• Dear Guest, Please note that adult content is not permitted on this forum. We have had our Google ads disabled at times due to some posts that were found from some time ago. Please do not post adult content and if you see any already on the forum, please report the post so that we can deal with it. Adult content is allowed in the glory hole - you will have to request permission to access it. Thanks, scara

Bender

Status
Not open for further replies.
Can anyone name a better central midfielder who we can get who has the positive attacking attributes and energy of Mason and Bentelab but with the defensive balance?

Bender doesn't have the attacking side but has the defensive side and plays it relatively simple so could be effective

We have been linked with James mccarthy but I personally think of him as a clogger and stopper at best

I'd be interested in other options?
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Can anyone name a better central midfielder who we can get who has the positive attacking attributes and energy of Mason and Bentelab but with the defensive balance?

Bender doesn't have the attacking side but has the defensive side and plays it relatively simple so could be effective

We have been linked with James mccarthy but I personally think of him as a clogger and stopper at best

I'd be interested in other options?
Click to expand...

Anyone got Mitchell's e-mail for BedfordSpurs?

;)
 
Bedfordspurs said:
I can name two great sides that don't have an enforcer and their Barca and Madrid... They are. Great technical players who work in the pronciple of scoring more (Madrid) or actually working as a defensive unit and still scoring more (Barca)

Who is city's enforcer?
Ar5ena1 don't have one either IMO

I actually think most teams now know that the better you are the least likely a side is you to attack you so you can have hard working better technical players in those roles as the enforcer side isn't really needed

Erisken for example took Matic out if the game at WHL last year just by using his football brain. He ran he everywhere so he wasn't effective and Fabregas offered less cover than any player on the pitch

The best pairing I've seen was Viera and Petit and both had a good defensive brain but above that were technically excellent with the ball and award of their surroundings. That's what's we should aim for with our central midfield pair
Click to expand...

Barca have Rakitic who likes to put his foot in, plus they also have Busquets. It doesn't necessarily mean we need a destroyer like Gareth Barry or Scott Parker who aren't the most gifted footballers.

Arsenal haven't had one since Vieira, to their detriment I might add.
 
milo said:
What about keeping the current system but signing an upgrade on Mason and Bentaleb?
Click to expand...

That would work. I just don't think that Mason is the answer going forward. I was wrong about Rose so I could be wrong about Mason, but I struggle to see what he excels at and we are too open due to protection not being provided by the pair of Mason and Bentaleb. If we play the majority of the season with the two of them, 5th is going to be a struggle IMO.
 
parklane1 said:
Wrong and I have tried in various threads to explain this before, what I want to see ( and others have said the same) is a CM player who can read the game better when we do not have the ball. We need a player who is aware of runners getting in behind our CM, we need players who can track these runners. Neither Bentaleb or Mason do this and there is a lot of ball watching goes on. Now Bentaleb is only 20 so there is a very good chance he will add this to his game, not sure that at 24 Mason will ( but I hope he proves me wrong)

I have never said I want a CM to just sit on the half way line and be a holder, sitting player, or whatever you want to call him, and again I have said this before and a lot of posters have agreed. There seems to be a lot of fans who want to put players into certain boxes and call them whatever, when what we need is a CM player who has the ability to read the defensive side of the game.
Click to expand...

A lot of us clubs are looking for those complete players to knit their midfields together I think. Very few of them exist at a very high level.

What I do think is that it's more likely we can teach a technically proficient player to defend than to teach a 20-something defensively proficient player to do what's required on the ball.

Mason turned 24 this summer, by my memory that makes him a year older at this point than Carrick was when we signed him from the Championship when his career seemed to be fading after early promise for West Ham in the PL. We were the closest thing to a big club interested iirc. I'd say he made some strides since then... By a lot of reports Mason only started playing that deeper role in recent years, so there's a decent chance he still has a lot of potential to improve and settle into that role.

I think the fantastic maturity and composure from Bentaleb at what is an almost ridiculous young age for a player in his role and position is clouding people's judgement. A deep/central midfielder coming into his own around 23-24 is actually fairly common.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Can anyone name a better central midfielder who we can get who has the positive attacking attributes and energy of Mason and Bentelab but with the defensive balance?

Bender doesn't have the attacking side but has the defensive side and plays it relatively simple so could be effective

We have been linked with James mccarthy but I personally think of him as a clogger and stopper at best

I'd be interested in other options?
Click to expand...

