First Choice CM pairing?

[Guest RedIsMyColour]

You cannot use the argument of Gerrard playing RM.

 

You have to pick 2 from the 3, who do you choose?

[alias75]

why cant you use the argument of playing Gerrard elsewhere?

 

Its all about getting the best possible 11 you can and Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard would all be in the strongest 11 (imo) so id go for Alonso and Mascherano in the middle with Gerrard elsewhere but obviously still in the team.

[Guest RedIsMyColour]

why cant you use the argument of playing Gerrard elsewhere?

 

Its all about getting the best possible 11 you can and Alonso, Mascherano and Gerrard would all be in the strongest 11 (imo) so id go for Alonso and Mascherano in the middle with Gerrard elsewhere but obviously still in the team.

 

Because thats not the question.

[Guest Kaizer]

Alonso-Mascherano

 

With Gerrard out wide in some kind of free position.

[Guest RedIsMyColour]

I give up.

[Guest Kaizer]

I give up.

 

But you cant just leave out that option can you?

 

I think the above is what most people would like to see.

[Guz]

Arbeloa - Sissoko

[Leroy]

Why are you wasting our time

[alias75]

Because thats not the question.

 

Your question is whose the best pairing that doesn't mean Gerrard doesnt play if the best pairing is Alonso / Mascherano. For the record i think those 2 will be the best partnership anyway, but of course Gerrards going to be in your team somewhere.

[Guest RedIsMyColour]

Okay we have bought Cristiano Ronaldo for RM. Messi for LM and Drogba upfront to partner Torres.

 

Who do you play CM?

[Swipe]

Okay we have bought Cristiano Ronaldo for RM. Messi for LM and Drogba upfront to partner Torres.

 

Who do you play CM?

 

So your question is actually "do you play Gerrard in the middle if that's your only option"?

[Guest RedIsMyColour]

So your question is actually "do you play Gerrard in the middle if that's your only option"?

 

No.

 

Which is the best CM partnership out of our 3 best CM's.

[Knox_Harrington]

No.

 

Which is the best CM partnership out of our 3 best CM's.

Depends on who we are against, who's in wide areas and who's up front.

[Stevie H]

Depends on who we are against, who's in wide areas and who's up front.

and who is fit and what's for tea and who fernando torres wants to play centre mid.

 

poor thread.

[yellow jumper]

gerrard is our best attacking midfielder. start him right and let him wander.

[Guest Anders Honoré]

gerrard and alonso, in addition to being our two best midfielders, are also the ones who work together the best. Those two every time.

 

Having seen how many have gone for alonso/masch, you have to wonder how many understood the question. Of course Gerrard should be in there no matter what.

Edited December 26, 2007 by Anders Honoré

[meepins]

Having seen how many have gone for alonso/masch, you have to wonder how many understood the question.

The question is straight forward and the results are near enough as expected. I would have assumed a landslide victory for Alonso/Masch but c'est la vie.

Edited December 26, 2007 by meepins

[fred milne]

gerrard and alonso, in addition to being our two best midfielders, are also the ones who work together the best. Those two every time.

 

Having seen how many have gone for alonso/masch, you have to wonder how many understood the question. Of course Gerrard should be in there no matter what.

Gerrard-Alonso and Alonso-Mascherano are the two top-class CM pairings we have. If its a question of picking 2 from 3 then I agree that it has to be Gerrard-Alonso.

 

However, if we're not limited to selecting 2 from 3 then I reckon Alonso-Mascherano with Gerrard either ahead or to the right is the best use of our squad.

[Guest Anders Honoré]

The question is straight forward and the results are near enough as expected. I would have assumed a landslide victory for Alonso/Masch but c'est la vie.

 

you'd have gerrard on the bench behind those two if you could only pick them for central midfield?

 

why?

[Earl Hafler]

gerrard is our best attacking midfielder. start him right and let him wander.

 

 

I think that depends on who we have in defence and on the other attacking midfielder / forward,

 

When we play without Gerrard in the centre i think we suffer from a lack of forward running in the middle resulting in lack of numbers in the box and our strikers being isolated.

 

Who we play in central midfield is connected with who plays in attack and we need another high quality attacking player

[meepins]

you'd have gerrard on the bench behind those two if you could only pick them for central midfield?

 

why?

I wouldn't have him on the bench. He would be at right midfield where he would be free to do his thing.

The Gerrard clause is thrown in there to skew the results. It's a fallacious argument because we all know Gerrard won't be on the bench.

[Guz]

Something I've noticed when Xabi plays is that if we labour out of defence with the ball really slowly (which we do too often imo) then too much pressure is put on Xabi to make things happen imo. The opposition 'mark up' so to speak and deny us space, the gap between him and the rest of the midfield + forward line gets bigger and Xabi either has to play it long or dwindle on the ball looking for a pass. He does a lot of twisting and turning past whoever is trying to close him down a lot of the time when we're playing s*** because he doesnt have enough decent passing options forward. His role should be to give and receive the ball regularly and keep things flowing, not playing hollywood balls from a deep position. While it's great when they pay off we're not doing our chances of keeping the ball much help. When Sami went off and we changed shape today (not that we had much shape at that point) our players were too far from eachother, we werent anywhere near as compact as we usually are. Thats one of the keys to keeping the ball, you have to keep moving but move as a unit so whoever's on the ball always has an option.

 

When we play well, we're really good. When we're off the boil we stink the place out and are far too static in our movement.

[Kite]

I think that depends on who we have in defence and on the other attacking midfielder / forward,

Key point that, players never play in isolation ...

[BG]

Thing about an Alonso Masch pairing is you're basically accepting - in all probability - very, very few goals from central midfield.

 

Given Gerrard's clear reluctance to play on the right, his status at the club and Rafa basically saying he was going to be in the centre more this season (despite presence of Masch and Xabi) I would say that the original poster's caveat about not basing it around Gerrard at right mid would not only make this more interesting as a thread but may also be closer to a choice which will need to be made more and more.

[hideNseek]

But you cant just leave out that option can you?

 

I think the above is what most people would like to see.

Agree