Our best recent teams have always had one.
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bluestevon
Player Valuation: £80m
Dunno if we will do mate - think we may look for a ball player in that 6 role yanno.
And vary between 5-3-2 against the best sides and at home and away v dross play 4-3-3
Not saying we will/won't just saying we've never been good without one in the PL.
billyblue80
Player Valuation: £70m
Agree it's a crucial position
IrishBlue2022
Player Valuation: £15m
Just because we haven't been linked with any defensive minded midfielders doesn't mean we aren't working on or haven't prioritised the signing of one.
We can speculate all we like but lets hold off on complaining because the newspapers and twitter "ITK's" haven't created any stories yet.
Lets wait until the transfer window closes and assess how we are shaped as a squad.
We can speculate all we like but lets hold off on complaining because the newspapers and twitter "ITK's" haven't created any stories yet.
Lets wait until the transfer window closes and assess how we are shaped as a squad.
Been like that for years tbh.
Since Lampard came in we only tried to have possession and control matches when Donny or Delph were available as a 6. The other matches were all about how long and how high Pickford can kick the ball.
It seems obvious that Lampard likes a ball playing 6. And with three CDs on the pitch, one of those can play with aggression and step into midfield area to intercept or tackle. As both Godfrey and Holgate often did last season.
Never been a fan of Harry Winks, but I think he fits the profile Lampard are looking for. He wants a Jorginho, not a Kante. Nothing fancy but reliable, and when you look at the stats, the player has most touches and most passes on the pitch.
Guessing Gilmour will be Lampards first choice, but he never looked good for Norwich. And for Chelsea to sell Gilmour to Everton, it will probably have to wait until after the first match of the season.
In a perfect world Manchester United buys a new midfield and look to sell Donny van de Beek.
KaiserEFC
Player Valuation: £70m
I’d say we’re in major trouble and we’re a couple of injuries away from irreparable damage
Simon Buttle
Player Valuation: £50m
No thanks.
Seko Fofana? or too old?
bluestevon
Player Valuation: £80m
Think so too. I'm guessing he has Winks, Gilmour and probably a few others similar in profile and it'll cone down to whichever makes more financial sense close to the start of the season.
Think also it'll depend on who else arrives in midfield.
Linked to Zinchenko, Gallacher, MGW all of whom are attack minded CMs but of different profiles - Zinchenko more a creative player Gallacher more a scoring mid, MGW looks a bit of both, if 2 of those arrived with a number 6 then if the recruitment has been done well they should blend well together.
All three of the mids I mentioned are great pressers of the ball and all three rate well in metrics like interceptions forced loss of possession etc, so whilst we wouldn't have an out and out ball winner in cm, I'd argue looking across the park for a good period the had the likes of Henderson, Wijnaldum, Milner, in the centre - none of whom I'd class as a ball winner - but all players who pressed well as a unit.
Could a midfield of Gilmour/Winks and two of Gallacher/MGW/Zinchenko work well together, I think if they are part of a well organized team with a set style of play and pressing then yup - it just wouldn't be a system we've seen before here which has always kinda had that midfielder whose only job is to disrupt, Carsley, Gueye etc.
Bluelladevil
Player Valuation: £750k
Couldn't agree more with OP. We escaped relegation by the skin of our teeth. We know we've got a tough season ahead of us so, above all, we should make ourselves difficult to beat. A few resilient, battling 0-0 or 1-1 draws especially away from home, rather than the abject capitulations we had to witness, would have seen us safe long before the penultimate game of the season.
Allan can' t do it physically - he runs out of gas at 70 mins, the Watford game showed that. Given up on Gbamin.
We've missed out on Bissouma, Kamara, Palhinha, Adams, probably Cheike Doucoure. Possibles - Sangare, Berge (though both seem to lack pace and not specialist DMs), Idrissu Baba, Skhiri.
But if we're skint as seems likely then perhaps convert Doucoure to the role. When he broke into the team I suggested Tom Davies should change his game to that role and still believe it.
Allan can' t do it physically - he runs out of gas at 70 mins, the Watford game showed that. Given up on Gbamin.
We've missed out on Bissouma, Kamara, Palhinha, Adams, probably Cheike Doucoure. Possibles - Sangare, Berge (though both seem to lack pace and not specialist DMs), Idrissu Baba, Skhiri.
But if we're skint as seems likely then perhaps convert Doucoure to the role. When he broke into the team I suggested Tom Davies should change his game to that role and still believe it.
Miss blue beard
Player Valuation: £500k
We will Definitely be down there again this year, scraping through the season.
Gilbert..
Player Valuation: £40m
The games delph played spoke volumes. I think if memory serves correct we never lost a game when he started 6 games in the run in. And the games around those at the time he didnt we lost.
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