Re: Fernando
Our 2 starting midfielders are rather limited and specialised. Fernando is the enforcer, the ball winner, but offers next to nothing when in possession, leaving yaya to do it all. Yaya is the other way around, dictates the play when in possession but out of possession he walks back, is rarely behind the ball and can't be relied on to track a players run. leaving Fernando to cover 2/3 men.
They should compliment each other nicely on paper, and against inferior opposition they do. The problem is when you come up against top European teams.
Their midfielders can do it all, both attack and defend, and they do it together. This is the reason why we very rarely dominate the midfield in Europe. With the ball, Fernando gets left to do what he wants as he's no threat and Yaya gets crowded out and conversely without the ball, Fernando can't cope single handedly against 2/3.
