News: Teams With Midfielders - The Other Teams Thread [R]

Harsh, but Tierney's injury was a blessing in disguise. Saka's future is at LB, not on the wing. He'll learn the defensive side, but as we've seen elsewhere, a FB who can contribute going forward is invaluable, especially with a manager like Arteta. Saka in my mind is a better prospect than Martinelli. I know Gabe is very good, but I think he's a bit of a mixed bag and will need more time to sort out his best qualities, best position/role. That might see him get a lot of time while developing, but I think Saka's combination of dribbling and passing make him a real winner at LB.

 

I think he can play there in the current system because xhaka often sits in. Saka and tierney would be very effective as they can cover each other and saka can play a bit more narrow

he’s definitely going to play as a lw in the future for me or even get time as a rw inside forward if Pepe is hurt as martinelli can play lw too and is also hugely promising

 

Xhaka sitting in for Saka isn't just to allow Saka forward or to cover for his advanced runs. It is a ploy to get Xhaka more time on the ball, defeat the press and drive a rotation that allows for some good synergy in attack.

Saka heads up the flank, Xhaka drops into LCB role. Nketiah/Laca make a run from left to right, if it is on Xhaka can try to pick them out. Ceballos sits in front of the back 3/4 and Ozil & Pepe make runs off of the central striker. Auba runs into space left by striker. Rinse repeat.

The added bonus is that teams usually try to press a fullback and if they miss w/ Xhaka his passing will make them pay.

Of course, there's no reason Tierney can't do some of the things Saka does by releasing early, I just don't happen to think that role is as suited to him.

 

Hazard out for the remainder of the season - Martinez

https://www.espn.com/soccer/real-ma...-lose-hazard-for-season-belgium-boss-martinez

Considering the injury, it's hardly surprising. And that will also leave him cutting it very close in terms of his participation at the Euros with Belgium.

 

Lmao Declan Rice is trash.

 

It's so frustrating for me to watch Mane. He's so good and his off the ball work is so amazing. To think he could have been ours: van Gaal wanted him bad and he's another we failed to deliver on.
Him in our frontline as currently constituted would be the stuff of dreams. Just so much fun to watch too.

 

Some on this forum thought he wqsnt good enough either *cough @SyedZada cough*

 

It honestly thought it was a weird take to be honest. Obviously Klopp's system has only enhanced his qualities and he looks much more better than he did at Soton. But at the same time, what he could offer was pretty evident then.
He's turned into one of the very best offensive players in the game for me. That's how good he's been.

 

He was a steal at £34m too.

 

He's probably the player who's most grateful we missed out on him. He's winning trophies that matter. He does have to live in Liverpool though, so that's a slight schadenfreude we can have.

 

If only Fabianski wasn't garbage....

 

Building this team, Pool have very much proven that, provided you bother to do the work and have someone who knows what they're doing, there are terrific deals to be made. Might have spent big on the likes of van Dijk and Alisson (pretty much paid by the Coutinho sale anyway).
But I don't think any other player on their squad was over £40mil. Kind of remarkable when you account for some of the players currently at their disposal.

 

haha I k ow how arsenal
Play, xhaka was doing good work in the middle with ceballos controlling the game after a shaky start too. Auba playing in the half space and saka overlapping works but I would like to see auba centrally with saka or martinelli wide and tierney overloading

my main concern is bellerin, he’s not himself after another long term injury. An overlapping rb with Pepe coming inside would make us more dangerous.

this summer is going to be very interesting in terms of transfers. I’m not sure if arteta sticks with a 4231 or tries to move ozil on and look at a b2b athletic cm

 

Moving Ozil will be unlikely unless yall want to eat some salary. I think you are probably best off just using him (even if it is in a bit part role) until the contract is out.

 

Mane is a very good player, no doubt, but his ability to being propped up more in Klopps system. Same goes for Salah. Salah isn’t a world class player without that system.

 

I think they are both so quick and press well that they walk into almost any team

 

Lol

 

Here we go...Let’s hear it smart guy.

Tell me, before he went to Pool how was Salah doing?

 

He was playing very well for Roma, getting into good positions with his speed but not finishing in front of goal. How is he going to get worse at finishing if he plays in another system?

If they force him to stay wide and cross all day, fine, he will have fewer goals, but no team plays wingers like that anymore.

 

Give salah and mane any false 9 and they bag at least 20 a season each

 

I think Salah is a good, not world class player. Hes an excellent finisher. But I think that Klopp's system is built around pacey wingforwards that can press in bursts and the rest of the time are on standby to counter. For example, I think Salah would struggle to reproduce his Pool numbers if he were at City. I think both teams have an equally impressive attack, but where Pools is built around speed and being direct, City's attack is slower and more built around triangles and quick passing. I dont think that style would play to Salah's strengths.

Same goes for Mane, however I think he's a bit more flexible and frankly I rate him higher than Salah. But that's a different discussion.

 

Talking about Mane.

******** Salah