The midfield conundrum

[klix]

Another point
Why wasn't pablo replaced

[Rev72]

Personally I love Bielsaball - we got caught out this season with a squad that is too thin and lacks quality in certain places.

Bielsaball with better players would be a joy to behold I suspect.

X2

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Klix - all decent points and I don’t know the answer other than MB got us to perform exceptionally last year (think Leicester when they won the league) and maybe that bred complacency in the boardroom (not sure MB knows what to be complacent is). A lot of teams under estimated us last year, lack of crowds in away games may have helped, we seemed the most organised with COVID precautions and we had few injuries to key players.

We also lost a few players last year - Pablo, Alioski and Berardi who were solid pros (I suspect we also miss Alioski’s high energy).

We sent Costa and Poveda out on loan both who got a fair amount of game time last year. We only brought in Firpo (for Alioski) and James (who was probably a luxury buy as we needed cover elsewhere).

I haven’t included Klaessen as Keeprbis okay.

We then invested heavily in youth and Insuspect we have been truly shocked by the extent of the injuries we have had.

I don’t get why we didn’t buy at least on midfielder in the summer as the lack of depth/quality was obvious and one of OBrien/Knight/Swift would not have broken the bank.

With the injuries piling up I am still a little shocked we didn’t buy anyone in January but we didn’t.

Not sure we needed a back up striker so much. He just needs to play Rodrigo in his natural position or Joffy or Roberts (or even young Max Dean who looks awesome).

But here is the thing, if you look at Bielsa teams over the years the No 9 isn’t expected to just be a goal scorer and in some respects it is almost secondary to performing the platform for the team to attack from.

What that does though is again make it even more unfathamable as to why we didn’t but more quality in midfield not least a Pablo type replacement who can scheme and pick defences apart.

The squad this year is probably on balance weaker than last year.

I am resigned to buckling up and trying to enjoy the ride as there is sweet fa that can be done about it now so que sera sera.

[klix]

Klix - all decent points and I don’t know the answer other than MB got us to perform exceptionally last year (think Leicester when they won the league) and maybe that bred complacency in the boardroom (not sure MB knows what to be complacent is). A lot of teams under estimated us last year, lack of crowds in away games may have helped, we seemed the most organised with COVID precautions and we had few injuries to key players.

We also lost a few players last year - Pablo, Alioski and Berardi who were solid pros (I suspect we also miss Alioski’s high energy).

We sent Costa and Poveda out on loan both who got a fair amount of game time last year. We only brought in Firpo (for Alioski) and James (who was probably a luxury buy as we needed cover elsewhere).

I haven’t included Klaessen as Keeprbis okay.

We then invested heavily in youth and Insuspect we have been truly shocked by the extent of the injuries we have had.

I don’t get why we didn’t buy at least on midfielder in the summer as the lack of depth/quality was obvious and one of OBrien/Knight/Swift would not have broken the bank.

With the injuries piling up I am still a little shocked we didn’t buy anyone in January but we didn’t.

Not sure we needed a back up striker so much. He just needs to play Rodrigo in his natural position or Joffy or Roberts (or even young Max Dean who looks awesome).

But here is the thing, if you look at Bielsa teams over the years the No 9 isn’t expected to just be a goal scorer and in some respects it is almost secondary to performing the platform for the team to attack from.

What that does though is again make it even more unfathamable as to why we didn’t but more quality in midfield not least a Pablo type replacement who can scheme and pick defences apart.

The squad this year is probably on balance weaker than last year.

I am resigned to buckling up and trying to enjoy the ride as there is sweet fa that can be done about it now so que sera sera.

Aloski has been a big loss for me, so much energy and gave a edge to his game, not nasty but knew how to wind up a few.

We let him go, replace him with a 13.7 mill camel and wages of 55k a week, another Orta classic

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

Aloski has been a big loss for me, so much energy and gave a edge to his game, not nasty but knew how to wind up a few.

We let him go, replace him with a 13.7 mill camel and wages of 55k a week, another Orta classic

I think Firpo will come good and looked miles better in his 20 minute cameo at West Ham. We should have kept Alioski and bought Firpo - it is unfair on Firpo for him to be expected to slot straight in and perform in a new league with a demanding system and then complicated by the injuries we have had.

