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What is your preferred midfield?

What three players would you prefer to start in midfield?

  • Xhaka

    Votes: 14 8.2%
  • Torreira

    Votes: 147 86.0%
  • Özil

    Votes: 23 13.5%
  • Guendouzi

    Votes: 73 42.7%
  • Willock

    Votes: 99 57.9%
  • Ceballos

    Votes: 154 90.1%

  • Total voters
    171

blaze_of_glory

Moderator
Moderator

Country: Canada
I'm not even a huge fan of Xhaka, but just like Giroud and to a lesser extent Ramsey before him he gets all the teams' issues projected onto him. But our problems always run far beyond individual players.

If and when Xhaka is out of the picture it will all be someone else's fault I'm sure.
 

Trilly

Hates A-M, Saka, Arteta and You
Trusted ⭐

Country: England
This still very much.
Think this should be the player we can replace Xhaka with.

A world-beater would be nice but a well-rounded powerhouse who can compliment all of our midfielders would be ideal.

I see why Emery wanted Nzonzi and I may have to find the person who convinced him to go for Torreira instead.
 

blaze_of_glory

Moderator
Moderator

Country: Canada
If Emery really wants Xhaka in the team as he appears to do, then switching him to CM with Torreira as the deeper player might indeed help them both.
 

RacingPhoton

Established Member
Torreira was excellent for Uruguay playing just in front of the defence. Not sure why he is being moulded into more of a b2b midfielder now, maybe it is indeed because of his size.
Especially with Ceballos around, you don't need Torreira as a b2b midfielder. It looks like Emery is a fan of tall players.
 

CaseUteinberger

Established Member

Country: Sweden
I think the formation we played yesterday 4-3-3 with Ceballos, Torreira and Guendouzi in midfield could be a real strength for us this season. I hope to see it often this year.
 

Ash10

Chairman of the Bum Brigade
We won vs Newcastle opening day, played far better than vs Burnely, and Xhaka was probably our MOTM. He also didn't put a foot wrong vs Liverpool, but we were set up to take a pounding on the day and never had a hope.
To only Xhaka fans & nobody else
 

Ash10

Chairman of the Bum Brigade
I'm not even a huge fan of Xhaka, but just like Giroud and to a lesser extent Ramsey before him he gets all the teams' issues projected onto him. But our problems always run far beyond individual players.

If and when Xhaka is out of the picture it will all be someone else's fault I'm sure.
Putting Xhaka & Ramsey in the same sentence:rofl:

Nobody questioned one's ability, just his positional sense & the other, well basically everyone thinks he's crap
I'll let you decide which one's which
Btw it would be harder to scapegoat others as they won't give away more penalties than the defenders
 

krackpot

Established Member
Trusted ⭐
Guendouzi cannot pass
Torreira doesn't pass
Willock cannot pass
AMN cannot pass
Kola cannot pass

Xhaka, Özil and Ceballos are probably the only guys who can pass.

Which means Xhaka plays, and then we need one of Ceballos or Özil to play in CM.
 

Kobi

I Know Who You Are
............Chambers.............

Guendouzi...........Ceballos


Time to turn to the Hampshire Busquets.
 

Dennis_Bergkamp_10

Established Member
Guendouzi cannot pass
Torreira doesn't pass
Willock cannot pass
AMN cannot pass
Kola cannot pass

Xhaka, Özil and Ceballos are probably the only guys who can pass.

Which means Xhaka plays, and then we need one of Ceballos or Özil to play in CM.

Have you seen Guendouzi play?
 

MutableEarth

Reiss' Dad
Trusted ⭐
Love the Io Shirai avatar btw
Cheers. Best on the planet, mate

tumblr_px0w012I3l1vjciejo2_400.gif
 

progman07

Established Member
We should stick to one midfield trio for the next 5+ games. It doesn't help the team if everyone is rotated back and forth just to adapt to the opponents.

My preferred choice would be:

Guendouzi Torreira
Özil (or Ceballos)

If Özil doesn't work, then swap him with Ceballos and don't look back. But even if we decide to play Ceballos/Willock/Xhaka, it's ok, just send out the same guys in the same formation.

Players like Xavi, Iniesta, Pirlo, but even someone like Scholes or Gerrard played the same role for 50 games a season, through 10+ seasons. Obviously there will be tweaks, depending on who we play or who is injured, but this small-time chameleon-esque adaptation game has to stop.

You cannot seriously expect a midfield of 20-24 year-olds to adapt to a different tactic/lineup/method every single game of the season (which is exactly what they were forced to do so far).
 

blaze_of_glory

Moderator
Moderator

Country: Canada
Putting Xhaka & Ramsey in the same sentence:rofl:

Nobody questioned one's ability, just his positional sense & the other, well basically everyone thinks he's crap
I'll let you decide which one's which
Btw it would be harder to scapegoat others as they won't give away more penalties than the defenders
If you've spent any time on this board over the past 5 years or so you have to have seen Ramsey questioned extensively in regard to ability.

I'm not comparing the two players.
 

drippin

Obsessed with "Mature Trusted Members"

Country: Finland

Nzonzi is about 7 years older and cost Roma 2 million less than Torreira the same year we got him. :)

Not too hard to choose I think, happy with the new plan to mostly get players who can be sold for good money if not performing best.

Nzonzi was loaned to Galatasaray this year. Must have been great at Roma to get the move.
 
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