He plays tonight and its screened on BBC Scotland, BBC red button and BBC SPORTS WEBPAGE if you fancy a look at him.
this from ChatGPT A holding midfielder is a player whose primary role is to provide defensive cover in front of the back line, and to break up opposition attacks by intercepting passes, making tackles, and pressuring opposing players who have possession of the ball. They are often referred to as defensive midfielders or "number six" players. Holding midfielders typically play in a central position in the midfield, and their main objective is to protect the back four and prevent the opposing team from creating scoring opportunities. They are also responsible for distributing the ball to their teammates, often through short, accurate passes. In addition to their defensive duties, holding midfielders may also provide a link between the defense and the attacking players, by carrying the ball forward and initiating attacking moves. They are often strong, physical players who possess good positional awareness, tactical intelligence, and the ability to read the game. Examples of great holding midfielders include Sergio Busquets, N'Golo Kante, and Claude Makelele. Regenerate response
Brilliant article. Seri and Slater are good players but neither are ball-winners. Seri’s a deep-lying playmaker who can scan the pitch and make clever passes. Slater’s an energetic box-to-box midfielder who likes to drive the ball forward. A defensive midfielder is, like the article says, a specialised position; a ‘vocation’. We’ve tried Alfie Jones in that position a few times and he did okay some games but really struggled in others. I’m terms of ability, Bielik is the best at this level as far as defensive midfielders go. However, despite having a solid season at Brum, he’s had two ACL tears in his career and he’s only in his mid 20s. I think that would make Rosenior very wary given our shocking injury record this season. There’s other players we could look at, like Ross McCrorie at Aberdeen and there’s probably options abroad as well. It should definitely be top of Rosenior’s agenda though.
We currently have 2 apparent first choices in deep lying midfield. Seri and Slater. If one those gets injured then we're looking at Woods, Doc and Simons. Only 1 of those latter 3 seem guaranteed to be with us next season and we currently look a bit thin on quality there if one of the main 2 are injured. I guess we could try Tufan in there but there's room to add another without impacting minutes for Slats and Mika too much. It's called having squad depth. We're going to need a bit more of it to progress IMHO.
If we bring in a DM, I suspect Slater would be competing with Traore for the more advanced role. GK RB CB CB LB Seri DM Traore/Slater RW ST LW
Traoré’s been class as a number 10 but he can also play as a play-making winger on the right, like a Championship version of Foden.
Again that just seems like such a simplistic take. We famously concede very few goals, so I can't see how you can say we look weak without the ball.
I think there's maybe a good case for bringing in an extra midfielder assuming Doc and Woods go, but that's a big assumption in the latter's case since he's under contract. Even then, I'm just not sure it'd be a guaranteed starter type of signing when we've got such a successful central midfield already.
I will point you to the games against Sunderland and Middlesbrough where we conceded 4 and 3 goals respectively. In both of those games, we conceded really poor goals that I fully believe would’ve been dealt with before they got anywhere near our third of the pitch if we had a ball-winning midfielder. 2 of Boro’s goals in particular should’ve been stopped on the half-way line if we had a midfielder with a bit more physicality.
We conceded 3 and 4 goals in two games. Across the Rosenior half-season we've conceded very few. Focusing on the statistical outliers to try and prove that we're weak without the ball is clearly flawed. Our work without the ball is obviously not what's holding us back from being a playoff/promotion side.
If we're going with 3 CMs (2 deep, 1 advanced) then ideally I'd want 5 (3 deep, 2 advanced) all of a similar quality to provide competition and cover. Even then the younger players coming through will get chances over a season as they're still only an injury away from the squad. People seem to see squad building in terms of a first 11 and in an ideal world where those in the shirt are self-motivated and injury-proof that's fine. Otherwise you need more than those options without suffering a real drop in available quality when one or more inevitably goes down with injury or loss of form. Really I think a squad of 18-20 of similar calibre players is going to be needed with our promising youth making up the 25. We can't just rely on 11 'first choices' and then backups over a 50 game season. We need 18 or so 'first choices'.
I disagree. Conceding those sloppy goals which could’ve been dealt with much better against top-half teams is one of the reasons why we were never in contention for play-offs. Not being ruthless enough and scoring goals against bottom-half teams is another reason for us dropping points. Both can be true. It’s not either or. Even Rosenior said after the Boro game that Howson is the exact sort of player we’re lacking in midfield. I think you’re just being contrarian for the sake of it now.
Yes we dont concede too much But we dont create too much either Generally to create more chances and free atthe attacking end of the pitch Opens you up to more chances against Thats where a solid holding midfielder makes their money We need to upgrade on this season Or we settling for 12th?
Exactly. A lot of the goals conceded against both Sunderland and Boro away were because we lost the ball high up the pitch and they hit us on the counter. A good holding midfielder whose main job is breaking up play and winning the ball back would’ve been a huge asset in those games to make important challenges in the middle of the pitch or at the very least, commit a tactical foul and stop the counter.
Slater and Seri are playing well at present but we need a proper holding midfielder without a shadow of a doubt. I know everyone's hyping up Slater because he won a couple of awards but it's not like he's been super consistent all season
