Thought the first half was great. We were more compact and Fernando's role was more limited. He executed it well and since we had plenty of space to operate in his limited passing and movement wasn't a big issue. He cleaned things up as they came out and made a real impact on the match
I thought the 2nd half looked more like most of the rest of the season. We were much more lethargic and somehow spread out and Fernando ended up chasing shadows as he has done all season. I can appreciate that this may not be the player's fault, but he's not able to tighten things up when they're getting out of hand, there's must too much space and too many passes to try to cover. He ends up being easily bypassed and honestly ends up being a bit of a waste out there. It's tough for me because I see a role for him in the team we were in the 1st half, where we were playing more of a counter attacking style even if we had most of the ball -- breaking with pace with 3 or 4 after every horrible West Ham turnover ( and there were loads of them). But when we played something more like how we've played this season, I just don't think he offers enough to justify playing a DM, as others have said.
His passing is generally fine, every once in a while he sends a rocket to someone's feet but his movement drives me insane. He never makes a move to form a triangle, so he often strands his teammates without having an option. For some reason, he has this instinct to make a round run behind the player he just passed to. Nobody seems comfortable with this interchange and it allows teams to press his midfield partner and him at the same time while he's making this run since they occupy a couple of square yards between them.
I thought the 2nd half looked more like most of the rest of the season. We were much more lethargic and somehow spread out and Fernando ended up chasing shadows as he has done all season. I can appreciate that this may not be the player's fault, but he's not able to tighten things up when they're getting out of hand, there's must too much space and too many passes to try to cover. He ends up being easily bypassed and honestly ends up being a bit of a waste out there. It's tough for me because I see a role for him in the team we were in the 1st half, where we were playing more of a counter attacking style even if we had most of the ball -- breaking with pace with 3 or 4 after every horrible West Ham turnover ( and there were loads of them). But when we played something more like how we've played this season, I just don't think he offers enough to justify playing a DM, as others have said.
His passing is generally fine, every once in a while he sends a rocket to someone's feet but his movement drives me insane. He never makes a move to form a triangle, so he often strands his teammates without having an option. For some reason, he has this instinct to make a round run behind the player he just passed to. Nobody seems comfortable with this interchange and it allows teams to press his midfield partner and him at the same time while he's making this run since they occupy a couple of square yards between them.