He got to play in his position today, and what a beast, West Ham couldn't live with him. For me he has to start again against Newcastle in that same position, give Ozil a rest for that one. I'd even start Bendy ahead of Giroud, with Pod and Walcott on the wings, Cazorla in the middle, and Flamini and Arteta as the midfield enforcers.
Started as LW, looked decent but off par. Ramsey got injured and he got moved to CM with Pod as LW, he started to just boss WHU's defense and midfield Ozil came off and he moved to CAM and looked good too.
I agree. Must play centrally. Is he better than özil? On certain stuff yes .... Shooting from a distance and dribble by a players in small spaces. But not giving that final pass. Why not try playing with both ozil and santi in the middle and flamini behind Them. Pretty offensive I know.
I've always wanted Cazorla to play in the centre. We have Pod back so he should be put into the centre.
Santi does not get worn down when he play in the middle, as he does not have to keep tracking back. He is not a great athletic and never will be, so we can't get away with playing him on the wings, especially in big games. In the middle he has less running to do and he is at his best there.
I like the idea of a Santi, Ozil CM pairing with Flamini just behind. With Walcott and Pod on the wings we'd have decent cover for the fullbacks too when tracking back. It's a very attacking line up, but I just think our midfield don't do 'conservative' very well anyway, so I'd rather we played to our strengths which is to attack.
I don't agree. We have done better this year, by playing more conservatively. Changing formation when we are top of the table from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-1-4-1 is close to madness IMO.
I'm not proposing a 4-1-4-1 but a basic 4-3-3 with flamini lying a bit deeper. I think it would have its uses against appropriate opposition. It is very attacking but it's not a radical departure from our usual system that has got us to the top of the league.
Also I don't agree that we've done well when trying to be conservative. Against Napoli and City we tried to play a more conservative approach and ended up getting caught between attacking and defending and neither really came off. Not saying we should go hung-Ho and we have been better at seeing matches out. But I don't think the conservative style suits us. We're much better when we're playing out own style which is very attacking and pressing the ball quickly. When we sit back we just seem to invite pressure and we're not brilliant at coping with it for 90mins
Put Cazorla and Ozil in the middle and you have a 4-1-4-1 whatever you want to pretend it is. Neither of them are defensive maestros, neither are box-to-box midfielders. You may want to play that formation, but you cant do it with those players.
But we aren't playing Napoli, we are playing Newcastle. And we need 4 midfielders to get back to play the 4-4. The two middle ones have to be particularly good defensively. If you play Cazorla and Ozil through the middle you have a massive problem. They are ok helping out wide, but in the middle they are a liability.
Ozil & Santi in the middle with Flamini for home games is a possibility to boss the midfield. Away from home I'd rather just one of them alongside 2 others depending on the opposition to ensure it's a bit more defensively stable & protected.
Basically that's what I was saying, without getting into too much technical detail about formations - Ozil and Santi with Flamini as a DM in a three man midfield. I'd say it would be dependent on the opposition, rather than whether we're home or away, but I agree with your general premise.