This question gets asked on a regular basis. It's not our job to identify transfer targets, that job is for Baldini, matey who joined us from Southampton and the scouts. If they can't come up with an alternative to the one of the above then something is wrong. Bender for one would be an upgrade on Mason though.
 
Jurgen the German said:
That would work. I just don't think that Mason is the answer going forward. I was wrong about Rose so I could be wrong about Mason, but I struggle to see what he excels at and we are too open due to protection not being provided by the pair of Mason and Bentaleb. If we play the majority of the season with the two of them, 5th is going to be a struggle IMO.
Click to expand...

that maybe the case but without them last year we would have finished significantly lower with the other players we had

id also argue that our pairing is better than anyone that Liverpool' may have for example but thats purely my opinion

Regarding your comment about it being someone else job to identify someone to come in.. yep 100% right and maybe were looking at plenty but haven't found anyone that's good enough that we can afford

Id be interested in knowing who you think actually does do the job well at other clubs for example??

Arsenal you have said have no one yet finish above us every season

United have just signed two players to play there, one of whom is proven in this league for a lower level club and the other was world class (and maybe still) but has had a lot of injury problems

Chelsea play a genuine holder with a footballer and are ably supported by very defensive full backs and centre backs with hard working attackers. It helps that they have stock piled midfielders and can pay £30M for a sub

City have two players who I think are sh1te in Fernando and Fernandinho. It would explain why the went for Delph (as well as his passport)

Southampton have a very defensive player in Wanyama and always played two defensive players there rather than a balanced two IMO

Everton play two stoppers too in Barry/McCarthy or Besic and they were awful in defence and attack last season
 
For me, Liverpool, if they actually chose to play them in such a way/position have the makings of a pretty impressive centre mid of Milner who takes a hell of a lot of flack but would have lifted us significantly imho, and Emre Can who for no apparent reason has been thrown about the defence like the Scouse John O'Shea.......Add captain Jordan into that, not exactly a game changer but has a solid engine and some quality on the ball, and they ought to stand up to most.

For us, I love Bentaleb. For the record I love Moussa even more and it will crush me if he leaves. Mason impressed last year and I have to give him absolute credit for it, and I can admit that he falls under the Kane bracket of players I had severe doubts about/almost had written off before they had a legitimate chance. Both stepped up, Harry obviously beyond belief. Still think Mason can be improved upon without too much difficulty however....Ward-Prowse, Bender, Song for example, obviously very different examples - one young, domestic, deployed as both a wide man and centrally, one a relatively large name in a big, however very much a selling, club, and one a free transfer who failed to set the league alight last year in a distinctly average team however who is widely regarded as possessing great quality.
 
Jurgen the German said:
That would work. I just don't think that Mason is the answer going forward. I was wrong about Rose so I could be wrong about Mason, but I struggle to see what he excels at and we are too open due to protection not being provided by the pair of Mason and Bentaleb. If we play the majority of the season with the two of them, 5th is going to be a struggle IMO.
Click to expand...

Mason's got an excellent eye for a quick, incisive pass and a great engine. If he can add a bit more positional awareness to his game, then he could be a really good player.
 
Mason is a great squad option for us. Depsite being average towards the end of the season, he still had games where be bossed midfields with players who we would be clamouring to sign. Fact he can do that, has that experience and 'legs' under his belt suggests he could improve in the same way Nabil did last year.

I wouldn't want to rely on him and we are desperate for a signing but the overreaction to his bad performances was very disappointing
 
parklane1 said:
Agree, he needs upgrading otherwise we will have the same problems.
Click to expand...

Looks increasingly like we wont be upgrading mate. If we do get a midfielder in then I'm starting to think it will be another unknown quantity.

This transfer window is starting to become very worrying - much like the last 10 windows that we have had to endure.... frankly shocking
 
LCLC said:
Looks increasingly like we wont be upgrading mate. If we do get a midfielder in then I'm starting to think it will be another unknown quantity.

This transfer window is starting to become very worrying - much like the last 10 windows that we have had to endure.... frankly shocking
Click to expand...


Rubbish.
 
milo said:
Mason's got an excellent eye for a quick, incisive pass and a great engine. If he can add a bit more positional awareness to his game, then he could be a really good player.
Click to expand...
I think Mason's passing is poor. IMO his main attribute is his tackling and long range shooting
 
milo said:
In what way do you think it is poor?
Click to expand...
For me he lacks the passing finesse of either Eriksen or bentaleb (occasional brain fart aside). It appears to me, his long balls and riskier passing repeatedly fail to come off and when he loses the ball he fails to get back into position fast enough.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back