I don't think it's as far-fetched as some people are making out, sadly people want shop-bought answers which they see work in other teams or what looks great in a video game.
Most people wouldn't realize:
- Pep during his playing time was a RW, converted into a very good DM by Cryuff (this is why I believe Pep tinkers so much as a manager).
- Gareth Barry went from LB to DM
- Pirlo went from CAM to DM
- Matic went from CAM to DM
Outside of DM's, we've seen Bale, Giggs, Henry so many more, it's not unusual in football to reposition and you never know until you try.
Our fanbase is one of the worst at letting our gaffer try things as witnessed by some of the responses you've been getting, people believe you buy big for every position. Some people believe right now that Rice is an upgrade on Scot Mctominay and they are going to be in for a rude awakening if that was to ever happen.
There are on-the-ball arguments for Lindeloff in midfield, however, he makes me nervous when he's pressured physically - but I would love to see Ole try him there for a few games cause his passing is truly up there IMO.
(I have copied this part of my response from another thread)
Everyone would probably disagree with me here, but, before Varane the only other CB I watched get pressed and deal with it is Bailly. Now admittedly he gives me a heart attack doing so, with the chest controls, stepovers, and ball rolls. But he does deal with the press well albeit it's high risk (Ndombele for Spurs is one of the most press resistant players I've seen live and I see similarities with how he and Bailly deal with the press). Defensively Bailly is tenacious enough (he engages opposition very similar to Ndidi, Bailly would never have suffered Fred's fate with Trincao and Adama) but the issue would be can he learn the discipline in that role. He would be a water carrier at best admittedly, and really be only there to recover and distribute (5 - 15 yard passes), I can imagine after a few games - if successfully identified by opposition coaches as press resistant he could be the one opposition allow time on the ball - as they mark his passing options and lanes, as they will see his limited passing range as a non-threat, that's when marauding runs by Maguire and passing range of Varane could be utilized; I suppose Bailly would have to improve on his range as well. This is all conjecture and guesswork (like any brand new signing) and I'm not saying it would work but we certainly have a squad to experiment.
I believe our current CB pairing would be forgiving enough to an experiment of Lindeloff or Bailly, I mean it forgave that unfortunate performance by Fred.
Does our fanbase have the patience to allow experimentation? Does our manager have the courage? (I'm fiercely Ole in btw, always have been).
The top managers try things, the problem is our fanbase, doesn't give our manager the time to try things in-game, it's really disappointing. A lot of the other managers can try what they want, if it's not a success it's not an indictment of the manager and their fanbase doesn't go into public meltdown online.
- I've seen Pep, play Fernandinho CB and Gundogan false nine.
- Klopp has played Milner full-back and midfield
- I'm still not entirely sure what role Chilwell was doing in that Madrid second leg last season but it was genius by Tuchel.
- I've seen Oshea and the Da Silva twins in our midfield back in the day by SAF.
- https://ibb.co/b71nNTf
I wish we had more open-mindedness in our fanbase and for them to put down the video games; forget the player ratings they see on FIFA; calm down on the petulance; visit a match and some youth games and recognize these things are normal in football.
No squad is ever perfect, but our squad is pretty close to it (especially with Ronaldo).
This season is where I hope Ole proves me right, that he is the man for the job.
He should just ignore the fanbase and just try things. We have the squad for that.