The Casemiro/Mount/Bruno midfield

I just don’t understand why we got Mount at all. I like him as a player and I understand what he’s good at but he just isn’t what we needed.

Confusing signing but hopefully ETH can unlock this midfield.
 
Only way it will work is if Mount has more positional discipline and positions himself closer to Casemiro than Bruno.
 
Chairman Steve said:
I get the feeling one of the centrebacks is meant to step in with Casemiro as a bit of a proxy midfield partner as Mount and Bruno push up. I’m interested to see whether Pavard is going to be another potential candidate for that if we were to buy him, because at the moment it’s Martinez as the current best option with Lindelof filling in.
Click to expand...
Has to be. Shaw was doing it at the very start then it stopped. There's no way he has mount and Bruno playing that high without support for case from someone
 
Infra-red said:
Needed two new midfielders in June. Still need two new midfielders.

Mount is a a decent player in an advanced role, but is not really relevant to the midfield discussion.
Click to expand...

Well it is relevant, because the media said ETH intended to sign him and drop Eriksen, one of two deeper midfielders. Which is exactly what's happened. He's sacrificed 50% of our midfield to throw an extra body into an attack that was already a hot mess.
 
Mount played decent today.

But we all thought this midfield was for the weaker games, and in big games we will go more solid. But today was one of the games against lower PL team, and this midfield doesnt look capable of breaking a low block. So what are the games for this midfield?

Worrying.
 
And we even let go of Fred, who is in my opinion twice the player Mount is.
 
Ive no clue what Ten Hag has planned

Casemiro totally isolated, Mount and Bruno pressing far too high, our midfield non-existent

needs addressed asap

For a manager who harped on about wanting De Jong why not buy a De Jong style possession focused midfielder
 
Ludens the Red said:
I watched about 23 mins of our pre season games before the Lens game then watched the Lens game in full at Old Trafford and it was very obvious very quickly that that midfield is going to be fecking shite. I didn’t mind the Mount signing but I thought the tactical set up would be different to what it has been:
if we continue like this through the season we’re going to finish mid table.
The amount of times Lens and Wolves players would just run through our midfield unchallenged with so much space is actually shocking. And how we have a football manager who thinks this is okay going forward is extremely worrying.
Click to expand...
This. And all deluded fans who think preseason performances are not indicative. Tonight was another terrible performance. ETH seems clueless.
 
The team is playing without a CF

Adding one would bring some type of hold up play into the mix. Which would then help the midfield.
 
Bermuda-Triangle.jpg
 
It lacks balance. Casimero should have some energy, quality and power alongside him. Mount and Fernandes are good attacking midfielders. So, we lack balance. Not sure how ETH is goinh to address that. I think we need Ericksen to play. He's our best midfield footballer, just gets us to play. Fernandes is great in and around the box, attacking, scores goals as will Mount.

But Casimero struggled today and will need help/rotation.

ETH has to resolve this problem. Get another top midfielder in.

.... then we have to address the forward line.... (sigh)
 
The gaping hole we had in the middle of the park everytime we lost the ball in attack was shocking. Letting Cunha run at us time and time again was a bit of a joke
 
No surprise at all that a Casemiro/Mount/Bruno midfield would struggle to keep the ball. Wolves’ midfielders were taking the piss out of us all game.
 
pocco said:
Well it is relevant, because the media said ETH intended to sign him and drop Eriksen, one of two deeper midfielders. Which is exactly what's happened. He's sacrificed 50% of our midfield to throw an extra body into an attack that was already a hot mess.
Click to expand...

My point is that he is no more relevant to the midfield discussion than Sancho. He is not a central midfielder and I don't think he was signed to replace Eriksen, but rather as a deputy/rotation option for Bruno and occasional right-sided attacking midfielder. I wasn't in favour of signing him, but could just about understand the logic if he was coming in to effectively replace Van de Beek, albeit rather expensively.

The media existing in a state of cluelessness with regards to most things football, is nothing new. The UK media must know full well that Mount isn't a central midfielder, so perhaps they were being wilfully ignorant in this case.
 
One of Mount or Fernandes needs to play deeper for.it to work. Casemiro was completely isolated. I think Bruno has shown he can play well from deeper positions and we need to revert to this to have any chance of them being a competent midfield three.
 
Offside said:
Can tell it won’t work. We don’t have any technicians in the team and haven’t for years. Our passing has been atrocious since that 4 month period Scholes came back. What I don’t understand is ETH goes in for De Jong one Summer then decides on Mount the next.
Click to expand...
I am becoming pretty sceptical about his judgement given he backed the Antony signing and thinks thus midfield three can work
 
Borys said:
Mount as an "individual" isn't a problem but I am still not convinced how Casemiro-Mount-Bruno is better than Casemiro-Fred-Bruno. The balance is completely off, Bruno is dropping too deep and Casemiro after todays game probably needs 2 weeks rest.
Click to expand...
Agree. It's actually quite odd how Fred was suddenly hardly used in the last few months of the season and then has quietly been sold.

For me it was always a Caicedo or Mount we should have been chasing this summer, although we wouldn't have had the funds in the end.
 
Casemiro doesn’t look like he’s done enough over pre season and looks way off the pace which at his point of career is a massive worry but having two 10’s as 8’s alongside him only makes us easier to play through, if Wolves can do it imagine what City or teams in the CL will do.

