Hughes' defensive midfield system. Isn't 1 enough? Why use 3

[skybluekings]

How many times this season we have seen a starting trio of:
Kompany, Zabaleta and De Jong and at some point Gelson taking the place of one of them when one has been injured.

Do we really need to use 3? Even 2 seems too much!

What's Hughes going to do when more attacking minded midfield players come to the team. The like of (just saying) Kaka, Silva, Ronaldinho etc. Is he still going to use 2-3 DMs then? I'm sure we are the ONLY team in EPL football to play 3 DMs in the same game.

 

[Matty]

When you've got your lone striker, plus Robinho, SWP, Ireland all being given carte blanche to attack then you need 2 players to hold to stop the counter attack. I'll conceed that playing De Jong, Kompany and Zabaleta all in a defensive midfield role is excessive.

 

[blueonblue]

I'll conceed that playing De Jong, Kompany and Zabaleta all in a defensive midfield role is excessive

Not forgetting Micha is played in midfield, or certainly to far up the pitch to be counted as a full back.

The why is easy............numpty aint got a clue what he`s doing.

 

[TaylorWill07]

3 is way too many
2 tops.

 

[zak@work]

How many times this season we have seen a starting trio of:
Kompany, Zabaleta and De Jong and at some point Gelson taking the place of one of them when one has been injured.

Do we really need to use 3? Even 2 seems too much!

What's Hughes going to do when more attacking minded midfield players come to the team. The like of (just saying) Kaka, Silva, Ronaldinho etc. Is he still going to use 2-3 DMs then? I'm sure we are the ONLY team in EPL football to play 3 DMs in the same game.

aston villa?

 

[Kevcod]

I'll conceed that playing De Jong, Kompany and Zabaleta all in a defensive midfield role is excessive

Not forgetting Micha is played in midfield, or certainly to far up the pitch to be counted as a full back.

The why is easy............numpty aint got a clue what he`s doing.

Completely correct. Plus, they all sit centrally, so the opposition simply channel the ball down the wing, past the Black Arnie or Douglas Barder on the left. On Sunday a hopeful lob by "i'm free on the 27th fletcher" completely took out the whole midfield.

Hughes - tactical genius

 

[Project]

As far as I can recall we've used all 3 in central midfield once, and that was Liverpool away.

99% of the time we play 2 DMs and Ireland off them. People say its useless to do this at home but we've won 9 of the last 10 home games.

 

[liamctid]

How many times this season we have seen a starting trio of:
Kompany, Zabaleta and De Jong and at some point Gelson taking the place of one of them when one has been injured.

Do we really need to use 3? Even 2 seems too much!

What's Hughes going to do when more attacking minded midfield players come to the team. The like of (just saying) Kaka, Silva, Ronaldinho etc. Is he still going to use 2-3 DMs then? I'm sure we are the ONLY team in EPL football to play 3 DMs in the same game.

Go on then, apart from against Liverpool where we got a point, tell me another game where we've played all 3 across the midfield.

We were using Kompany as 1 with Elano and Ireland in front - good against shit teams, but we were completely overrun against anyone half decent.

Oh and you FAIL for referring to the Prem as the EPL.

 

[The Mancunian Way]

Hasn't got a clue?

Ffs, with de Jong and vinny the balance of the team is great. It allows the likes of swp, elano, superman and beano to play how they play best.

We have played 3 at times and only really due to injuries. I can't think of tmes when swp or beano have been dropped for a def mid.

Hughes is doing fine and next season we will be playing football like never before.

 

[staffs_blue]

If we are gonna continue to play the lone striker,then we need a top quality box to box midfielder who can defend and attack.Daniele de Rossi,Gareth Barry,Miguel Veloso or Xabi Alonso to name but 4.

When we play both VK and NdJ they never venture more than 10 yards inside the opositions half,cutting down our attacking options.

I'd move Kompany to centre back,have de Jong as the holding player and then de Rossi/Barry/Veloso/Alonso to accompany Ireland in the middle.

..........................Given

...Zabaleta...Onuoha...Kompany...Bridge

.......................De Jong

...............Ireland.........De Rossi/Barry/Veloso/Alonso

...SWP...............................Robinho

...................Bojinov/New Signing