It's hardly a revelation that our passing hasn't been up to snuff
It was obvious when the wheels started falling off under Conte that our midfield was built for recycling the ball rather than creativity so couldn't handle pressure, and was equally clear under Ange that Maddison was carrying the creativity on his own and, again, the midfield couldn't relieve pressure
It’s been clear for a long time but the stats in the piece illustrate it nicely. We’ve overinvested in the wrong profiles - we saw what that does when only one of your top technicians (Kudus) is really in a starting state at the beginning of the season, and now they’re all still injured or still not really there (Xavi). Relying on players in the attacking third for nearly all of your technical quality is always going to be problematic even if they’re all fit.
When you look at our stable of CMs the issue becomes clear.
Gallagher and Sarr are very similar - they’re primarily off the ball workhorses. Gallagher is better than Sarr (whether it was worth investing what we did in the circumstances is another question) but you need a couple of these players in a squad. Neither are going to break lines with passing regularly and neither are very comfortable receiving the ball under pressure during buildup. I’d question their role more in a squad built for 4231 as you don’t have that 8 role in the same way you do in a 433.
Bissouma was a player who was extremely press resistant but was always a carry-first player. But he’s declined massively and seems to have been mostly cut out of the squad. He’s a profile you can work with but not perfect at the best of times.
Gray is very smooth technically but it’s only in the last few months he’s really looked comfortable (ish) at the top level in CM. I think he has the progressive passing piece but needs to work on receiving in traffic. He’s a potential player, not a player you slot into a team with lots of issues and who just solves them for you.
Bergvall is a player who nobody seems to be able to profile. He’s a bit clunky technically but good at some of the one-touch stuff even if he sometimes makes the wrong decisions when he has time to think - he’d be an excellent 5-a-side player right now! Often that makes him look good in the final third but he’s not really a 10. Covers ground well. Reminds me of Dembele (who people forget was a maddeningly frustrating player in his early Spurs days). Needs to be trained at a specific role, probably a deeper one than he’s often played, and would probably benefit from a loan to achieve this.
Palhinha is really good at what he does but none of that is progressive passing or press resistance.
Bentancur is the one who could do it all - pass, carry, receive the ball deep under pressure, and do the OOP stuff too - but injuries have ruined him and I’m not sure he’ll recover at this point.
Summer signings (whatever league we end up in) absolutely have to focus on raising the technical level of the midfield above that of our peers. We have enough physical profiles that we can afford to carry someone who is primarily a technician in midfield (of course the golden goose is finding someone who is physically elite and also a top technical player, but those profiles are diamonds) and really what that means is a passer, not a carry-first player, as we have those already.
