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

[Bondi77]

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?

Let me put it this way then so it is easier for you to understand.
If we carry on playing the same way we have in the last three games and coupled with we have lost our best two defenders for a lengthy period then we will be lucky to finish mid table.

 

[Nicolarra90]

Let me put it this way then so it is easier for you to understand.
If we carry on playing the same way we have in the last three games and coupled with we have lost our best two defenders for a lengthy period then we will be lucky to finish mid table.

We wont. At worst we would finish 8th. Stop with the doom and gloom.

 

[Bondi77]

We wont. At worst we would finish 8th. Stop with the doom and gloom.

No doom and gloom about it mate....just a simple observation on the season so far.
Things change quickly in football and I m hopeful it will be positive for us moving forward.

 

[pcaming]

Our midfield is still worse than probably 5 or 6 teams, so make of that what you will. In terms of actually playing as a unit, on current form bottom half of the table.

 

[Roboc7]

I think it’s ok but nothing special and as we’re seeing today very pedestrian in comparison to others. Casemiro in particular is extremely ponderous.

 

[Glorio]

It's suddenly gone from looking very lightweight to looking stacked with decent to good options.

 

[sullydnl]

I think both Amrabat and Mount are good additions in terms of their profiles as players. But we need to see what performance levels they actually hit before casting judgement on our midfield.

 

[Ram1fy]

No doom and gloom about it mate....just a simple observation on the season so far.
Things change quickly in football and I m hopeful it will be positive for us moving forward.

You are extrapolating based on data from 4 or 5 games. It's the same thing as a baby born when it's raining coming and saying it will rain my whole life based on my observation. Whereas what the other people might be extrapolating is based on a longer period of data of watching football for several seasons. Knowing that poor starts will usually not in midtable finishes.

 

[Borys]

Remains to be seen if we find a balanced midfield using wide variety of options we have. Amrabat seems promising but he doesn't fit in the picture of "becoming the best transition team" (as I can't see us dropping our best goalscorer this season). I have not seen anything yet that would indicate ETH has any intent to keep possession (unless we are forced to play this way). So I am a bit confused where we are heading now.

 

[Bobski]

I want to see the rematch against Palace and how it works before professing it fixed. Can't imagine Palace being as disinterested as they were Tuesday night. Can't recall a game in recent years when the midfield had so much space.

 

[tomaldinho1]

If ETH can get the amount at 8 experiment to work and balance the midfield we’ll be a very exciting team to watch and highly offensive. I still have my doubts but reckon the positive this season is we can field a very good double pívot in Amrabat and Case for bigger games where we likely aren’t ready to try and dominate the ball yet.

 

[Sky1981]

Guys. We won in a Mickey mouse cup against crytal palace who probably don't want to win and preferred lose.

Don't count your chickens yet

 

[pocco]

I want to see the rematch against Palace and how it works before professing it fixed. Can't imagine Palace being as disinterested as they were Tuesday night. Can't recall a game in recent years when the midfield had so much space.

This is the thing for me. That game wasn't really a good measure of anything, having Burnley then that Palace game was perfect for us to stop the rot, but true tests lie ahead. I think we should be OK this weekend, maybe Brentford will be a tougher test if they find some form, but apart from City we've got plenty of games now that we should really be winning even with our issues.

It's the teams that are better tactically that we are likely to see if there are still issues or not.

 

[The Urban Goose]

Casemiro, Amrabat, Mainoo, Hannibal, Mount and Bruno is looking a decent selection.

However that does leave us a very light in the 6/8 positions as we effectively have three players to cover two positions, one of whom is close to collecting his pension, and look what happens when two of those are out and we have to play McT (and this is also placing a heavy expectation on Mainoo).

 

[Fortitude]

Guys. We won in a Mickey mouse cup against crytal palace who probably don't want to win and preferred lose.

Don't count your chickens yet

This is true. Much sterner tests to come. Amrabat has been praised for his performance, but the real stuff starts on the weekend and we'll see how things look post-game.

 

[Borys]

Casemiro, Amrabat, Mainoo, Hannibal, Mount and Bruno is looking a decent selection.

However that does leave us a very light in the 6/8 positions as we effectively have three players to cover two positions, one of whom is close to collecting his pension, and look what happens when two of those are out and we have to play McT (and this is also placing a heavy expectation on Mainoo).

