So after all the concern, how do you rate our squad’s midfield?

Our collection of midfielders is at best the fifth best midfield in the league. I don't think anyone can seriously argue against City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea all having better midfields than us.

And even though Brighton, West Ham, Villa, Spurs and Newcastle have weaker midfields on paper, they all look a hell of a lot more functional and effective than ours.
 
5/10 as the only things that turned it from chaos in most folks eyes were 2 loan deals.
Now I not asking for miracles and number breaking performances but if Amrabat and Hojlund can hit the ground with competent performances that add to the team it will turn to a 6/10.
None of the players we bought or loaned are Tier One, so can't give it any higher than that.
 
We will find out at the end of the season how good it is.
Will Amrabat adjust to the pace of the league?
Will Casemiro carry on looking like he is running in sand?
Will Bruno continue to be wasteful?
Will Mason come good?
All of these things will have to work in our favour for us to have a chance of being successful because at the moment we will be lucky to finish mid table.
 
For me your midfield lacks quality backup. Very good if casemiro and amrabat fully fit especially if you go far in cup competitions you have to rotate without downgrade the quality.

Addition of amrabat you go from 5/10 to 7/10.
 
PoTMS said:
Our collection of midfielders is at best the fifth best midfield in the league. I don't think anyone can seriously argue against City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea all having better midfields than us.

And even though Brighton, West Ham, Villa, Spurs and Newcastle have weaker midfields on paper, they all look a hell of a lot more functional and effective than ours.
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I think we unquestionably have a better midfield than Liverpool. Who do you think they're playing at #6? Because it isn't a Casemiro calibre player and I'm not convinced it's as good as Amrabat either. And if their AMs are better than ours, it's not by enough to swing it back in their favour.
 
Not enough players who are excellent on the ball. Actually there aren’t any. Will be shown up massively in big games again and against your bang average European sides.
 
Cassidy said:
Everyone missing a trick with Casemiro playing as a box to box 8 in the 4141 or 433. He didnt always play as the deepest midfielder at Madrid
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That's fine, I actually like him higher up the pitch, issue is if he misses his tackle/interception then we're absolutely bolloxed.

Hence why you need another deeper player like Amrabat
 
Midfield looks good now with enough bodies and quality. Add Mainoo and Hannibal and there is enough experience and youth to go through the season. Defence looks ok now with only the striker area which could do with another experienced forward. Huge ask for someone from the reserves to step up.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
I think if Amrabat is as good as what I have seen from him and he settles then Casemiro, Amrabat and Bruno is an absolutely rock solid midfield 3 with excellent balance and 3 lovely passers of the ball. Should really give Bruno a platform to be at his best too.

Mount is a brilliant squad option that will help us not to run Bruno into the ground again, give us an option for certain games on the right and let Ten Hag experiment with his box midfield a bit more gradually.

Mainoo looks like a brilliant prospect so far.

The rest are a mix of good squad players and a couple who should go ideally.

Feeling much more positive about it, a lot will depend on how Amrabat settles but right now I would say it's the best midfield we have had in a long while.
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Agree about Mount in how he should be used, imo Mount and Bruno don't Start together.
Amrabat I've only seen at the World cup and he was very good. DVB still here as is McTominay Mainoo has come on as well so CM looks a bit more meatier than before.
 
BillJonesUK said:
Mason Mount has only played a few games with a midfield who weren’t on the ball and rusty. We can only hope he will come good. ETH hasn’t got much wrong so have faith.
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We don't have much choice really, do we. There isn't much else to look to except blind faith because the form is awful and the fit is pretty strange. I guess we can look at the highlights package for the one or two decent seasons he's had (in a different role)
 
Casemiro
Eriksen
Bruno
Mount
Amrabat
McTominay
Donny

is a good suite of midfielders to have for a 55+ game season. And that’s not including the likes of Mainoo and Hannibal.
 
pocco said:
Could be functional and work well to an extent, but lacks top quality. Think we'll need a new midfield to truly compete.
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Who do we need to sign in midfield and who has to be sold next summer?
 
Offside said:
Not enough players who are excellent on the ball. Actually there aren’t any. Will be shown up massively in big games again and against your bang average European sides.
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Yeah we would only have Amrabat who is really strong on the ball as Eriksen is backup. So will need to still bring in that top class CM most likely next summer
 
TheRedDevil'sAdvocate said:
Maybe, but i'm not talking about names to fill the squad. Names, we have plenty. It's a midfield designed to move the ball quickly in transition and support the way Rashford and Bruno like to play. Which isn't bad per se, but it leaves very little room for manoeuvring. Even Amrabat's eye for a long pass seems to be added with a mind to progress the ball by bypassing the press. He's not the most positionally disciplined midfielder in the world, from what i read, either. Good luck pairing him with Bruno. I certainly wouldn't like to be the midfielder between them in the midfield, but i hope i'm wrong.
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I see, you mean in terms of having few/many ways of attacking?

