It's no mystery that we lacked a really decent defensive midfielder since Masher left. In Hamman's opinion we should go for Oriol Romeu. What do you think?
Oriol Romeu
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No - he's a decent player mind you.
We need a quality defensive midfield player. We have needed one for years. So yes, I hope we buy one.
"Decent" is the word (although the bugger often seems to raise his game against us). We need better IMO, though whether we can actually get it remains to be seen.
Incidentally, while I was a big fan of Didi as a player I have to say he's a sh!t pundit.
Incidentally, while I was a big fan of Didi as a player I have to say he's a sh!t pundit.
He was very impressive at the weekend
I think we need a good DM more than we need another CB. A great part of Chelsea's success this season is Kante, and I'm sure the French league has more Kante's we can grab.
Kante makes it very hard to penetrate Chelsea's defence.
Kante makes it very hard to penetrate Chelsea's defence.
The football-world has gone Kante mad frankly.
You'd think he was the only fucking defensive midfielder to ever play the game, and the complete absence of one ensures no side can ever compete for the league again.
I get it. He's fucking brilliant, but sides have won stuff recently without his type too you know.
There's no Kante in the current Bayern, Real, or Barca sides. And they're all far fucking better than Chelsea. The Chelsea side that won the league under Mourinho had a fairly ordinary Matic in that role, and the City and United sides before them had who, Fernandinho and Carrick?
This fascination with us having to deploy a defensive midfielder to shield everything befuddles me. Henderson and Can are more than competent in those roles. Rather than them having to mop up for fucking everyone else, can't we just have decent defenders or a good fucking goalkeeper to do their job in the first place. I'd far prefer to focus there than on replacing a role where we have good options.
Or a better ball-playing midfielder would be nice.
You'd think he was the only fucking defensive midfielder to ever play the game, and the complete absence of one ensures no side can ever compete for the league again.
I get it. He's fucking brilliant, but sides have won stuff recently without his type too you know.
There's no Kante in the current Bayern, Real, or Barca sides. And they're all far fucking better than Chelsea. The Chelsea side that won the league under Mourinho had a fairly ordinary Matic in that role, and the City and United sides before them had who, Fernandinho and Carrick?
This fascination with us having to deploy a defensive midfielder to shield everything befuddles me. Henderson and Can are more than competent in those roles. Rather than them having to mop up for fucking everyone else, can't we just have decent defenders or a good fucking goalkeeper to do their job in the first place. I'd far prefer to focus there than on replacing a role where we have good options.
Or a better ball-playing midfielder would be nice.
While there's something in that, Ryan, a fair bit of it is rather slanted.
Bayern, Real and Barca don't play in the Prem and a pound to a penny says they'd deploy a DM if they did; Matic wasn't ordinary that season, he was excellent, though the arrival of Kante has itself overshadowed him a bit; and Hendo and Can aren't more than competent at the role - on the contrary, they're less than competent at it at times. Can did well against Citeh last time out but hasn't generally impressed me in that position (he's far better unleashed to go forward and, for most of the season, has looked a victim of Molby Syndrome, i,e,teams playing attacking midfielders in more defensive roles just because they happen to be big units) and Hendo, while his distribution has come on by leaps and bounds, is rather less impressive at the yard dog part of the job.
Nor is it only at the back that the effects of a good DM would be felt. He'd also release the Cans of this world to do the essentially attacking job to which they're best suited. They'd still have to accept a share of tracking back, but I suspect they're actually more likely to do that effectively if they're spending most of their time doing what they actually do best.
We do of course need to improve between the sticks and in the back four, whether by replacing current players or by improving them (a lot). Without at least one class DM ahead of them, though, those improvements will get us only so far. The balance in the midfield just isn't right yet.
Bayern, Real and Barca don't play in the Prem and a pound to a penny says they'd deploy a DM if they did; Matic wasn't ordinary that season, he was excellent, though the arrival of Kante has itself overshadowed him a bit; and Hendo and Can aren't more than competent at the role - on the contrary, they're less than competent at it at times. Can did well against Citeh last time out but hasn't generally impressed me in that position (he's far better unleashed to go forward and, for most of the season, has looked a victim of Molby Syndrome, i,e,teams playing attacking midfielders in more defensive roles just because they happen to be big units) and Hendo, while his distribution has come on by leaps and bounds, is rather less impressive at the yard dog part of the job.
Nor is it only at the back that the effects of a good DM would be felt. He'd also release the Cans of this world to do the essentially attacking job to which they're best suited. They'd still have to accept a share of tracking back, but I suspect they're actually more likely to do that effectively if they're spending most of their time doing what they actually do best.
We do of course need to improve between the sticks and in the back four, whether by replacing current players or by improving them (a lot). Without at least one class DM ahead of them, though, those improvements will get us only so far. The balance in the midfield just isn't right yet.
@LeTallecWiz Can you change the title please to "Defensive Midfielders".
Nemanja Matić could be surplus to requirements, should we make a bid for him?
I don't want to start another thread and I know it's probably preposterous and he's far from the player he once was and it possibly the antithesis of Klopps game, he's a Prima Donna yadayadayada but Yaya Toure is a free agent this summer - has he got a season left in him even if much of it was from the bench?
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