29 Nov 2020 10:23:44
The question of who will be the club's next CDM once Matic leaves is often brought up.

When we discuss what positions the club need to sign players for we often say CB, RW, ST and CDM.

Obviously you can have different kinds of holding midfielders, pure tackle monsters like Makelele or Kante who focus almost entirely on winning the ball and shielding the defence, however they often offer little with the ball. Or you can go for your deeplying playmaker type holding midfielder. Someone who'll control and dictate the tempo of game and offer a level of control in the midfield. Players such as Pirlo, Carrick and Xabi Alonso.

We speculate over possible players we could bring in Thomas Partey, Saul Niguez, Declan Rice, Wilfred Ndidi etc.

One player who is often overlooked is our own James Garner. Considered by some within the coaching staff as the next Michael Carrick.

Yesterday on loan at Watford he played very well in Watford's 4-1 win against Preston.

He finished the game with a 93% pass completion rate. While he also completed 8 of his 9 attempted long balls, and 4 of his 6 crosses. He made one "key pass", a couple of tackles, and an interception. In a very calm and measured display, controlling the midfield and giving Watford a platform to attack.

While one game doesn't make a great player, it was a sign of him getting to grips with senior football in a very competitive league.

With a little luck he can continue to develop and these sort of performances become the norm for him.

If he can have a good loan spell with Watford then he may well be able to come back next summer and start to put pressure on those in the first team.

1.) 29 Nov 2020
29 Nov 2020 11:05:32
Liverpool and city didn't have too much trouble finding them in fernandinho/ rodri or fabinho.

The reality is the type of holding midfielder will depend on the style we want to play.

If we want to play out from the back and dominate the ball possession we will need a carrick type who is comfortable playing 1/ 2 touch and can pass the ball forwards whilst being intelligent to fill in gaps to stop counter attacks.

Where as if we want to continue to play sit back counter attack and hope for the best type of football then we will need a workhorse who can win the ball back but is limited on the ball, i.e fred.

2.) 29 Nov 2020
29 Nov 2020 16:39:39
As much as I would love for Garner to be the answer I can't help but feel that we will need to bring in that person who takes the midfield to the next level if we are to stick with Fernandes and VDB which i hope we do.
Carrick/ Pirlo type that is good devensively (more by reading the game, with a vision to be our quarterback) . Not sure who the best bet is but we should be on the look out now.