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The future of our midfield

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Fabio

Fabio

Former mod, consistent c***
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rurikbird said:
A more interesting question for me is this: if the rumors are true about our serious interest in Mkhitaryan, it means Rodgers is not satisfied with his current options in central/attacking midfield and considers this area a much bigger priority than I thought.

It kind of makes sense if you consider that Mkhitaryan, (and also Eriksen, with whom we've also been linked) is a midfielder who likes to run forward with the ball, and currently we don't really have anyone in our central midfield who does that on a consistent basis. Our midfield is still not dynamic enough. But if we buy a player like that, Allen will most likely have to compete with Gerrard for the same position...
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Who's our future then?

Is Allen a long term replacement for gerrards current position? Had rodgers lost faith in our current lot?
 
I think Mhitaryan or Eriksen can be viewed as long-term replacements for Gerrard in his younger days - a CM who is bombing forward at every opportunity. As for this current version of Gerrard, yes, I'm guessing Rodgers sees Allen as a long-term replacement. If Allen returns to the form he showed before his shoulder injury, and keeps improving with years, there should be nothing depressing about that.

One of the secrets of Barca's success in recent years is that their midfield rests on 3 pillars: a Defender (Yaya or Busquets), a Passer (Xavi) and a Runner (Iniesta). Obviously Iniesta can pass too and Xavi can run when necessary, but this is the most basic and roughly accurate way to describe their respective roles.

If Rodgers is thinking along the same lines (we don't know for sure, but let's suppose that he is), then in the current midfield set-up we have 1 Defender (Lucas), 2 Passers (Gerrard and Allen) and 1 jack-of-all-trades type (Hendo). With either Eriksen or Mkhitaryan, we will add a Runner to the midfield 3 and hopefully achieve a better balance as a result.
 
Rodgers had that 3 pillars which rurikbird mentioned, at Swansea too. Britton, Allen, Gower (subsequently Sigurdsson).

Britton was the 'English Busquets' ( & known for his "best pass completion rate of 93% in the Premier League last season")
http://espnfc.com/columns/story/_/id/1016303/norman-hubbard:-britton's-got-talent?cc=4716

Allen was the 'Welsh Xavi'
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football...XaviBrendan-Rodgers-Joe-Allen-is-a-Welsh-Xavi

Gower was the link man ("created more goal-scoring opportunities per game (3.46) last season than Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney")
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...istics-Is-Wayne-Rooney-better-Mark-Gower.html

Sigurdsson was an upgrade on Gower in terms of age and goalscoring prowess (7 goals and 4 assists in 19 games)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16671596

Rodger's been looking to fill the no. 10 role, hasn't he? Wanted to make the Icelandic national no. 10 his signing last season and now linked with 2 others (Mkhitaryan, Eriksen) who can play in the role.
 
It looks like Rodgers is trying to fill the #8 role - a dynamic midfielder who makes runs from deep positions. #10 for me is more of a player who is always positioned between the lines and doesn't drop too deep - someone like Totti rather than Gerrard or Iniesta. Coutihno can be the #10, but I expect him to start on the wing in most games for us.
 
I'm not sure Lucas is good enough though. And we dont have a back up either. I'm guessing Hendo could fit that role, but I'd sign someone like Wanyama.
That would add a lot to our defensive strengths.

If Eriksen is brought in I think we'll be back to the 4-3-3 with Luis on the left.
 
Binny said:
Rodgers had that 3 pillars which rurikbird mentioned, at Swansea too. Britton, Allen, Gower (subsequently Sigurdsson).

Britton was the 'English Busquets' ( & known for his "best pass completion rate of 93% in the Premier League last season")
http://espnfc.com/columns/story/_/id/1016303/norman-hubbard:-britton's-got-talent?cc=4716

Allen was the 'Welsh Xavi'
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football...XaviBrendan-Rodgers-Joe-Allen-is-a-Welsh-Xavi

Gower was the link man ("created more goal-scoring opportunities per game (3.46) last season than Messi, Ronaldo and Rooney")
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...istics-Is-Wayne-Rooney-better-Mark-Gower.html

Sigurdsson was an upgrade on Gower in terms of age and goalscoring prowess (7 goals and 4 assists in 19 games)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16671596

Rodger's been looking to fill the no. 10 role, hasn't he? Wanted to make the Icelandic national no. 10 his signing last season and now linked with 2 others (Mkhitaryan, Eriksen) who can play in the role.
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Interesting post.

Can I add that I actually think the player Eriksen has reminded me of the most on his best days is Iniesta. Not his class yet of course but has got some of the same movement, incredible first touch and a great eye for team mates. Would kind of suit your theory well.

Eriksen's main area of development has got to be his scoring-rate. He needs to be more clinical in front of goal.
 
the_khl said:
Interesting post.

Can I add that I actually think the player Eriksen has reminded me of the most on his best days is Iniesta. Not his class yet of course but has got some of the same movement, incredible first touch and a great eye for team mates. Would kind of suit your theory well.

Eriksen's main area of development has got to be his scoring-rate. He needs to be more clinical in front of goal.
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6 months ago he would have been perfect for us.
 
the_khl said:
Interesting post.

Can I add that I actually think the player Eriksen has reminded me of the most on his best days is Iniesta. Not his class yet of course but has got some of the same movement, incredible first touch and a great eye for team mates. Would kind of suit your theory well.

Eriksen's main area of development has got to be his scoring-rate. He needs to be more clinical in front of goal.
Click to expand...

Even the great Iniesta himself is not a prolific goalscorer. He just scores the most important ones :)
 
goodspam said:
So, does this mean that Shelvey has no future?
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I think Shelvey needs to go on loan along with Suso. They both have talent but they need to develop it somewhere other than our 1st team because we can't accomodate one of them on a consistent basis never mind both of them. Sterling and Wisdom are capable of coming in and doing a job but the other 2 have been too inconsistent.
 
Shelvey can go to crystal palace. Holloway is there, and its not far from Charlton. Hopefully a season there will get them promoted, convince him to stay, and convince palace to spend several million.

Having said that, he can also stay as its not like he has a poulsenesque levels of shit stain on our squad.
 
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