I see your point, to a degree, then. But at the same time Bruno and Rasford (and Højlund) means we’re gonna want to attack a lot behind the defense, wether from deep or from high up. On the other hand, a side with Amrabat/Eriksen, Bruno, Sancho will have other strings to pull as well. depending on the game. It will be interesting to see.
 
Only top class midfielder in that mix is Casemiro which doesn't fill you with confidence. We've only added average/mid-table quality players (Mount as an 8) so not really imroved from last year.

Definitely not good enough quality wise if we want to compete for the biggest titles like PL & CL. OK if the aim is top 4 though.
 
croadyman said:
Who do we need to sign in midfield and who has to be sold next summer?
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I've said for ages but we need our De Bruyne. Somebody that can dictate and control play, create, just run the game. I also think Casemiro is on his way out and I'm sceptical about Bruno after his performance over the last 12 months.

The main problem for me is that I don't think we can consistently challenge without a midfield and team that can control a game, and our midfield isn't built for that. We also need some athleticism and power in there.
 
pocco said:
I've said for ages but we need our De Bruyne. Somebody that can dictate and control play, create, just run the game. I also think Casemiro is on his way out and I'm sceptical about Bruno after his performance over the last 12 months.

The main problem for me is that I don't think we can consistently challenge without a midfield and team that can control a game, and our midfield isn't built for that. We also need some athleticism and power in there.
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Someone like Paulinha/Onana can provide the athleticism and power,so who have you got in mind who can dictate play and control the game
 
I think we'll have quite a good midfield if we start Casemiro and Amrabat, but then I don't understand why we bought Mount. If we only play one of the former players, plus Mount and Fernandes, then we are getting walked through by any decent team.
 
6
Casemiro
Amrabat
Mainoo
McTominay

8
Amrabat
Eriksen
Mount
McTominay
Hannibal

10
Fernandes
Mount
Eriksen

We have enough options now in the 3 positions. Multifunctional players that Ten Hag can use for each occasion.

I class our midfield as a top 4 calibre midfield that can fight for 4th up to 2nd.

City are another level in terms of being a high performing team and midfield despite losing Gundogan. I'd give our midfield a 7/10.

City and Real Madrid are the benchmark for midfields and we don't have a wealth of top class players but we have enough to give anyone a game, now that we have added Amrabat.
 
croadyman said:
Someone like Paulinha/Onana can provide the athleticism and power,so who have you got in mind who can dictate play and control the game
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For me your midfield all needs to be very good on the ball these days, even your defensive midfielders need to know their limits and make sure they do their job and keep the ball well. If you have a Palhinha type then you need 2 others that are very good and can pick up slack, a bit like Casemiro having Modric and Kroos.

Some people might point to Liverpools midfield whet they won the PL, but in my opinion their midfielders were underrated on here. Henderson got dogs abuse on here but for quite a few years he was an effective player because he knew his role and could actually pass the ball around quite well.

Right now I don't watch much football outside of the PL so don't know what out there. I think Paqueta is looking like a player that could be about to take off. I did like Nunes, but he's gone. I don't think there's a De Bruyne level player, not playing for a big club, that I've seen in a while though. Limited to the PL I'd be keeping an eye on Paqueta this season though.
 
Well Citeh agreed about Paqueta. Let's see where those gambling charges are going... Probably not someone I'd think we need here.
 
Amrabat hopefully takes us up a level but I still feel it’s far from being a title or CL winning midfield. Just a good enough to challenge for top 4 one. Hopefully ship out McTominay next summer and upgrade further. Problem is we can slowly improve each year but the teams above us will do the same. We are always going to be playing catch up and more so if those twats stay as our owners.
 
Bondi77 said:
We will find out at the end of the season how good it is.
Will Amrabat adjust to the pace of the league?
Will Casemiro carry on looking like he is running in sand?
Will Bruno continue to be wasteful?
Will Mason come good?.
All of these things will have to work in our favour for us to have a chance of being successful because at the moment we will be lucky to finish mid table.
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All so very true.
 
I really think the midfield and thus this whole team and ETH in general is going to come down to making this work.

Mount has not worked so far but it's very early.

Maybe Case, Amrabat, and Bruno settle in and become first choice.

I could see mount maybe moving to RW.

I think we have solid pieces But it's really all on ETH to make it work.
 
