Who is in your first choice midfield 3?

[01cravend]

------------------Gundogan--------------
--------KDB--------------------B.Silva-----


Gundogan at 6 offers us control we lack without Dave in the team.

KDB

B.Silva offers the non-stop pressing and he's the best at keeping the ball under pressure in the team, something we also lack without Dave.

 

[FantasyIreland]

------------------Gundogan--------------
--------KDB--------------------B.Silva-----


Gundogan at 6 offers us control we lack without Dave in the team.

KDB

B.Silva offers the non-stop pressing and he's the best at keeping the ball under pressure in the team, something we also lack without Dave.

Who up front?

 

[cjn]

------------------Gundogan--------------
--------KDB--------------------B.Silva-----


Gundogan at 6 offers us control we lack without Dave in the team.

KDB

B.Silva offers the non-stop pressing and he's the best at keeping the ball under pressure in the team, something we also lack without Dave.

This is mine as well, with Foden out on the right. Gundo's best position for me is clearly the six - once we have Laporte and Dias settled in at the back I hope we see him there more.

 

[Shaelumstash]

...........Rodri OR Gundogan
......KDB..........Foden OR Bernado

Any of the above would be absolutely fine.

The problems start when he plays Rodri AND Gundogan in the same team.

When they both play as holding midfielders, they’re too slow and we can’t press and we generally look wank against poor teams.

Gundogan playing as an 8 should never be considered as an option. He simply can’t do it. He hasn’t had a good game in that position for four years.

 

[01cravend]

Who up front?

Sterling--------Jesus---------Foden

Torres to rotate with Phil and the wingers to swap positions throughout the game. Rather than play Mahrez or Bernie up top who operate exclusively on the right which takes away the seamless switching wings.

Gabby and Phil constant pressing from the front with Bernie and KDB on the second press, oppo won't be able to cope with trying to pass out so will resort to lumping it, we maintain progressive control.

 

[bluedan]

......GUNDO...sitting deep and then a two interchanging in KDB and Foden.

I am not Gundo's biggest fan but he looks a lot leaner this year and have more trust in him than Rodri at present.

Foden's legs would help him and Kev.

I'd argue Bernardo also playing wide right in the Mahrez role would also make up an extra man and pair of legs.

Quite right we are lacking legs in the midfield but I cant help but feel we need to revert to what worked so well in 17/18 and in 18/19. Having wingers on the sides of the pitch of their favoured foot. I think this explained why he brought Zinchenko on.

Mahrex being left footed playing on the right and Sterling coming inside on to his right not only looks predictable, but clogs up the space in the middle. We need to start using the full width of the pitch, by the wingers.

What we would have given for a front three of Sane - Jesus - Sterling, on Saturday.

 

[blue61]

At present the best team for me based on likely availability. I am assuming Sergio and Jesus are both weeks away
Ederson
Ake LaPorte Dias Walker
Gundo
Foden De-Bruyne
Bernardo Sterling Torres

Lot more energy and speed of play with this team. Gundo is much better than Rodri in the holding role.

Possibly switch positions for Foden/Bernardo against strong counter attacking teams. The front three need to rotate frequently during games.

This team also gives us a better chance of closing down teams in their own half. A strong physical backline gives us the protection of when teams launch balls by-passing the midfield and press

Pep looks to have a changed mindset since the Leicester game where he made a huge mistake taking off Fernandinho, he now looks to be putting in 2 holding midfielders to protect against the counter attack.

 

[Semper aggressus]

Such a shame that Rodri has turned out to be such a disappointment that we even need this discussion. Either poor scouting, arrogance on our part or a failure of the player to adapt to the speed of the PL. Maybe a bit of all three.

Not sure who else was available to fulfill our defensive midfield role though. Who is closest to peak Fernandinho in world football at the moment? Kante? Ndidi? Partey? Grealish?

Whoever it is, we need to sign someone more suitable than Rodri for next season. Players just stroll past him.

 

[twosips]

What does that even mean?

"We can't have Gundogan in midfield, because when we did have him in midfield the side was so well balanced." Yeah, maybe because the midfield was well balanced?

If you are working on the assumption we can't have a balanced side because we don't have Kompany, Sterling is out of form, the strikers are injured, we don't have a LB etc. then it doesn't matter who you put in midfield, they're going to fail and the side is going to be unbalanced.

IMO the best midfield is Gundogan at 6, KDB and either Bernardo or Foden replacing David Silva. Fernandinho is clearly not going to be a starter this season based on how he's been used so far, Rodri isn't half as bad as people make out, but Gundogan is better.

Tbh, I meant the system, not the individuals. As I said, it was mechanically perfect, like clockwork. So perfect, that as long as 8/9 of the cogs that made it perfect were there and performing the exact roles that they were meant to it didn't perhaps matter that we had Zinc at left-back or a less dynamic #6 in Gundogan.

Now that clock is missing several elements that had it running so smoothly so PERHAPS Gundogan and people who were a bit below that level show up a tad more? I could be wrong of course, but that's all I'm getting at. We know the midfield that made us so great was Ferna/KDB/Silva. Gundogan was a fantastic deputy, but I don't think we'd have won all the trophies we'd have won over those two years if we'd never had Ferna and just Gundogan instead. I think in a fully functioning, brilliant team, Gundogan is a fine stand in. However, in a team that's lacking a brilliant identity, which I think we are now, maybe he doesn't work quite as well, and we do need a heartbeat like Fernandinho?

Fuck knows who that is though, as I don't think we have that anymore. I could also be wrong. It's not exactly unheard of though that great players can elevate very good players to their level, and a confused, out of form team with less great players can make very good players just 'good'. We've seen this countless times before. World class players drag others up to their level. Happens with great sides everywhere.

EDIT - I do actually think gundogan is our best option at 6 currently, but that doesn't mean I think we'll be successful with him there though long term. I think the team around him isn't good enough at the moment.

 

[Dr Jacoby]

Two of the three should never consist of Gundogan and Rodri.

Against weaker opponents, I quite like the idea of Foden, KDB and Bernardo.