For me: Patterson Onien Ballard Alese Cirkin Evans Ba/neil Roberts Pritchard Clarke Stewart Harsh on baath tbf as hes been unreal, i think alese n ballard is our future cb pairing so would love to see them together. RB was tough as i do like hume n huggins but need to see more of them. I would have had amad in the no10 but dont think hes ready for that role yet I like both ba n neil and i do think they'll be class together in the future but both need evans alongside them at the min
Me... Patterson Kyle Walker Aymeric Laporte Virgil Van Dyjk Joao Cancela De Bruyne Phil Foden Declan Rice Mason Mount Ross Stewart Haaland Decent?
Yeah looking at the recruitment if the idea was to have two players for each position it certainly looks like we planned for 3 CMs and one up top. Seems odd that we didn't stick to the plan if that was the case, now we've got loads of players for CM and some like Matete aren't getting a game that could be.
Yeah I get what you're saying but would expect wing backs and two of the middle three to help with the defensive side, just my opinion
Trying to think of the issues we had this season and how to overcome them. Vulnerable at set pieces due to a lack of height Sometimes overrun in midfield Struggle when we get pressed (more recently with no out ball) Front man often isolated So, I'm leaning more towards 3 at the back, but that brings it's own selection problems as we have an overload of wide players but you have to decide are you playing with attacking or defensive wing backs? Is playing WB getting the best out of Clarke? If not, is there another position on the pitch where he can do what makes him so effective Patterson Ballard Bathh Cirkin Gooch Evans Michut Clarke Pritchard Stewart Diallo Not totally convinced by that line up. Is Michut a better option than Neil, Ba or Matete? Is Diallo better suited to the wing (not wing back obvs) than central? If we are playing 2 strikers then does Simms come in, but then what options off the bench? That side definitely has height and with Ballard, Bathh and Stewart we would definitely have a presence in both boxes at set pieces, but I'm uncomfortable with the makeup of the team, I think we need a back 4, but with attacking full backs for the overload on the wings, but protection in the middle as well as support for the front man. **** me, this isn't easy Patterson O'Nien Ballard Batth Cirkin Evans Ba Roberts Pritchard Clarke Stewart Still not convinced. Feel like Diallo has to play and how do you fit Neil, Michut and Alese into this team?
If we had everyone fit, our bench would be very strong with 3 or 4 good players missing out on the squad completely…
Cirkin seems to lack that consistency. He's an excellent player at this level, but since his stellar performance v Wigan he's been largely garbage. He was awful on Sat Alese hasn't had a bad performance yet, but he hasn't reached the heights that Cirkin has/can either. I'd like to find a way to fit both in the team
We have the wrong balance in midfield and we don't have the right combination of players to fix it. We either need 3 in the middle with Evans sitting deep and 2 playing in front of him (which leaves no room for Pritchard) or to accommodate Pritchard, we need a Chelsea style double pivot with 2 purely defensive midfielders to allow a front 4 to be free. The problem with the latter is that we only really have Evans. Ba/Neil don't have the discipline for the role and I've not seen enough of Michut to know if he's up to it. Matete might be able to be trained to do it but I've a feeling he'd get dragged out of position chasing the ball too often.
Alese against Wigan in that first half was abysmal. He was supposed to be a wing back but spent most of the time as our furthest player forward expecting long balls and providing few options for the team. He was much improved when moved to centre back in the second half, but that game tells me that he's only competing for a start when its in central defence.
Yeah, I don't think he's a wing back. Centre half or traditional left back. Cirkin could play left wing back, but I think he lacks the attacking prowess and it would limit his defensive input. With Evans in front of the centre halves, there should be no reason why we can't play a back 4 with attacking full backs providing an overlap for the wingers
Pritchard is the reason we can't do what you're suggesting in my opinion. We need two engines in the middle along with Evans to play with overlapping full backs. Players who can drop into the space left by the full backs. We've got a difficult decision to make at some point.
My preferred line-up, doesn't exist atm, cos we need a couple of big, strong, fast and experienced players in midfield that we cannot get till January. Also a couple of strikers...
Every transfer window fans demand "big, strong fast and experienced" midfielders and every transfer window passes without us signing any. I'm not sure they exist at this level
Well that's why Speakman gets the big bucks... Even the best team (or near as damn) in the world, City, as well as skill and talent have their physical, athletic players, although for them, sometimes all that in one player. I think when we are on form, and can actually pass to another Sunderland player, we play a great possession game. Which can even, without strikers, produces great goals. However at times teams realise by 'bullying' us with pace, strength and power we can be knocked off our game and we are vulnerable to high balls in the box. We have to meet force with force and earn the right to play. Whilst 09 is not our most skilful player and is limited, in what he offers in attacking play.. he gets stuck in and is rarely intimidated by the opposition. If we do not have forwards who can 'hold the ball up' it becomes difficult to defend from the front and wave after wave of attacks waltz through midfield and get our back four. Its being said that Pep Guardiola is influencing how teams want to play, I kind off agree with that. But if you haven't got his playing squad, you need a modified approach. Ie some enforcers in midfield. Spouting nonsense over...
