07 Jan 2021 18:21:07
Leaving aside the Frank issue, what do you think about our Centre Back issues. The preferred pairing is Silva and Zouma. Silva has generally been excellent but, of course, is a short term fix. Zouma has been okay defensively in the air but is poor on the ball and slows us up when playing out of defence- interestingly I saw some stats where he has the second most passes in the PL, unfortunately as we see these are passes back and forth to the keeper and side to side within our 18 yard box. Christensen is much better on the ball but is weak and knocked around by forwards. He is of an age now where that area of his game is not going to improve. Rudiger is very similar to Zouma strong in the air but poor on the ball and in one-on-ones. Zouma and Rudiger is the worst possible combination for playing out of defence. I am not sure why Tomori hasn't been given more game time given that he has pace and is more mobile than Zouma and Rudiger. I accept that we need to improve in all areas of the pitch but it is really frustrating to watch how slow we are at playing the ball of of defence.
07 Jan 2021 19:42:47
Zouma is brilliant in the air but still think we can upgrade on him with someone like Jose Gimenez. Guehi coming back also he could be a right gem too.
07 Jan 2021 19:55:23
I think the CB partnership of Zouma and Silva has been good, Zouma has grown this season and shown good development from a defensive standpoint. On the ball he isn't the most tidy of CB's but with a player like Silva alongside him that negative is far outweighed by how commanding he's been in the air this season.
It's the same old story from last season, to a certain degree - they've been let down by poor defensive midfield play. Often our opponents have walked through our midfield without much opposition, the best CB partnership in the world would struggle in that situation.
Christensen and Rudiger, for me, are done at the club. Christensen isn't up to the physicality of the Premier League, and can't concentrate for 90mins. Same can be said, from a concentration point of view, for Rudiger. If you're a striker playing against either of those two in a team you'd stick with them, as you'd know they have a mistake in them every 90mins.
Tomori could do with a loan, but, with an injury to Christensen, that now looks unlikely. I believe he has a higher ceiling of potential than Zouma, but the coaching staff appear to have reservations at the moment.
As Ed mentioned in his sum up, we have a lot of talent coming through and on loan in the position. Sarr and Guehi are particularly good.
07 Jan 2021 20:41:52
Excellent post J. I still have reservations about how Zouma slows us up. l think have have good CBs in the pipeline. Sarr looks like a real prospect- watched a video of him playing at Porto - I accept bad moments won’t be included. I think I read his loan period is 2 years at Porto? Silva won’t be around for too long to bail Zouma out.
07 Jan 2021 22:43:39
I think the slow play out of defence is also a problem for the midfield. Jorginho, Kante and Kovacic have all played in the deeper role where they collect the ball from the CB's. For me it's them who are often slow and ponderous with the ball, rarely making an incisive pass, finding team mates in space between the oppositions midfield and defence. Instead the ball is often sideways or backwards, ultimately finding its way back to a CB and slowing the okay down.
08 Jan 2021 08:17:53
I don’t get what our midfielders do! They can’t help defend, they can’t attack, they can’t pass out of our own half!
08 Jan 2021 10:22:58
Kante's skill set speaks for itself, but he's in no way creative. Jorginho stared in a certain slow system in a slow league, it doesn't work here - never has and never will. Kovacic is the one I don't get at all, he's a decent dribbler but does very little else. I like Mount deep, could do well alongside a genuine holding midfielder, with Havertz forward of them, but Gilmour is, for me, the one to ultimately take over from Kante alongside the holding player. He's someone who can break the oppositions lines and progress our play quicker.
08 Jan 2021 10:26:59
It's a tough one, there's not that many CBs out there that give us what we need. Silva obviously will need replacing. I think one of konate or upecamano but I'm not sure if we're in for them.
I've never seen Rice play there but I've a feeling he could excel there. I'd love Romanogli tbh I think he'd possibility suit our style. You're spot on about Zouma but I'd extend that to the midfielders too, we need to play forward, receive the ball, turn and either carry or pass forward. Mount tries to do this but need to be brave enough to take more shots on or try a through ball.
There needs to be more movement from the front three for our midfielders to do this though. I find us quite static lately but I do think we'll improve, we were spot on earlier in the season so we are capable, just a rough patch.