The Midfield

[N'ZMAV]

How about we try Clark in there and stick Dunne and Vlaar at the back. Maybe Herd in the middle with Clark. Then that should make us a little more solid in front of the back 4. As they're both pretty shit in the back 4 lately.

[sirlordbaltimore]

what's a midfield ?. i've forgotten

[eastie]

Westwood is the best midfielder we have by a distance ., big mistake leaving him on the bench.

[Monty]

Bannan and Westwood are good I think, particularly as a pair. The rest really are inadequate, and those two need another player with them.

They are essentially the same though Monty and that is one of the problems.  They are both decent on the ball and in possession (though Bannan gives the ball away more than Westwood), but neither are a real physical presence, neither offer any bite, neither offer any drive to run with the ball and neither chip in with goals.  What we really need is one of them to play alongside a player who has a few of the qualities mentioned above. 

In lieu of anyone else coming in, I wouldn't mind seeing Bannan given an opportunity in the more advanced midfield role.

I agree entirely. They are the same player when played deeply. However, of the two I think Westwood is best suited to that role - he makes more interceptions, tackles better and always retains the ball when in trouble. Bannan's less consistent but more imaginative, which to me suggests he should play further forward.

[sirlordbaltimore]

Westwood is the best midfielder we have by a distance ., big mistake leaving him on the bench.

Except he's been very poor in the last few games and certainly looks as if the pace of the game has caught up with him. Needed a rest IMHO

But it says a lot that a kid from Crewe is now considered our best midfielder. Oh for the likes of Barry, Milner, Young, Downing and Petrov now (or just the tons of money we sold them for to spend on replacements. About 68m wasn't it ?

[Karlos96]

The midfield is appalling it is so lightweight the only one I really like is Westwood, it's got to be the worst midfield in the Premiership at the moment.  We need at least two established midfielders in January.

[Legion]

Benteke has gone from Drogba to Fashanu in a fortnight.

Good point.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Holman is a real shit sandwich.
Bannan simply not good enough for the Premier.
Ireland lazy and increasingly disinterested
KEA Fucking rubbish
Delph Shite

Only Westwood shows potential.

Talk about a rebuilding job.

[Nastylee]

How about we try Clark in there and stick Dunne and Vlaar at the back. Maybe Herd in the middle with Clark. Then that should make us a little more solid in front of the back 4. As they're both pretty shit in the back 4 lately.

A) Vlarr is injured. B) Dunne is injured and has been since July. C) Herd is a pile of steaming shite. D) We seem to persist on playing a back 5 rather than 4. In conclusion, it renders your original post pointless.

[PaulWinch again]

Off all of the midfield only Westwood looks up to it to me. I think a massive factor in our decline is the midfield.

[steffo]

Martinez sets up his side exactly as we did. The only exception is that his wing backs were of a more attacking disposition. We actually had a 5-5 formation. Not one of our midfield players could tackle. Their central two were in complete control. Holman is a TSM signing - a very poor man's Frank Carrodus

The sad fact in today's modern football is that time will not wait for you to build an empire (Man City). Where we had Carew, Milner, Barry, Townsend, Staunton, McGrath, Mellberg, Laursen, Petrov. to name a few - they were all in their pomp playing for their countries in their prime. Today - we have a young Bentete and squad player Valar representing their country. Bannan is playing for Scotland who just about give Iceland a game. 

We have reached the rubicon. We need some international class players to survive.

[OzVilla]

Holman is a real shit sandwich.
Bannan simply not good enough for the Premier.
Ireland lazy and increasingly disinterested
KEA Fucking rubbish
Delph Shite

Only Westwood shows potential.

Talk about a rebuilding job.

This, although Ireland doesn't look 'increasingly disinterested' he just looks as disinterested as he always has.  Oh and he's not anywhere near as good as he/we think he is.

Holman hasn't surprised me as i never thought he was up to much when playing for Australia - a classic TSM player if ever there was one.  Bannan is too lightweight and it's really telling now, could do a job in a bulked up midfield though.

KEA and Delph are just not good enough.

Westwood looks the stand out but that bar is very low right now.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

There was a major flaw with our midfield today. When Wigan's back 3 central defenders had the ball they carried it out of defence on a regular basis, committing one of Ireland or Holman from our midfield, thus when they went to close them down they moved the ball on making our midfield completely outnumbered - that is  why they retained the ball for 60% of the time. We couldn't do the same as we had the Scottish Xavi sat 5 yards in front of our back three. This prevented them from carrying the ball into the space ahead. I also thought Lichaj and Lowton should have switched positions as Lichaj's positional play was dreadful, particularly going forwards.
If Lambert is going to persist with the 3 centre backs then the midfield needs some serious work. My choice would be to to 4-2-3-1 for the next couple of games, if only to try and sure things up further.

[hawkeye]

As i have been saying alll season, Lamberts biggest mistake was thinking this midfield was fit for purpose. It is the main reason we are in this mess.

[Eigentor]

I think it is well established by now that the number one concern is that our midfield is so weak that any team resembling Premiership quality can easily create opportunities (and score goals) against us. If we manage to fix that in January I'll be quite confident that we won't be relegated.