We rely heavily on Amrabat the next month

andersj

Nick Powell Expert
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With Martinez, Casemiro, Mount and Eriksen out, and Shaw just coming back, the spine of the team look really hurt. As a result, we rely heavily on Amrabat working out the next month.

If he do, I actually think it will work out ok. McTominay is decent as a 8 and Hannibal/Bruno could do a job there aswell. But considering how far off pace he has looked so far, I think it is a huge worry. He might be a decent player technically and tactically, but physically he looks miles off.

For the next game, Amrabat will be up against Doucoure and Onana, and I cant imagine he is even close to those two. I even think he is subpar to Garner, who we decided to get rid of for less than the fee of Amrabat. And this is a poor PL-team. I’m not confident Amrabat would get into most PL-teams, and somehow now he is a starter at Man Utd.

It feels like I’m in a small minority now, but I really like EtH. I think he is a good coach that could do well with a good squad. I also like that he is trying to force a few expensive players out. But the decision to bring in Amrabat baffles me.

There were plenty of warnings from wannabe-experts on social media of his shortcomings. And for once, they where spot on. I’m not sure what due dilligence we did or what our scouts told EtH. Did EtH watch him much before signing him (I know he coached him several years ago)? He once talked about Pep underestimating the physicallity of the PL in his first season. And somehow he decided to add Amrabat after bringing in Eriksen, Martinez and Casemiro to the spine of our team?

Now that we are here, EtHs future might actually depend on Amrabat working out. It is a stretch to call it poetic justice. But I do think EtH brought quite a few worries on himself by that move.
 
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He's a nothing player. There was a reason why we were absolutely desperate for a midfielder and still managed to get him for about €10 million.
 
He hasn't been good, but he also hasn't been as bad as most of this forum seems to be making out. In quite a few of his games he's actually been our best midfielder. Now that's damning with faint praise as it's due to the others being shit rather than Amrabat being good, but the way people are talking about him is as if he's been the worst player on the field in most of his games.
 
MadDogg said:
He hasn't been good, but he also hasn't been as bad as most of this forum seems to be making out. In quite a few of his games he's actually been our best midfielder. Now that's damning with faint praise as it's due to the others being shit rather than Amrabat being good, but the way people are talking about him is as if he's been the worst player on the field in most of his games.
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He’s the one most likely to do midfield-y things. He looks more like a midfielder than the rest. He takes the ball in the right areas, he closes off passing lanes, he moves the ball into space when things get congested. The trouble is he does almost everything about 20% worse than we need him to. He’s just not at the level from the bit I’ve seen.
 
Brophs said:
He’s the one most likely to do midfield-y things. He looks more like a midfielder than the rest. He takes the ball in the right areas, he closes off passing lanes, he moves the ball into space when things get congested. The trouble is he does almost everything about 20% worse than we need him to. He’s just not at the level from the bit I’ve seen.
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This is spot on :lol:

He's pretty meh, but he's an actual central midfielder.
 
Brophs said:
He’s the one most likely to do midfield-y things. He looks more like a midfielder than the rest. He takes the ball in the right areas, he closes off passing lanes, he moves the ball into space when things get congested. The trouble is he does almost everything about 20% worse than we need him to. He’s just not at the level from the bit I’ve seen.
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This. And to add to it, he has been quite prone to making the type of mistakes that leaves us vulnerable on the break. Done it several times already.
 
He's not reached anywhere near his best levels since leaving Verona and changing his game - for us or Fiorentina - which was something I expressed concern about despite being a big fan of his during that season at Verona under Juric.

With that said, although he's not been that good, I don't think he's been as bad as he's made out to be either. Especially when you take into context that, like Casemiro when he's played, they're basically alone in midfield. Whether that's due to Eriksen being invisible out of possession due to his physical limitations, McTominay hiding in general play as the 8, or the rare times we play Mount who we basically use as another 10 alongside Bruno.

Amrabat at least brings something to the midfield that we're lacking. Though not at a high enough level as is. That is his agility at turning away from pressing opposition and the ability to carry the ball when space allows it, though this is rarer in his game now compared to under Juric who promoted these attributes instead of limiting them like his managers at Fiorentina which has transcended to here.