This is why we needed to go in for Rice or Caicedo instead of Mount, I get we’re trying to add goals and assists from midfield but Mount looked a million miles off adding anything other than someone who’s willing to just run around all game without actually adding anything at all.
 
I think the intended set-up is fine(having 2 #8s in front a #6), but I don't like Casemiro as the deepest midfielder during build-up phases and I actually think he's the biggest problem in this set-up.

I'm surprised Ten Hag thinks he's fine for the role.
 
el3mel said:
And we even let go of Fred, who is in my opinion twice the player Mount is.
Click to expand...
I definitely don't think that is true, but Fred's profile fits better in the team. Mount signing is weird. He played for Chelsea on the wing and as a #10. We buy him and play him as a #8. I want to understand it.
 
Red Rash said:
One of Mount or Fernandes needs to play deeper for.it to work. Casemiro was completely isolated. I think Bruno has shown he can play well from deeper positions and we need to revert to this to have any chance of them being a competent midfield three.
Click to expand...

If Mount is playing next to Casemiro in a double pivot, then that's already a failure. He's wasted there.

True of Bruno too.
 
altodevil said:
Ok we played shite but this is laughable
Click to expand...

No it's not. Fred is a better player than Mount who hasn't been anything but a bang average players and this isn't going to change now because he switched shirts.

Fred is a far more useful player for the team too.
 
Getting a partner for an attacking midfielder like Bruno is tricky. He has some holes that need compensating. Problem is many CMs and DMs don't come in that mould. You'd need a god of a player to compensate while still being effective at their own position.
 
I can only assume ETH either expected wolves to be a lot more conservative or that our press would be so good as to have them pinned in their half allowing us to play 2x number 10s

The biggest issue comes when we don't have the options to change as there's only McT to bring on and he's bound to be reluctant to take off mount early given he's newly arrived status

I wouldn't be surprised if the players are in running in the morning. System issues or not the required effort was badly lacking
 
Eddy_JukeZ said:
I think the intended set-up is fine(having 2 #8s in front a #6), but I don't like Casemiro as the deepest midfielder during build-up phases and I actually think he's the biggest problem in this set-up.

I'm surprised Ten Hag thinks he's fine for the role.
Click to expand...

I'd argue that none of Casemiro, Mount or Bruno are suitable for that system.

Casemiro needs a player in midfield next to him and Mount/Bruno each need two midfielders behind them.
 
Mount wasn't the right buy a player of FdJ ilk was needed. Never rated Mount especially his performances for England and absolutely hate that we've splashed 60m on him.
 
Highfather_24 said:
Mount played decent today.

But we all thought this midfield was for the weaker games, and in big games we will go more solid. But today was one of the games against lower PL team, and this midfield doesnt look capable of breaking a low block. So what are the games for this midfield?

Worrying.
Click to expand...
Yeah a team that has lost Moutinho, Neves, Collines and Jimenez from their first XI...and there manager a few days ago. Today was probably the best time to play Wolves. They may well turn out to have a decent season but a bit worrying.
 
It's just been one game of course, but that was genuinely terrifying. This was like McFred at its worst.

Bruno did well offensively but we expected that. Every time their midfielders got the ball they managed to break through.
 
Greck said:
Getting a partner for an attacking midfielder like Bruno is tricky. He has some holes that need compensating. Problem is many CMs and DMs don't come in that mould. You'd need a god of a player to compensate while still being effective at their own position.
Click to expand...
Yeah his name is Frenkie De Jong unfortunately
 
luke511 said:
Caicedo then..
Click to expand...
Actually found myself thinking once or twice "we kind of need Fred here to sit a little deeper alongside Casemiro to stop us getting hit on the break". We need another player to play at the base of that double pivot if you dont want to get hit on the counter because our pressing from the front 3-4 is still too lax and disjointed. Even Liverpool playing a 'traditional' gegenpress 4-3-3 got rekt last year because they would get hit on the break having only a single deep holding player. We just dont have the personnel for it and Caicedo would have been a star for us but we missed the boat with him under Ole who wanted to sign him I think?
 
Glad to see my initial impressions are also held by the majority on here. I still hope Ten Hag can make this work but we really need new signings as a fail safe.
 
Infra-red said:
I'd argue that none of Casemiro, Mount or Bruno are suitable for that system.

Casemiro needs a player in midfield next to him and Mount/Bruno each need two midfielders behind them.
Click to expand...

This. Good post. I said this before, I would play Bruno on the right instead of Antony. You don't need someone who is left-footed (who is v v average anyway) to play on the right. But we someone alongside Casimero. Seems like SMT will stay unless we get a Amrabat.
 
In a team that can barely pass a decent ball or make a proper run or even fecking move for the ball we can’t afford to leave Casemiro so deep whilst the other 2 stroll around the pitch

We need to be able to control the game before we play so open
 
Infra-red said:
I'd argue that none of Casemiro, Mount or Bruno are suitable for that system.

Casemiro needs a player in midfield next to him and Mount/Bruno each need two midfielders behind them.
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's just not a good set up for anyone. Casemiro needs no.8 that can take on the playmaking side of the game from deeper positions, neither of which are what Mount or Bruno will do. He literally had two players with him at Madrid in Kroos and Modric that would do that for him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.