Romario

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He looks like he's playing with the flu for half the season but he was great the other night. Him and Mo started a little deeper and he was way more involved. He's far better with the ball played to his feet a little deeper than winning headers further up the pitch. He's basically Grav but 10 yards further forward.

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We should buy both Rice and Zubimendi and not play them and let Slot slag them off every week for being crap like Ramsey.

Again Rice plays in a double pivot. Drop Rice in for Grav and whatever problems we have will still be there. In fact Gravs ability to spin and turn defense into attack is absolutely world class and I don’t see many players to that like he does. Rodri is or was a different beast as he did do the role on his own. But it was in a city team that had 5 lads ahead of him that seems to never lose the ball so I’m not sure how tested he was. Be interesting to see how well he does now in this city team are a different team altogether.

This feels more solid to me: ———————Ali Bradley——-Konate——-Virg——Kirkez —————Dom——-Grav Mo—————Wirtz————Gakpo ——————-Hugo Than what we currently do: ———————Ali Bradley——-Konate——-Virg——Kirkez ———————-Grav ———-Dom—————-Wirtz Mo—————-Hugo———-Gakpo If Wirtz is classed as a midfielder and Dom doesn’t have to play RB then 2 from Grav Dom Macca and Jones feels better as the 4 holders and less a priority than the defence and lack of wide forwards. To me anyways. But if Mac went to Madrid and we got someone like Tchouaméni in then happy days.

We either play a 4 3 3 or a 4 5 1 (4 2 3 1) The big difference is having a double pivot in the middle like a Dom and Grav ( Vieira and Petit/Silva) rather than a single one like Grav or Fabinho. Fabinho looked amazing as the other two midfielders were basically 6s as well and their main jobs were destroyers. But if we had 3 in the middle and two are Dom and Grav then the 3rd is Wirtz just ahead of them and the other 3 are Gakpo Mo and Hugo. Call the formation whatever you like but it’s a 4 2 and then 4 lads who attack like we did last night. The big difference is how we look without the ball. They are all brilliant footballers but last night we looked like a 4 5 1 without the ball and then a 4 2 4 with the ball (4231) It made a big difference.

He was absolutely brilliant last night. Brilliant defending. Ran all night. Super aggressive without being daft. Great outlet up front and showed moments of great skill at times that I hadn’t seen from him before. If that’s a level he can match most weeks then we are sorted for a long time.

So while Vieira makes most teams better I can’t see why a two of Dom and Grav can’t make us more solid with 3 ahead and one forward. Vieira had either World Cup winner Petit or World Cup winner Silva standing beside him while Grav is holding it on his own like Fabinho did in a 3. It’s a huge difference maker.

Those stats say similar. This tactic was used against Klopp too but not to the extreme it is now. But we had a different set up then. 3 world class amazing fast forwards who press and score all the goals and then a midfield of complete destroyers where we’d go seasons where none of them scored a goal ( or only a handful) as that wasn’t their business. This season we probably have 15-20 goals from a midfield that both defends and is creative and we haven’t solved the balance. I think Slots comments are bore out of frustration too. We’ve gone the route of introducing a Thiago like player in Wirtz and other class footballers into a league that decided in the summer that Sunday league tactics reduces the effect of class players as a 5 million 6 foot 4 athlete has a better chance of winning a second ball in the air than a Macca or Wirtz. Man City seem to struggle with it too. Maybe football has changed and no one told us that Joelinton would have been an uncool signing but a difference maker. I dunno.

I think we are as well. Getting better I mean. Although really slowly. I know Macca has been poor this season but last night I watched him and I thought he cleaned up amazingly at the back. He was always there around the box picking up the second balls and getting a foot on the end of loose balls. It’s not pretty but it’s vital. We have brilliant players with the ball but without the ball they’ve looked really poor or badly coached. I find it an interesting problem. It’s not the low block on its own that’s the problem but we have made that harder by not replacing wide players like Diaz. Wirtz was bought for this issue too and we are slowly seeing what he can do now. The problem is the combo of a deep low block that asks you or forces you to push up high then countered with Sunday league hoof and hope balls over and over that force you to drop and not press. The team gets stretched and it looks like we are getting walked through and sucker punched which we have. It kinda explains why we’ve looked clueless at times and chew the ball. Do we continue with the high press or do we sit deeper? Or do we end up somewhere in the middle which looks like we’re doing neither which is what we’ve looked like this season. Clueless. Press high and get caught on the counter and look like idiots or sit deeper and hold onto the ball waiting for the perfect moment. It’s a really reductive tactic that’s surprisingly effective. Maybe a better coach solves this instantly I dunno.