We need to change our midfield setup as a whole. Amrabat, like anyone we play as our 6, cannot carry the midfield alone to compensate for a bunch of midfielders who just want to get forwards. Or, in Eriksen's case who helps his midfield partner in the build-up phase, is a liability defensively. In the right setup where we have a cohesive midfield unit, with everyone pulling their weight in and out of possession, I think he can definitely make a positive contribution, but not as we are now. It's too disjointed.
 
Christ that’s bad. He’s such a mediocre player
 
Just keep it tight and back and Bruno will take charge of our offensive side in the midfield.

He's not a great player but we're not asking much.
 
He’s the DM version of Weghorst, there’s a reason we had a free run at him and his parent club were willing to loan him out.

It’s tiring us regularly dishing out these “dream moves” to mediocre players.
 
andersj said:
Now that we are here, EtHs future might actually depend on Amrabat working out. It is a stretch to call it poetic justice. But I do think EtH brought quite a few worries on himself by that move.
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God help both of them...he's not that better then McT
 
He can be in top WC form, and still won't help much, if team can't finish chances.
 
Well we can hope. Maybe we'll stumble on some Giggs-O'Shea type midfield combination that will surprise everyone :drool:

...or probably end up being more like Park and Rafael :(
 
Irwin99 said:
Well we can hope. Maybe we'll stumble on some Giggs-O'Shea type midfield combination that will surprise everyone :drool:

...or probably end up being more like Park and Rafael :(
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Antony and Dalot at CM
 
Hang on, Mount is out now as well?
He's hardly been in!
 
Give him a chance ffs. Played the grand total of 312 minutes in the league so far, the equivalent of 3 and a half games.
 
Lay said:
Christ that’s bad. He’s such a mediocre player
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I doubt he’d start for any other Premier League team not facing relegation this season, and wouldn’t even make the bench for most top half teams
 
KeanoMagicHat said:
Give him a chance ffs. Played the grand total of 312 minutes in the league so far, the equivalent of 3 and a half games.
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And he started off having to play left back before getting injured then coming back to no regular partner.

All whilst joining a new team, new country, new league.

Tough crowd this lot.
 
We are doomed. Come Christmas we will struggle to be in top 10.

And what is all of the sudden wrong with Mount. And Donny can he not play. I mean he is not injured is he ?
 
The Dane said:
We are doomed. Come Christmas we will struggle to be in top 10.

And what is all of the sudden wrong with Mount. And Donny can he not play. I mean he is not injured is he ?
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According to Donny, he’s in the shape of his life. Should be on the bench at the very least.
 
Still have Mainoo and Hannibal on the books, I can see them getting a bit of a look in with sub appearances
 
Rossa said:
Yes, and Akanji is a centre back, right? Bernardo Silva was bought as a rw/am. Neither are CMs by trade, so not too different from ETH’s conundrum.
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They functioned as CMs in the game. Stones does the same. We don't have the defenders/AMs/wingers who can effectively play in midfield.
 
Brophs said:
He’s the one most likely to do midfield-y things. He looks more like a midfielder than the rest. He takes the ball in the right areas, he closes off passing lanes, he moves the ball into space when things get congested. The trouble is he does almost everything about 20% worse than we need him to. He’s just not at the level from the bit I’ve seen.
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He might just need some games. I remember Casemiro looked concerning last season for the first few weeks he was starting, then he seemed to get to grips with the league, but also he's extremely good at football. Amrabat just seems to play the same passes Mctominay or Fred would, with more positional awareness but also, I dunno, he just seems a bit nicer to play against somehow.

One thing I'd say...The times we've subbed him off at half time we've definitely then gotten noticeably worse without him
 
I don’t actually think he’s been as bad as the caf makes out or maybe I don’t understand football as much as on here.
 
Mbappe gets rinsed once and we as a club end up getting our pants pulled down. Mbappe dominated him the rest of that game.
 