Bielsa does not like excess players but if you look at his stints elsewhere the squads had two players in each position - we were cheap this summer and it’s now showing.

[klix]

Klix - all decent points and I don’t know the answer other than MB got us to perform exceptionally last year (think Leicester when they won the league) and maybe that bred complacency in the boardroom (not sure MB knows what to be complacent is). A lot of teams under estimated us last year, lack of crowds in away games may have helped, we seemed the most organised with COVID precautions and we had few injuries to key players.

We also lost a few players last year - Pablo, Alioski and Berardi who were solid pros (I suspect we also miss Alioski’s high energy).

We sent Costa and Poveda out on loan both who got a fair amount of game time last year. We only brought in Firpo (for Alioski) and James (who was probably a luxury buy as we needed cover elsewhere).

I haven’t included Klaessen as Keeprbis okay.

We then invested heavily in youth and Insuspect we have been truly shocked by the extent of the injuries we have had.

I don’t get why we didn’t buy at least on midfielder in the summer as the lack of depth/quality was obvious and one of OBrien/Knight/Swift would not have broken the bank.

With the injuries piling up I am still a little shocked we didn’t buy anyone in January but we didn’t.

Not sure we needed a back up striker so much. He just needs to play Rodrigo in his natural position or Joffy or Roberts (or even young Max Dean who looks awesome).

But here is the thing, if you look at Bielsa teams over the years the No 9 isn’t expected to just be a goal scorer and in some respects it is almost secondary to performing the platform for the team to attack from.

What that does though is again make it even more unfathamable as to why we didn’t but more quality in midfield not least a Pablo type replacement who can scheme and pick defences apart.

The squad this year is probably on balance weaker than last year.

I am resigned to buckling up and trying to enjoy the ride as there is sweet fa that can be done about it now so que sera sera.

I do get anybody loving the way bielsa plays, I have enjoyed it.....
I just don't get the " no plan B, just make plan A better stuff " plan A is not getting better, it's getting worse ,injuries, running stats down, we looked knackered and we had no cup runs or Europe to hurdle.
We have been lucky because of Norwich Watford Burnley in a normal season we are bottom 3.
I would have settled 4th from bottom start of the season, the future now I worry, what is our plan going forward, our squad with a new person coming in, is it really that good.
The defence looks shocking, middle of the park, all over the place, and upfront looks limited.
Raf may well go, rodrigo will go, Phillips?.
Personally I would start with getting rid of Orta, sit down with Bielsa and say its 3 years or that's the door. If he signs for 3 years give him the funds for a 24 man squad not this 18 *******s

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

I do get the make Plan A better and logically it actually makes a lot of sense from a statistical sense. There is always deviation from the mean and you need to give things time to allow regression to the mean - hence if you change after 60 minutes you may have removed the opportunity for that to happen in the last 30.

All Bielsa needs is much better players to compete at this level. With this set of players we do need a plan B and at times he has adapted.

I don’t think the problem fully lies with Bielsa but what he has available to use.

If he had a team of

Allison

Alexander Arnold
Tierney
Van Djik
Rudiger

De Bruyne
Phillips
Rice

Sallah
Rapha
Lukaku


I suspect we would be close to equalling Arsenal’s invincibles and also win a cup or two.

[denver11]

Fiddlemi

[joellufcprice]

I do get the make Plan A better and logically it actually makes a lot of sense from a statistical sense. There is always deviation from the mean and you need to give things time to allow regression to the mean - hence if you change after 60 minutes you may have removed the opportunity for that to happen in the last 30.

All Bielsa needs is much better players to compete at this level. With this set of players we do need a plan B and at times he has adapted.

I don’t think the problem fully lies with Bielsa but what he has available to use.

If he had a team of

Allison

Alexander Arnold
Tierney
Van Djik
Rudiger

De Bruyne
Phillips
Rice

Sallah
Rapha
Lukaku


I suspect we would be close to equalling Arsenal’s invincibles and also win a cup or two.

Lukaku is crap

[hopelesslyoptimistic]

He is a lot better than Roberts/James/Bambi/Rodrigo - but okay put Antonio or Lacazeete or Jesus in there