Country: Sweden
I agree but I think Rice is sort of a problem tbh. He’s borderline WC at what you say, if not already WC, but he still lacks a lot in terms of overall play because of his lack of agility and his risk minimizing. We’ve played our best football this season with him at 8.Not that I disagree with winger and CF but they are so far below a CM for me it’s not even a joke.
And I just don’t see the CM links.
Rice needs to be at 6 and we need a credible b2b midfielder alongside him to play lcm that can help knit play between our first and third phases, which frees up Ødegaard to be a menace at the edge of the opposition box.
We have 2 reliable borderline WC players in Rice (at breaking up counters and sweeping) and Ødegaard (at orchestrating attack). We need to build around this reality and that means we need to pair them with another midfielder. I don’t want to see Rice having to push up where he just isn’t as good, or Ødegaard have to drop deep where he isn’t as effective.
Everything else is negotiable but this isn’t, not for me anyways.
Defensively you want him at 6 and when we have established possession in the opp half/final third you really want him there because of his break up and cover ability (although I think he’s been doing pretty good as 8 in attack as well). But in build up you really don’t want to rely on Rice.
I still think we’re better off with a Jorginho like player at 6 as we get that player and Øde orchestrating play in different areas of the pitch. Frenkie de Jong or Vitinha (not that it’s ever happening), maybe Luiz. With those you get players that could play as dlp but also could switch with Rice and play as 8… I think for me that’d be ideal. More so than the profile I’ve been clamoring for so far as top prio (your Barella and my Paqueta).
All that said, it wouldn’t be enough with just one midfield signing.