Sorry mate, but I think this sentence could be placed alongside Gray's "Can Messi do it on a cold night in Stoke?" and Collymore's "PL team's won't allow to pass pretty patterns around them". Midfielders of possession teams have MORE time on the ball here than in La Liga or Bundesliga, IMO no team outside of top-6 presses well aside of Bournemouth, Brighton and (occasionally) Huddersfield. It will change once the owners start to invite progressive coaches in numbers (I suspect we'll see a kind of a 'German invasion' in the coming years).
The only unique feature of PL that makes it difficult is the style of refereeing - players are allowed to kick opponents more. But we've seen this season it's not a problem for City's technicians.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but your question implicitly contains the suggestion: "you need to be an athletic destroyer to play as DM in the Prem". Which is IMO wrong. Jorginho can tackle and head the ball fairly well, he's strong in challenges, but he won't be able to defend large gaps like Kante, Fred or Dinho as he lacks their mobility. What he brings in is a great decision-making, positioning and press-resistance. The most recent example of how it works is the Spurs game, when fragile Gundogan had no problems with Tottenham's high-pressing midfield.
Feel free to correct me if I misunderstood you.
I'm not saying you HAVE to be 'an athletic destroyer to play as a DM in the Prem', what I am saying is that the 2 most celebrated CDM's in the Prem are.
I always thought of Gundog as a creative CDM before he came here & was surprised when he was mainly used further forward. I think he's better as a CDM for City than a CM mainly because I'd pick KDB & Silva ahead of him.
However, when he deputised for Dinho during his ban, I thought Gundog was excellent, BUT as soon as Dinho's ban was up, it was as you were. The skilful, energetic CDM seems to be Pep's preference, so who am I to argue with Guardiola?
@ken tali As we've found, everything works ticketyboo until we come across a team like Liverpool who have a rapid, skilful, counter-attacking front line. It's when those inevitable counters start that I don't want to see a sloth-like Yaya wheezing his way over the halfway line back into position.
The fact we control most games limits the chances of this hurting us, but it's not so long ago that the rapid counter attack was an effective tactic used against us, hence Guardiola dispensing of our whole defence & buying players who not only could defend, but had skill, speed, but more importantly energy. Guardiola said the very same in a press conference 15 months ago.
@Silva_Spell Yes Pellegrini's preference for a midfield 2 with Yaya in there still boggles the mind, but to a degree the same still applies. Skill is the most important factor for a football player imo, but in certain areas (especially CDM) we need physicality added to that talent as a crucial skill set.
Guardiola obviously agrees judging by the way that as long as Dinho is fit, he plays. But how long are we going to rinse our 33 year old CDM King? The last thing we need is a cliff edge season where Dinho ages overnight because of the years of physical pressure exerted on his body.
Just as with Aguero, David Silva, Yaya (see KDB) & Kompany, we need to start our succession planning from now before it's forced upon us. This way we get time to ease new players in (Gundog/Bernardo) whilst the spine of our team evolves from the foundation of Aguero, Silva, Yaya, Fernandinho & Kompany, to whoever will eventually replace them.
Pep did the same en masse last summer when Sagna, Kolarov, Clichy & Zabaleta were released for younger, more energetic models. In this respect, Pep knows exactly what he's doing. To qualify that, all we have to do is compare our performances last season, to this.
Now to all of you, I'm not saying Jorginho isn't right for City, because I've seen very little of him to cast an opinion. This is why I put the question out there just so I could gather your more in depth knowledge of him as a player, so thank you for your considered & respectful responses.
