Cork & Morgan must have played over 50 games together now and that shows. Their game compliments each other really well too. It's tough to argue against Morgan and Victor being the best two individually but will they gel as well together? Only games will tell us. I call this one the Lampard/Gerrard paradox
Its about having quality options coming off of the bench. With a high pressing game, fitness will be a massive part and players may tire, so we want to be able to change like for like. We will also want to be able to change to a plan B and have quality players to do this. Poch was limited in what he could change last year with the players at his disposal. It also horses for courses, City like to play through the middle so playing all three would be a better option against them for example. They will all have plenty of game time IMO.
I wouldn't like to see all three as I think we need three attacking midfielders to go and chase the ball rather than three defensive midfielders to block it getting through. Proactive rather than reactive. It annoys me that people forget how good Lallana is, I think he struggled to get over his injury - perhaps he was played a little too much straight after coming back - but he was in excellent form before he got injured and was looking to drive at defences all game long, and he did also get a call up for England. I think he had an inconsistent end to the season (which is what everyone remembers) and a great first two third, and everyone seems to forget what a good player he is.
Both Morgan and Victor like to get forward, playing all 3 is totally feasible with Cork acting as the anchor
Stats suggest that Cork is at least as good as Spider in some areas. The team picked by Mauricio for the first league match will be very interesting. I bet Cork plays.
We all know he's definitely not as good as Morgan, though. The stats only show he's as good at picking up loose balls in midfield.
Agree, I don't think many people would argue he's better than Schneiderlin, and you'd hope Wanyama is at least in our top two DMs, which would mean Cork should be the weakest of the three. However, Cork being the weakest of the three is a really good thing for the team, he's an good and reliable player, which means we have good strength and depth.
It's worded quite harshly, but it's not unreasonable to suggest he's not as good as Morgan and a £10m+ signing.
No it's not. Just found the flippant, apparent disregard a little off putting. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man.
As long as none of us suggest to try to ship Cork away we should be fine! No doubt all three have important roles to play this season.
I do too. Personally I think all three will get a roughly similar amount of game time over the season, fitness permitting. But being able to swap one out, or have all three on if we want to see out a win, is going to make a huge difference.
Cork runs all game long and seems to be relatively quick at getting to balls and intercepting passes. If it's an open sort of game where a lot of balls are played on the floor, I could see Cork possibly starting over Wanyama. If it's against a more direct team, we will need Wanyama's height and strength. I also think Schneiderlin is capable of playing in the hole against certain teams. He'd put pressure on the defense trying to bring it out, and maybe he isn't the most technical/creative with the ball compared to Ramirez, but if you steal the ball early and play a quick, smart pass in that's all you need. Davis isn't really an AMC and he did okay in that role. I'm not too worried about those three. Someone will probably get hurt at some point. We'll use a couple of different looks depending on situation. I'd also like to see us make a better go of it in the Cups so that will add some games. It will work itself out, and all three will find plenty of playing time. It's more the knock-on effect of whether this impacts JWP that I worry about. I wouldn't mind seeing JWP getting a loan. Could possibly move Davis or Guly as well, I guess.
I really hope we do. I know the theory of saving players for the league and giving youngsters a chance, but we have the makings of a good PL side. As Europe is only a blip on the horizon via the league, cup success could be the way for us.