It doesn’t matter who our DM is. Under Ten Hag’s system, they will always drown. It doesn’t matter whether it is Amrabat, Cas, Eriksen, McT or prime Makalele.

If you’re building up in 3-1-6 shape, the 1 (DM) will always recieve the ball in trouble. The passing lanes towards him are shadow pressed so he will receive the ball under pressure from several angles. His passing lanes are also cut off because the other midfielders are in the half-space.

Ten Hag could solve this by inverting a full-back, but for some reason he has the full-back up in the half-space as opposed to close to the DM in order to form a pivot.

With all other midfielders (and a full-back) high up the pitch, the DM is also isolated on defensive transitions. This is why we keep conceding goals from cut-backs. This matter is worsened by our man-oriented press because it is easy to drag the CMs (or the DM) out of position, which leaves the sole DM with too much space to cover.

Ten Hag can protect the DM by doing what Ole did and playing with a double-pivot. Only McT can play this role to a good defensive level. But we saw an Eriksen-McT double-pivot away at Fulham where we would have taken a battering but for Fulham relying on indecisive players like Willian, Adreas and Iwobi in the final third.

There is a reason why we cannot control games except for brief periods when the opponent sits back. It’s not down to any individual. It’s the manager’s bizarre set-up.
 
THE ZOL said:
It doesn’t matter who our DM is. Under Ten Hag’s system, they will always drown. It doesn’t matter whether it is Amrabat, Cas, Eriksen, McT or prime Makalele.

If you’re building up in 3-1-6 shape, the 1 (DM) will always recieve the ball in trouble. The passing lanes towards him are shadow pressed so he will receive the ball under pressure from several angles. His passing lanes are also cut off because the other midfielders are in the half-space.

Ten Hag could solve this by inverting a full-back, but for some reason he has the full-back up in the half-space as opposed to close to the DM in order to form a pivot.

With all other midfielders (and a full-back) high up the pitch, the DM is also isolated on defensive transitions. This is why we keep conceding goals from cut-backs. This matter is worsened by our man-oriented press because it is easy to drag the CMs (or the DM) out of position, which leaves the sole DM with too much space to cover.

Ten Hag can protect the DM by doing what Ole did and playing with a double-pivot. Only McT can play this role to a good defensive level. But we saw an Eriksen-McT double-pivot away at Fulham where we would have taken a battering but for Fulham relying on indecisive players like Willian, Adreas and Iwobi in the final third.

There is a reason why we cannot control games except for brief periods when the opponent sits back. It’s not down to any individual. It’s the manager’s bizarre set-up.
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Bring back Ole!
 
THE ZOL said:
It doesn’t matter who our DM is. Under Ten Hag’s system, they will always drown. It doesn’t matter whether it is Amrabat, Cas, Eriksen, McT or prime Makalele.

If you’re building up in 3-1-6 shape, the 1 (DM) will always recieve the ball in trouble. The passing lanes towards Tutuapp 9Apps him are shadow pressed so he will receive the ball under pressure from several angles. His passing lanes are also cut off because the other midfielders are in the half-space.

Ten Hag could solve this by inverting a full-back, but for some reason he has the full-back up in the half-space as opposed to close to the DM in order to form a pivot.

With all other midfielders (and a full-back) high up the pitch, the DM is also isolated on defensive transitions. This is why we keep conceding goals from cut-backs. This matter is worsened by our man-oriented press because it is easy to drag the CMs (or the DM) out of position, which leaves the sole DM with too much space to cover.

Ten Hag can protect the DM by doing what Ole did and playing with a double-pivot. Only McT can play this role to a good defensive level. But we saw an Eriksen-McT double-pivot away at Fulham where we would have taken a battering but for Fulham relying on indecisive players like Willian, Adreas and Iwobi in the final third.

There is a reason why we cannot control games except for brief periods when the opponent sits back. It’s not down to any individual. It’s the manager’s bizarre set-up.
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Amrabat can shine over all the other players except Casemiero if he's given the chance
 
"We rely heavily on Amrabat the next month"...

First game after this, on the bench, classic RedCafe.
 
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