Indeed, especially #8. Casemiro and Amrabat should be OK for #6 (not sure if Amrabat is a 6, but he clearly operates very deep in midfield). #8 is the problem though. I thought we are going to play Mount there but so far he's been closer to a 10. Bruno is not a midfielder and too weak to play there.

Our best chance imo is either convert Mount to a box to box 8, or hope Mainoo is the real deal.

 

[UpWithRivers]

Ten Haags Plan A is Casemiro---Mount----Bruno. I'm still waiting to see how this will ever work.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

it really all depends on how the youngsters develop this year. I hope EtH is putting in the work to truly get them ready. If we can get Mainoo, Hannibal, and gore all up to this level, it makes a huge difference going forward for our midfield. We need at least 1, if not 2 of them to be premier league level by end of year to feel good about the midfield moving forward. With Eriksen and Case being up there in age, and mctominay just not being up to snuff really doesnt leave us much at central mid for the season after this. Pretty much mount is it, and he is someone we seem to perhaps want to transition from a higher midfield spot to perhaps a deeper CM spot, ala eriksen.

 

[MadDogg]

Ten Haags Plan A is Casemiro---Mount----Bruno. I'm still waiting to see how this will ever work.

I do wonder if his plan is actually to have Amrabat at one of the fullback roles, moving into the midfield regularly like he did in the first half against Palace. That perhaps will allow the Casemiro-Mount-Bruno trio to work.

 

[Teja]

Ten Haags Plan A is Casemiro---Mount----Bruno. I'm still waiting to see how this will ever work.

Hm, he's proven that he's a pragmatist and cares about winning more than sticking to some theoretical principles that don't work in practice. I don't think the plan A will remain plan A for too long if we keep getting run over in the middle. Rather consider the midfield depth as a whole (Casemiro, Amrabat, McT, Mount, Bruno, Mejbri).

For me the biggest profile miss there is a playmaker. If we had an Enzo / Jorginho / Rodri / Thiago or even a Partey type player I'd be satisfied with that.

 

[lex talionis]

Myself included, most club supporters view their players through the lens of the top of their game. At the top of their game, Bruno/Mount/Casemiro is a pretty fantastic midfield. But the jury is still very much out on their chemistry and their consistency. We have good depth with the addition of Amrabat, and when we need Eriksen for 45 minutes he's still pretty decent. We'll see about the youngsters but we can count on McTominay being shite and Donny being nonexistent.

What we really need from the squad is better finishing from our attackers. We're moving the ball well enough from back to front -- which was true, by the way, last season -- but where our attacks go to die is when we're in goal scoring positions.

 

[Borninthe80ts]

I think at the minute we may be putting to much emphasis on players numbers rather than the roles that they may play in the team. All players have their different characteristics but the most important in this case for me are tactical awareness and positioning.

Id say that the combinations are what will dictate the roles per game and even based on game flow. So for example against Palace Casimero pushed forward to attack when Ambarat was sitting.

And quickly in relation to quick transitions, I’ve seen what I believe Ten is looking for already. I noticed that especially when we had the ball centrally, a deeper midfielder would take the ball of the full back and look for a first time ball over the top. This wasn’t on the counter attack either. To me it’s transitioning from a measured build up to taking a chance quicker when it arrives. Which is something most of us have been wanting for a while anyway. Especially from players like Antony.

 

[Kellyiom]

I wasn't too sure about how this would look and I admit it, got a bit negative with all the downers about Mason Mount (I know!). A couple of mates who are big Chelsea fans were telling me they think Mount is an absolute quality player, get him fit and understanding the team and he'll be a leader, very neat, creative and effective. That's what I was hoping we got him for rather than 'overpriced second choice midfielder'..

I admittedly didn't know a lot about Amrabat aside from what I saw during the World Cup which was good but difficult to draw any conclusion from. I thought English PL might be just too hectic and physical but it seems he has a genuine desire to win for the badge and is very good footballer and ETH seems like he knows the best way to use him.

So overall, I've surprised myself by being positive heh and yes, 7.5/10 but that's a conserve estimate and I hope it would be rated higher after they've played together for more time.

 

[Bondi77]

You are extrapolating based on data from 4 or 5 games. It's the same thing as a baby born when it's raining coming and saying it will rain my whole life based on my observation. Whereas what the other people might be extrapolating is based on a longer period of data of watching football for several seasons. Knowing that poor starts will usually not in midtable finishes.

Genius!