Declan Rice

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Why does everyone who picks a starting 11 for next season pick a back 3 instead of a 4? Stones has been a revelation stepping into midfield, I'd be amazed if he doesn't carry on doing that role next season as part of a back 4.
 
OntarioBlue said:
Bernie ?
Ake ?

I think that they get in “our best starting eleven” all day long. Of course, Bernie may not be here but Ake definitely will.
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I’m assuming Bernie is gone, along with Gundo, Laporte and probably Walker.

Phillips plays minutes every game as we shuffle and rest midfielders, Alvarez comes on for Haaland or KDB at 60-70 mins, and Akanji and Ake rotate into the defence. Rodri gets some nice rest, as we have multiple DMs to help keep him fresh, and (heresy, I know…) Rice us developed into a more forward thinking player to relieve KDB.

There was a serious drop in performance, and expectation, when we rotated/rested even 4 players last season. We need to have slightly better squad depth, and for that we need players who are playing more minutes and whom Pep trusts.

Towards the end of the season, I mentioned (nit knowing he was carrying the injury) that KDB was 1 run away from tearing his hamstring, because he was being thrashed when he should have been putting his feet up after 60-70 minutes. The problem was, the drop off in the reshuffle was too great, especially with almost ANY injury in our midfield.

Accordingly, towards the end of the season, many of the players looked absolutely knackered by the 75th minute of tight games…games we had to win…including the FA Cup Final and the CL Final!

Pep needs more, better choices on the bench at times.
 
The Stockport Iniesta said:
Why does everyone who picks a starting 11 for next season pick a back 3 instead of a 4? Stones has been a revelation stepping into midfield, I'd be amazed if he doesn't carry on doing that role next season as part of a back 4.
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It’s perfectly adaptable to a Back 4 or even 5, but who the fuck are they marking in most games, where we play against a 5-4-1??

In that Back 3 set up, we can go to a 2-2, with Stones moving forward, or a 4-1, with either of Rice or Kovacic slotting into DM and Rodri sliding back and Stones moving wide.

Against teams with a pacy left winger, you can always play a RB at RCB and move Stones forward, or use Ake on the left, but it’s the basic shape we played since the World Cup, which won us the Treble, so I’m not sure it’s as controversial as you’re making it out to be!
 
ChicagoBlue said:
………..………EDERSON
……STONES….DIAS….GVARDIOL
…………………..RODRI
…….RICE……………………KOVACIC
……………..………KDB
FODEN……….HAALAND…….GREALISH

Come on you fuckers! Have some of this!!!
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So many questions.

So will stones drop into midfield like he has been doing?

If he does, which a role he has taken on superbly, out of the three of Rod, Rice and Kov moves forward?
 
GRB said:
So many questions.

So will stones drop into midfield like he has been doing?

If he does, which a role he has taken on superbly, out of the three of Rod, Rice and Kov moves forward?
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*who moves forward?
 
Can’t see the hype about this lad. If Guardiola wants him then so be it, but for me he is pretty average and won’t improve us one bit. Seriously hope we’re not interested and it’s all paper talk.
 
GRB said:
So many questions.

So will stones drop into midfield like he has been doing?

If he does, which a role he has taken on superbly, out of the three of Rod, Rice and Kov moves forward?
Click to expand...
Let’s not be too rigid in our thinking. Remember, the thought of Stones as a paired DM with Rodri wasn’t even on the radar 6 months ago!

If Stones can step forward, then he would, and the fluidity of our shape would morph into a 2-2-3-3 or 2-2-2-4.

The ONLY thing that concerned most people last season was the fast counter attack. That threat will be ever-present because Pep wants overloads going forwards, which can create exposure when the opposition breaks…especially when they break wide and we are not playing with recognized full backs.

That is why possession and ONLY losing the ball in the final third while trying to create the perfect scoring opportunity is acceptable…giving the opposition 80 yards before they get to our goal and our own players 80 yards to recover or check the counter attack.

The 2-2 gives you an opportunity to stop the attack in midfield, but if it has bypassed the midfield two by going wide, then one of Dias or Gvardiol (in this example) moves out wide to slow the attack allowing the 2 DMs to slot into a reconstituted back 4, with the two wide players in the midfield diamond funneling back into the now vacant DM roles to blunt any runners and the wingers (Foden & Grealish in the above line up) stopping any full backs from creating attacking overloads against us.

That leaves only Haaland up front, with KDB filling in as needed and able in midfield. As we have seen Alvarez is VERY GOOD at playing that KDB role, as he creates better defensive cover on the counter with his speed late in the game,
 
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