Robust, dependable players like Livermore that can perform solidly every week are exactly what we’re missing in the squad but we need a bit extra for strongest 11 I reckon if we’re serious about making a promotion push.
I don't disagree about the type of player, but if a player deliberately burns his bridges at a club to force a move it's rare they'd find a way back. I'd rather hope we were looking for someone a bit younger myself.
He doesn’t perform solidly every week though, ask any West Brom fan. He’s been **** for a few years. He’s started 10 games this season. Right mould, but Livermore whose legs have gone, was never good in possession anyway.
We need a tough defensive midfielder but Livermore? What is our fan’s obsession with re-signing past players or giving them coaching jobs? Nostalgia for the sake of it is just tinpot as **** and we should be looking forward, not to aging mercenaries who said ‘**** you’ to the club on their way out.
Exactly, if he wasn’t an ex-player no one would be saying he’s the type of player we need based on present performances anyway.
I wouldn't have Livermore back, after what David Meyler said about him and engineering a move away after we supported him through his drug saga. Not for me.
Yeah, I don’t think Livermore is a bad guy but what he did was really poor if true and Meyler doesn’t strike me as someone who would lie about that. He’s also been in bad form for West Brom for a while and lost his place to Yokuşlu this season. Yokuşlu is definitely the type of player we need though.
We’ve been linked with Joe Ward at Peterborough who’s out-of-contract at the end of the season. He’s had a good season in League 1 by all accounts.
He's a former Brighton player so him and Rosie might know each other. Sources: Birmingham City battling Hull for one of the EFL's most appealing free agents (teamtalk.com)
Plus... as good as he was for us, we do need more of an Ashbee type... I know we keep referring back to him, but it is what we need... I suspect we will be looking at Bielek who was on loan at Brum, especially if Derby screw up the play offs...
People have been saying all season that we need a big enforcer in midfield, but I do wonder what those people have in mind for Slater and Seri, who are two of the very first names on the teamsheet currently. It'll be interesting to see whether or not a player in that mold is something we go for. Rosenior has talked about having more height in the team and that's the obvious place to put it, but fitting another midfielder in there would be awkward and I don't necessarily agree with the simplistic view that you must always have a big midfield enforcer. Feels a bit old-fashioned to me.
But we are a bit nice PLT.... I do want someone who will just give someone a nudge and let them know they're there...
Exactly, the best 4 teams in England all have one. Rodri, Casemiro, Partey/Xhaka, Joelinton. We’ve finished bang mid table, to think we don’t need something to change in order for us to progress in terms of personnel is crazy. Slater and Seri work great in possession, without it we are still very weak with that partnership
Just pop this here Rodri’s Manchester City role shows holding midfielders are key to success please log in to view this image Manchester City and Arsenal’s title battle – and Liverpool’s recent struggles – show that a solid midfield is crucial Thu 30 Mar 2023 16.00 BST The holding midfield role is a bespoke one; you need to be technically very good, not just a destroyer, have a high-level understanding of the game and be able to drop into the backline but also break forward, depending on what team you are in. Simple enough. Manchester City have one of the best in the business in Rodri. He has been an incredibly consistent performer since his arrival from Atlético Madrid in 2019 and City are reaping the rewards. The importance of his role is shown by Saturday’s opponents, Liverpool, who have been constantly linked with midfield players because they have struggled in this position. Rodri, on the other hand, has provided stability. Rodri got it wrong: self-assured Scotland taught graceless Spain a lesson | Ewan Murray He has played more minutes for City than anyone else this season, including the goalkeeper Ederson, a sign of his value to Pep Guardiola. To have someone that consistent at the base of the midfield is extremely important because their reliability feeds into the rest of the players. Rodri has made the most passes in the Premier League this season, 189 more than Lewis Dunk in second, and 546 more than the closest midfielder, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. He has also had more touches than anyone in the league. Leading his peers on these statistics is a sign of Rodri being indispensable in City’s challenge for trophies. Guardiola said of the position, one he knows well from his playing career: “What is important to be a holding midfield is to be always stable: seven, eight, seven, eight. It’s not nice to have a big 10 performance and then a two or three. Maybe wingers or strikers can do it but for a holding midfielder it’s not good.” Rodri ticks all those boxes. When managing Barcelona, Guardiola had Sergio Busquets and at Bayern Munich it was Xabi Alonso, two of the most intelligent players in European football of recent times. At City, Guardiola recognised Fernandinho would need to be replaced and identified Rodri as the man to do it. City spent £62.8m on Rodri when he was 23, thinking he could perform the role for the next decade. Not many clubs break their transfer record for a defensive midfielder, but if you can find someone as reliable as Rodri it is worth it. Chelsea spent more than £100m on 22-year-old Enzo Fernández in January and 21-year-old Moisés Caicedo may cost a similar amount after showing what he can do at Brighton. These are players a team can be built around. It was not a straightforward adjustment for Rodri from La Liga to the Premier League. He had to adapt to the faster pace and more physical game, not to mention his manager’s complex tactics, but he was intelligent enough to understand how he could do that. Guardiola said in October 2021: “I think now he’s so stable, he’s always paying attention and he’s realising what we are looking for because sometimes you need time to understand.” please log in to view this image Thomas Partey has been key to Arsenal’s title challenge this season. Photograph: Mark Leech/Offside/Getty Images City are very well orchestrated, so everyone knows their role and responsibilities. Rodri’s is to keep things simple and the ball moving because they are a possession-based team. It is focused on short passes that help others, such as Ilkay Gündogan and Kevin De Bruyne, move into positions where they can be most effective. Wingers and strikers attract the headlines when a team are doing well, but at the base there is always a very clever defensive midfielder. If you run through the Premier League, there is a strong correlation between a team’s position and the man in front of the centre-backs. Thomas Partey has made Arsenal into title challengers and when he is absent, as looks likely on Saturday against Leeds, there are questions of how they will cope. In third, we see a rejuvenated Manchester United, whose fortunes have been reversed since Casemiro came in from Real Madrid to take a more defensive role than Rodri has at City. From women’s team to grassroots game: questions linger in Qatar | Nick Ames A defensive midfielder is the heart and spine of the team; they are the core of your body and without that stability you crumble. There are nuances to each player in the role, but they are always integral to any successful side. It is shown by those clubs who haven’t had the season they hoped for. Højbjerg has not been at his best and that has affected Spurs while Liverpool are not the team they were when Fabinho or Georginio Wijnaldum were dominating games. Defensive midfielders have to see things before they happen in and out of possession. They need to sense danger and be two steps ahead on the ball because they build the blocks by keeping things ticking. I could not sense danger. You can improve your perception, but those who do it best are born with a natural inclination. In the modern game, a lot of players are comfortable in multiple positions. Centre-backs can play in central midfield and vice versa, full-backs can play on the wing, centre-forwards can drop to be No 10, but being a defensive midfielder is a vocation.
