bluemangroup
Player Valuation: £70m
Think if you threw a bit of money at Norwich for Fer you have a really low rent version of Keane and Viera. Fer has impressed me still at a Norwich team not really hitting the heights.
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toffeeblue9
Player Valuation: £35m
I think McCarthy is excellent, has the energy and athleticism to get all over the pitch and there's attributes there for him to go on and become a top midfielder. I'm glad we spent that money on him.
The thing with him is that he hasn't developed the sense of positioning that Barry has yet and he doesn't have enough quality on the ball in an attacking sense to be a huge threat going forwards. I'm not sure that's something you can coach, so I expect him to have to adapt in other ways.
Pairing him with Barry at the moment makes a lot of sense but essentially in the long term we need him to develop a more mature outlook to his game in terms of a defensive role. At the moment he charges about and presses the opposition, often winning the ball relatively high up the pitch or in unorthodox areas but he lacks the tactical mind that Barry does about where to be on the pitch sometimes. He compensates for that with his ability to get there because of his athletic qualities but unless we're happy we play with two holding players forever, we need him to become Barry's replacement in the long term. I have every confidence in his ability to do that, but at the moment I think we'd be very naïve in midfield without Barry's influence there.
Arteta though? That's a dreadful shout. Not sure he could be more different.
The thing with him is that he hasn't developed the sense of positioning that Barry has yet and he doesn't have enough quality on the ball in an attacking sense to be a huge threat going forwards. I'm not sure that's something you can coach, so I expect him to have to adapt in other ways.
Pairing him with Barry at the moment makes a lot of sense but essentially in the long term we need him to develop a more mature outlook to his game in terms of a defensive role. At the moment he charges about and presses the opposition, often winning the ball relatively high up the pitch or in unorthodox areas but he lacks the tactical mind that Barry does about where to be on the pitch sometimes. He compensates for that with his ability to get there because of his athletic qualities but unless we're happy we play with two holding players forever, we need him to become Barry's replacement in the long term. I have every confidence in his ability to do that, but at the moment I think we'd be very naïve in midfield without Barry's influence there.
Arteta though? That's a dreadful shout. Not sure he could be more different.
kevdotbadger
Player Valuation: £2.5m
This.
Liverpool play with the 3 in the middle, but 2 attacking and 1 defending. We do this the other way around with 2 defending and 1 attacking. I'd like to think Martinez decided for the defending 2 as it was his first season and after getting relegated last season he didn't want the same thing happening to us! Liverpool also has pace on both wings and that works to tremendous effect, we've only got 1 fast winger who plays a lot. Another difference is because of the quality of our full backs, we don't really need to counter with the wingers, we're happy to slowly build the play into the attacking 1/3 with 2 players on each wing.
I'd prefer them to play with 2 attacking mids, and one defending. But with Barry pace, that's a bad idea. If we keep Barry after the summer, expect the situation to be the same. However, if he opts to not join, I can see McCarthy doing the defensive role similar to how Gerrard's been doing it at Liverpool.
kevdotbadger
Player Valuation: £2.5m
Colman Stones/Distin Jags Baines
McCarthy
Mirallas/? Barkley ? McGeady/?
Lukaku/?
However, if Barry stays
Colman Stones/Distin Jags Baines
McCarthy Barry
Mirallas/? Barkley McGeady/?
Lukaku/?
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