Without a doubt, Zubimendi has been playing poorly ever since the Man UTD error. He stopped passing to the forwards in a line-breaking manner. Our wingers' poor performance, particularly on the left, heightens the situation even more. Even if we bring in Norgaard, I believe we still need to adjust our midfield's formation because they move the ball too deep within our side and the opposition is already back in shape by the time we get to them. For 70% of our campaign, the double pivot was successful, but teams have obviously begun to figure out how to make it ineffective. Your opinions?
by Any_Aide_4500
30 Comments
Rice at the 6 is all I’m asking for
Give Merino the super solider serum
We have what we have which is very limited. Play Norgaard, Havertz and Rice against Sporting to rest Eze and Zubimendi for City
We saw the issues in buildup when we try to play two deeper defensive mids and have eze play as a very attacking 10, we need odegaard back to bridge our defence and midfield
We need our best player back to play our best, it’s quite simple really
I wouldn’t fix anything. I’d just tell Rice, Zubimendi, Odegaard/Eze/Havertz/whoever is fit to lock the fuck in, pass and move, take some risks and grab the game by the scruff of the neck and show what it means to play for the badge. We have to cut out the trepidation and play like a team to be feared.
Arteta ain’t changing the lineup so best shot is working on spacing and angles between the 3 CMs. If both Rice and Zubi are ever next to the CBs while we are in possession, they should get the Eze/Cash treatment and never play again this season lol
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Any midfielder who operates well on the half turn fixes this, the build up needs someone to receive the ball between the press and connect the attack
I just want to see Odegaard play
We need an extra body in midfield, either we finally out MLS in the middle or have a midfield 3 of Norgaard, Zubi and Rice. With the latter 2 given more freedom to go forward, it won’t be the most creative midfield ever, but it’s not like it’s any better with Havertz there as of now.
Rice – Norgaard – Eze or
Eze – Rice – Odegaard
Play norgard from 70 mins to get some respite for Zubi/ Rice
We need to go back to two 8’s and be more adventurous as soon as we get past the first bank of the other teams defenders. We are currently stuck with a double pivot. Teams are putting a row of 4 in front of our 4.
Wingers also need to drop into the inside space to provide the out ball past that row of 4, rather than just trying to hug a touchline and run into the corner flag.
The best midfield composition this team could have, if all players were available is Zubimendi-Merino-Odegaard. Rice best skills would never be fully utilized by a top possession side team. He is obviously better than Merino or Zubimendi, but a great midfield is always bigger than the sum of their parts. Zubimendi-Merino-Odegaard all complement each other exceptionally well.
Stop passing sideways and backwards all the fucking time!!!
There is more forward movement in a rugby match compared to how we play!
Stop moving rice to LB and bringing our LB to midfield
We are without Saka , Merino.
Ode and Cala seem to have issues?
Eze is back from injury?
Think team will struggle till the end.
One of them needs to crash the box more often or shoot!
Preference would have been for Norgaard to have gained more minutes to reduce the load off Zubimendi, the guy has been inconsistent for the last few months and he could have done with being rested at points during the season – however, given that Norgaard has barely played this season, the idea of throwing him in in a title-defining match at the Etihad seems unrealistic
Keep Zubimendi in the 6, but Norgaard needs to gain more minutes to see out games, I would opt for putting Rice in the right 8 and Eze/Odegaard in the left 8 space, let’s be more direct in our midfield play
Tell Rice to play CDM alongside norgaard/zubi, and tell eze/Ø to play with creativity, risk, and vigor
A solid week of rest for Zubimendi would do wonders. How many minutes he’s played with Norgaard fit is ridiculous.
I’ll be honest I have absolutely no idea. I don’t think any of our personnel who are available can set up a functional midfield right now.
Back to basics. 433, one 6 two 8s. Either get Rice further forward or make him the 6. Get the lb inverting. That’s the best we’ve looked in the last 4 years.
All I know is Zubimendi needs a fucking break, and we need more creativity. So Imo, Rice, Odegaard and Eze should be the midfield to start vs City
Rice at 6, Eze and Jesus at 8 and cross fingers. Havertz up front. Jesus ready to drop deep and Eze to run on. Havertz doing both.
Throw odergaard or zubimendi or norgaard in depending on need during the game.
Dunno who tracks O’Brien against man city. Rice could, and probably best option of what we have, but it’s not best use of him and wouldn’t work if he was the lone 6.
Merino Rice Ø. Saka Havertz Madueke. Timber Hincapie Gabriel Saliba. Raya.
Dowman Eze Zubimendi Calafiori Gyokeres.
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Go back to fullbacks inverting into midfield to provide more passing options against mid blocks. Of course that would compromise our defensive solidity but not like that matters anymore. If we stick to current gameplan, we’re going to continue losing.
Honestly, there are 2 takes
1. Odegaard – rice – Eze
Use this as a lone 6. With our full backs playing as inverted full backs to pack our midfield to create more options. This hasn’t been done in a long time due to timber being injured , and calafiori being played as the free roaming LB. However this is hard because odegaard is still injured
2. Unpopular choice but
Rice – Norgaard – Zubimendi
Playing 1 more defensive midfielder seems counterintuitive to the attacking football we crave but if you look at all the games, the issue comes in our midfield losing duels, not connecting to the front and all. Basically we play badly against teams that choke us out. This is simply going back to basics, relieve some pressure off Zubimendi and make sure we control the midfield. The same concept of choking out the midfield , due to lack of personnel. This way , we can use Calafiori as the extra man to roam , or play hincapie and white as the standard overlapping full backs. If things don’t go well, drop in MLS to play as another extra man.
Either that or Hincapie and white slots back into defense while Saliba pushes forward, which has been tried a few times.
myles and rice play that and have rice sit.