Casemiro can as wellThat's exactly the point. Look how deep Eriksen is when making line-splitting pass to Bruno.
Only Martinez is capable of making that pass in our team if we push Mount and Bruno forward. This will be easy to block don't you think?
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We have a playmaker for a goalkeeper now, and I think ETH wants Amrabat for this as well. There will be games were Casemiro wouldnt start and Amrabat will play the quarter back role. This is not really a new idea in football. City 8s don't really fall deep all that much and Xhaka was playing fairly advance leaving the deep buildup to the likes of partey and Zinchenko.That's exactly the point. Look how deep Eriksen is when making line-splitting pass to Bruno.
Only Martinez is capable of making that pass in our team if we push Mount and Bruno forward. This will be easy to block don't you think?
I'm a fan of Mason Mount. I'm predicting him to be a revelation this season as long as he stays fit. I won't be surprised if he starts over Bruno in important games.
Over Bruno no, but once he adjusts to the role and team he will be top
No chance he'll start over Bruno. However, I do think we got a taste of how ten Hag could potentially line-up in the ''important'' games against Real, with Bruno out wide and Mount pushed up. That leaves a space in the pivot position for a more defence minded player. Last season it was Fred. ten Hag played Mainoo next to Casemiro against Real, but unfortunately he got injured early on.
We've been linked with Amrabat, but he doesn't strike me as someone who could play next to Casemiro, but moreso someone who could debutise for him.
My issue with Mount is really my own doing, as I've not really closely watched him in previous games/seasons and don't really know what it is that he will be bringing to the team. With Onana, it's really obvious what he's brining to the table as it's instantly visible. With Højlund, we'll be playing the long game with him, but I think in time it'll become clear what he adds to the side. Willing to wait with Mount and see how things go. ETH must have some idea of how to use him effectively, so that's good enough for me.
If that's how we line up in big games we'll get pumped.
If anything Mount should be out wide or we need to actually play with 3 forwards. It's not like adding an extra midfielder helps much with keeping possession anyways, Bruno isn't one to value possession all that much.
Essentially yeah, I agree.
Of course not immediately but once Mount understands Ten Hag's expectations and gels with the team, he will challenge Bruno on the team sheet. He'll lose the ball a lot less than Bruno, which is important in games against better opposition where chances are at a premium.
Bruno pushed out wide is reminiscent of Steven Gerrard being played on the right by Benitez .. where there's more opportunity for Bruno to be high risk and more space for him to receive the ball while Mount covers central areas.
Based on what?
He seems like a bum version of Fred to me. Runs around alot but not particularly well. I hope he proves me wrong and he turns out good though.
He may not be the player you want him to be, but what you describe here maybe is exactly what we need in midfield - a player who chase the ball around a lot and good in possession, who does a lot of linkup play with his teammates. We already have Casemiro and Bruno, both have specific strong/active role on the pitch, but we don’t have a good linkup player who does abit of everything which helps the flow of our play in both attacking and defending.
He's miles better than Fred.
Fred only has the ability to run around and the enthusiasm to get involved. Everything else about his game is relatively poor, including lots factors that are a consequence of him not knowing when to unleash his two good qualities and when to rein them in.
Mount has the same positives, but he also has excellent technique and enough footballing intelligence not to be a liability half the time like Fred.
As others have said, he's surprised me with his technical qualities and sharpness on and/of the ball but he is not on it enough.
By design and tactics or by his movement, it's going to be an issue if it continues against better teams. They simply need to man mark Martinez, have a shoulder on Casemiro, press up against Shaw and then we've fecked. Need one of either Bruno and Mount to drop faster, get on the ball and offer more easier passing lanes.
By design and tactics or by his movement, it's going to be an issue if it continues against better teams. They simply need to man mark Martinez, have a shoulder on Casemiro, press up against Shaw and then we've fecked. Need one of either Bruno and Mount to drop faster, get on the ball and offer more easier passing lanes.
Fred is the bum version of Fred.
Mason De Mountong
If ever there was a time to judge a player, it’s after three partial pre-season appearances in makeshift lineups. Well done Caf. Never change.
I'm going to be very interested to see how this particular midfield blend we're looking at works. It looks weird to me. I see some key skills that seem to be missing in the build up phase. I get that he probably wants Martinez to shoulder a lot of the responsibility for that, which makes a lot of sense because we bought him for those qualities. But it doesn't really absolve a midfield of an ability to show for the ball and play patient buildup too. To me I would have thought both are neccessary.
It's actually this that worries me way more than the defensive side, because I think with Casemiro and the energy/pressing Bruno and Mount have, it's probably okay. As long as they're aware of where their midfield partners are and strike the right balance that doesn't overly concern me in an ETH setup. It's actually got way more legs than having Eriksen so you could argue it's gone up a level. I just think having two players that are ostensibly 10s in midfield is going to have some strange dynamics. Casemiro also played very incisively last season which was both good and bad. He had more of an attacking input than expected but he also coughed up a lot of possession, especially when he had his poorer games.