Mount, Mainoo and Amrabat must be given a chance to perform before we give them a rating.
 
You can't judge the midfield by the players alone. You have to wait and see how the new system develops.

At the moment, I'm very happy with the mix in terms of the overall quality of players. And I'm hopeful that EtH has a plan to get them all singing from the same hymn sheet.

At the very least, it's a massive upgrade on last season since Fred was our worst midfielder and he's been replaced with Mount/Amrabat. I think they're both going to prove to be significantly better. Mainoo is still a kid, but I he has the potential to add something as well.

The 433 has looked dodgy so far. But, worst case scenario, we revert to last season's 4231 and it'll still be better than what we had before.
 
VDB, Hannibal and Gore probably won't reach 1000 minutes combined so it's hard to include them in a valuation.

Bruno sometimes maybe good sometimes maybe shite.

Mc Tominay few times maybe good most times maybe shite.

Casemiro and Eriksen need time to get more fitness. They'll be fine.

Mount must play in 10, he shouldn't play with Bruno.

Mainoo will play some games, I have faith in him but perhaps this season is too soon.

Amrabat I really don't know him.

Overall probably a 6/10 unless amrabat is a real world class player.
 
Bondi77 said:
We will find out at the end of the season how good it is.
Will Amrabat adjust to the pace of the league?
Will Casemiro carry on looking like he is running in sand?
Will Bruno continue to be wasteful?
Will Mason come good?
All of these things will have to work in our favour for us to have a chance of being successful because at the moment we will be lucky to finish mid table.
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So you actually think we will finish 13th or below? :lol:
 
Casemiro and Eriksen are aging. I don’t think they’ll be as useful this season as they were last season. Bruno is talented but inefficient at times, which makes it difficult to find the right fit for him. Most of the rest are just average to me. Mount has not impressed. And some can claim it’s too early to judge him, but he’s looked like he did for Chelsea. I don’t see why we should expect that to change. Most of the rest is average.

I'm hopeful that Amrabat will be a useful addition. I’m very excited about Mainoo, but I don’t want him to be burdened too much this year.
 
Overhaul FC said:
6
Casemiro
Amrabat
Mainoo
McTominay

8
Amrabat
Eriksen
Mount
McTominay
Hannibal

10
Fernandes
Mount
Eriksen

We have enough options now in the 3 positions. Multifunctional players that Ten Hag can use for each occasion.

I class our midfield as a top 4 calibre midfield that can fight for 4th up to 2nd.

City are another level in terms of being a high performing team and midfield despite losing Gundogan. I'd give our midfield a 7/10.

City and Real Madrid are the benchmark for midfields and we don't have a wealth of top class players but we have enough to give anyone a game, now that we have added Amrabat.
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I think I'd more or less agree with that. Wouldn't put Mount as 8 though he is very much a 10 to me. Mainoo though can definitely play as 8, in fact that could be his strongest position.
 
Amrabat Casemiro Bruno is a midfield that compares well with anyone in the league I reckon.

Once we get Mainoo back that will give us lots of options. We can rotate out Casemiro for certain cup games
 
I’ve never seen Amrabat outside of some youtube highlights so can’t really give an opinion on him. However the rest individually we’ve seen over the years can be top class but I’m not convinced they can be top class together, and I don’t see how Amrabat would fix it other than replacing one of Mount/Bruno to sit in with Cas.

Seems more like he will be an option off the bench to replace Cas or make it two sitting mids when needed.

It just feels like over the next two windows the midfield is going to need major surgery to me and it’s not that great now and wasn’t that great last season either. Will be good if ETH can get this team singing some sort of tune so we can get a better idea of what it is he is trying to do but as of right now the midfield is just meh to me.
 
It’s likely that ten Hag thinks that Amrabat-Mount-Bruno will be his preferred combination in the long run with Casemiro and Eriksen helping out to get through the transition period.
 
I still don’t understand why we spent so much money on Mount. Bruno with Eriksen as backup was more than enough for the CAM position. Imo that was our strongest position with great depth in Eriksen.

We needed a world class CM(or a really good one) and we still need one. It was great we got Amrabat, but we still lack in midfield.

I feel like we are above every low and midtable team in the league and below every top team. And when you look around in Europe i would gladly trade our midfield for a lot of other top teams midfield.

So i’ll rate it a 7/10, but we are only one great player from having a 9/10 midfield.
 
Bondi77 said:
Try reading a post in it's entirety....it takes on a whole new meaning :eek:
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We have currently 6/9 points with all those things you've enlisted not happening, granted two wins were at home, but still are two wins.

So I repeat... Do you think we will finish 13th or below?
 
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