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Defensive midfielder fixation

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carlv

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Why is there a fixation on here that we need a defensive or holding midfielder.
Last season the goals scored/conceded and goal difference for each of the top seven were as follows
Man Utd 86/43 43
Man City 66/34 32
Chelsea 75/39 36
Arsenal 72/37 35
Spurs 66/46 20
Everton 55/40 15
Liverpool 71/43 28
Which of the teams above us employ an outright DM/HM as far as I can see none of them> Man City possibly with Barry but he didn't play regularly, nor did Mikel for Chelsea. Arsenal have nobody who can tackle and again for Spurs Parker didn't play very often. The only team it seems that plays with a DM is us perhaps Lucas shouldn't be a starter so why have cover for him maybe we need more box to box players and high energy.
 
We have a very fluid attacking unit now, meaning when we lose the ball defending from the front can prove difficult. Last season we failed to control the match, particularly against the better sides, and struggled to pick up points as a consequence.

Steven Gerrard, for all his qualities, isn't a player who can stop opposition attacks with regularity because he's not that sort of player.Allen underperformed last year and Lucas struggling to replicate his brief spell of quality.

Henderson has the required energy, adaptability and work rate to be great in that position for us - but Rodgers doesn't seem to agree. .
 
Sandro does the job for Tottenham and was doing pretty well until his injury earlier in the year. Think his nickname is 'The Beast' too.
 
We need a Makelele/Essien/Paulinho/Mascherano/Viera/Edgar Davids type of DM - one who can tackle, pass and chip in with the odd goal or two.

Is it too much to ask for ?!?!

PS : for me, Frank Rijkaard was arguably the best DM ever.
 
We definitely DO NOT need to buy a DM'er BUT if we are to play with one (Lucas being the current choice) we need better than Lucas.
 
Not necessarily an outright holding/defensive mid, but midfielders that can defend, which is even more important for us because our back line tends to be so fragile.City have Garcia/Toure/Barry for that, Chelsea Ramirez/Mikel/Luiz, etc
 
The big difference is that we have a very lightweight midfield and the other teams don't. Bar Arsenal of course and they need one. Badly.
 
TheThingIs said:
We have a very fluid attacking unit now, meaning when we lose the ball defending from the front can prove difficult. Last season we failed to control the match, particularly against the better sides, and struggled to pick up points as a consequence.

Steven Gerrard, for all his qualities, isn't a player who can stop opposition attacks with regularity because he's not that sort of player.Allen underperformed last year and Lucas struggling to replicate his brief spell of quality.

Henderson has the required energy, adaptability and work rate to be great in that position for us - but Rodgers doesn't seem to agree. .
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Quite. That control also provides the spring board for attacks, by winning back possession to restart moves, when we lose the ball we stand off the opposition too much, we become too static and are too often found out of position, it's great that we have that fluidity in attack, but it needs a platform to rely on when we lose the ball, players to pull the shape back together and provide discipline and a foot on the ball, personally I think Xabi and a DM would go along way to achieving this.
 
Apparently roads are frozen in Liverpool.

Something about us needing grit.
 
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I think the recent obsession with defensive midfielders as some kind of special breed of player has let the rest of midfield off the hook. They have to be seen as part of a unit. Someone like Hamman was brilliant because he was fully integrated and played the ball forward. Someone like Lucas, unless he's on top form, flits about as if he's not part of the midfield at all. It's probably just the case that the very best enhance a team but most of the rest fit only awkwardly into the team.
 
Lucas protects the back 4, but what else does he offer? His game seems very limited and still gives away stupid fouls around our box.
 
Well that's his main job - and then to give the ball to the guys like Gerrard, Coutinho, etc. to work their magic. Would be great if he could also do what he was supposedly able to do in Brazil, but by his own admission, he found that he wasn't able to do that in the league and thus settled on being a defensive-minded player instead.

I think he improved and cut down his silly / sloppy fouls around the box under Kenny, but the ACL injury and then the thigh muscle tear clearly set him back a fair bit at the worst of times. It remains to be seen if he'll return to better form next season and I hope he will. We can do with at least a serious challenger for the position nonetheless because right now, we're really relying on one person in that important position, unless Gerrard doesn't mind the role, and commits/disciplines himself to do it.
 
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