It's actually this that worries me way more than the defensive side, because I think with Casemiro and the energy/pressing Bruno and Mount have, it's probably okay. As long as they're aware of where their midfield partners are and strike the right balance that doesn't overly concern me in an ETH setup. It's actually got way more legs than having Eriksen so you could argue it's gone up a level. I just think having two players that are ostensibly 10s in midfield is going to have some strange dynamics. Casemiro also played very incisively last season which was both good and bad. He had more of an attacking input than expected but he also coughed up a lot of possession, especially when he had his poorer games.
Not too late to delete your comment.
Mate I understand the idea, I just think it's very naive. Arsenal and City move the ball much better than we do, and they have a few players very comfortable in dropping deep to contribute in the buildup. Neither of Bruno / Mount do it naturally.
In the example you gave in previous post it shows exactly what I think we'll be missing - the ball was travelling vertically, to the side, back inside and Eriksen makes that pass from deep while opposition is stretched. In that situation midfielder could as well drive the ball up the pitch. I just feel this will be easily nullified because there will be first line of defense in front of Martinez and Casemiro. They'll basically be forced to do a risky pass to beat it. What sounds like a recipe for many turnovers and counter attacks.
Onana will not be a playmaker. He will be the one to beat the press (if someone would like to press us that high) but he won't be dictating play and make risky passes outside of his box because that is suicidal.
Basically this. It sounds like a simple tactic that teams which don't even press can implement easily.
I've seen many explanations that either of Bruno / Mount can drop deeper but so far they've been both playing high up the pitch.
.”
Speaking on his role in the team against Leeds, he added, “I really liked that role today, being able to drop in deep and get on the ball and start the play from a bit deeper.
“But also having that freedom to be able to get forward and get in the box and try and make the runs in behind and help the press from the front.“I really enjoy that position, being able to do both sides.”
This was Mount comments after the Leeds game, I watched that game and that was the exact role he played. So I don't think the idea is for him not to come deeper at all, I think you'll see him do it situationally.
Based on 0 ball retention or running threat on that right side. Based on a main central creator being shunted out wide while the player that actually plays through the middle is more of a connector of play that won’t create at that level.
You simply can’t play a player as poor of a dribbler as Bruno out on the wing where defenders will have a free run at pressuring him and nullifying his ability to get on the ball in dangerous situations, especially since we don’t have an under lap/overlapping threat behind him.
I've noticed "runs around a lot" is a go-to for people that don't fully understand the contributions of a modern box-to-box because they don't always show up on a stat sheet.
"Runs around a lot" doesn't show up on a stat sheet either.
With Fred, his touches and pressing DOES show up on the stat sheet which leads to him being overrated. The problem is that his mindless running around causes him to be out of position most of the time which is something that can't be measured can can only be appreciated by people who DO fully understand the contributions of a modern box-to-box.
Yes, yourself and a few others have already articulated it well in this thread. It's still very early days so of course we're massively speculating but given what we knew of Mount's strengths and the fact some of us have now seen it played out exactly how we predicted in the limited game time thus far, it's bit worrying. I'm not worried against 60-70% of opposition because we simply have the better individual players and manager; regardless of our cohesion/team synergy in the buildup play, we're still a very highly competitive team capable of beating anyone. It's the other 30-40% where I want us to step up and start dominating/suffocating/going toe-to-toe.
Oh no
Bum version of Fred.
Ball carrying is one of Masons strongest suits. If you're ruling his ability out on a preseason then that sounds like a problem in your evaluation more than him as an asset to us.
Christ I hope he scores now or the memes will be endless 
Dear me
The modern football in a nutshell, fans more worried about Twitter memes than the actual football. Who gives a feck about morons meming him, support the fecking lad.
Think it matters tbf. We've all seen how becoming a meme player can damage confidence. And I think we'd all prefer that to not happen for Mount's sake.
Did we keep the in voice for him ? Should still be able to return for free… he looks like everytime i have seen him play the last couple of seasons… i so not know what he is good at… more expensive vdb
It was one missed goal in a meaningless pre-season game against Lens. I'm pretty sure this CL winner can handle the heat that comes from that.
Does not play like an 8 to me. Not sure what Erik is up to, but this wont work against most teams with him and Bruno so far up. An absolute puzzling transfer to me.
Vultures are already out, season not even started.
I was out when the interest became known. This transfer is destined to fail, you can see it from a mile away. This is worse than Sancho, AWB or Harry.
I literally haven't even noticed he's on the pitch this pre-season. Well, except for that horrendous miss earlier
That is your personal issue.
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