more about the profile of the player you have and what complements him, rather than the myopic idea that specific position can only accommodate specific type of player, or require specific skill set.

You seem to think being a 6 is synonymous with defensive duties, when there are plenty of example to counter the point. De Jong operates best from deep, both for club and NT, and he’s pretty underwhelming when he has another player occupy that same zone, that’s a 6 in my book, the fact that he likes and is good at getting forward with his runs doesn’t detract from the idea, or was Beckenbauer not a CB because he also liked to bring the ball forward?
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Agree to disagree. Frenkie is more of a #8 or BTB midfielder than he is a 6. If you don't agree that's fine. I have no desire to labour over that point further.
 
Oh no, not this again!

....although, even though we're all pleased at the progress of Mainoo we still do struggle to really dominate teams in terms of possession and retaining the ball.
 
Absolutely not. He is not the profile of midfielder we need and he will want an astronomical salary on top.
 
FDJ
Ball Winner/Physical CM- Mainoo

This would definitely work.
 
Irrational. said:
On a serious note, if we go in for him again then we’ve learnt nothing post Woodward circus.

Having said that, it wouldn’t surprise me if we ended up with De Jong and De Ligt this summer.
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Why?

I never understand why fans act like as soon as we want to sign a player who is recognised as a very good footballer, we have somehow betrayed our values. Would it help if De Jong was a bit more shit or something to make it feel a bit more ‘us’?

Ultimately, we shouldn’t be signing him if he doesn’t want to come (which is kind of impossible anyway), nor should we pay him more than we can afford to (almost similarly impossible), but provided he is happy to make the move and we are happy to have him and the numbers work, why is signing top players seen as so terrible? Or is the working theory here that we’ve been pursuing De Jong for ‘marketing reasons’ due to his good looks or something, and not because of his footballing capabilities?
 
Those saying no because we have Mainoo are bonkers. Do you actually want the club to ever compete for the CL and PL again?
 
Mainoo is 18 years old, I really don't think it's a terrible idea to buy a world class player in their prime if the option becomes available. At the very least it takes some of the pressure off Kobbie which he probably needs at this point.
 
Why part 3? Was he really seen as a target last summer?
 
AndySmith1990 said:
Those saying no because we have Mainoo are bonkers. Do you actually want the club to ever compete for the CL and PL again?
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We got KDB why do we need Rodri?!

I imagine is how it would go if we were City fans.

or!!

We can get Rodri he can be the back up (CAFS favourite words) to KDB!
 
At least I hope there is some indication he is willing to come. It would be so us to waste all summer pursuing a player who doesn't want to come or leave his current club at the expense of spending the budget on another player or position. At the time we decide to move on plan B and C are gone and we are left with plan D.
 
*checks name of OP*
*already knows the sources will be shite*
*goes back to peeling the dry skin off his back*
 
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