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Rodrigo Bentancur

I don't think we will be looking for one tbh. Our needs are greater in forward areas (and full backs IMO) for 'top level', and in the meantime we will be anticipating Gray/Sarr/Bergvall are developing towards this level...

Agree. We've got 3 with enormous potential. Bentancur and Pahlinha will be bridging their emergence in the shorter term. There's also maybe Abbott to factor in too.

And similarly, I don't think we'll look at midfield again till at least summer 2027 now. The next few windows need to be all about LW, LB and CF.
 
This means Someone else will needed to be moved on to bring in another top level CM

Bissouma is out of contract next summer, so I assume he’ll be heading elsewhere in January; assuming he gets over his injury by then.

Would love if we could sign a progressive passer like Wharton to anchor midfield but perhaps Gray shall develop into such a player.

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Hopefully he can return to these, pre ACL injury, levels again…

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Watching that it seems like he has either lost mobility or lost confidence in his body. It was terrible when that injury happened, as he looked our best up and coming player back then.
 
I still see him do those things, perhaps not as consistently - he still looks technically very good/comfortable on the ball to me.

It was his interception that led to Tels goal let's not forget....
 
I still see him do those things, perhaps not as consistently - he still looks technically very good/comfortable on the ball to me.

It was his interception that led to Tels goal let's not forget....

Those clips are probably compiled from across 2 seasons with us. I'm sure you'll be able to do a similar one from this season's moments come end of the year.
 
Except for the goal his performance was not good, should have tried to block the first goal instead of standing with his arms behind his back.
As far as I remember he had one forward pass in the first half? I do not think he is the right player to play alongside Palinha!
 
Except for the goal his performance was not good, should have tried to block the first goal instead of standing with his arms behind his back.
As far as I remember he had one forward pass in the first half? I do not think he is the right player to play alongside Palinha!
I think that's a little harsh, but I do agree that Palhinha is probably fine on his own as the defensive midfielder. Maybe Frank respected Aston Villa too much? Understandable since they are playing well at the moment.

Bergvall or even Gray might be a better option in terms of keeping us dominant with the ball. To be fair, a lot of our problems today were from up front. Only Kudus seemed to be alive today, with the other three forward players not pulling their collective weight. That's why I'm trying to be fair to Bentancur for how the game went today.
 
I think that's a little harsh, but I do agree that Palhinha is probably fine on his own as the defensive midfielder. Maybe Frank respected Aston Villa too much? Understandable since they are playing well at the moment.

Bergvall or even Gray might be a better option in terms of keeping us dominant with the ball. To be fair, a lot of our problems today were from up front. Only Kudus seemed to be alive today, with the other three forward players not pulling their collective weight. That's why I'm trying to be fair to Bentancur for how the game went today.
Agree but I still think it is a problem with Bentancur being a sideway passer.
 
Except for the goal his performance was not good, should have tried to block the first goal instead of standing with his arms behind his back.
As far as I remember he had one forward pass in the first half? I do not think he is the right player to play alongside Palinha!
Seems to me that the two deep midfielders are playing to instructions of being very risk averse.

Bentancur is capable of doing more, but with him it comes with significant risk as he tends to be unaware of what's going on around him.

But if Frank saw their sideways safe passing as a significant problem surely one of them would have been subbed against Villa at 1-1 at some point?
 
Agree. Our midfield was so stodgy, Emery brought on Watkins and Buendia to go and win the game, he didn't fear us. Rightly so. We wilted after an hour because the players are knackered and Frank overplays some / won't bring subs on soon enough.

E.g. Bergvall was our double player of the year last year, now he hardly gets a sniff. Johnson scored all our goals last year, now he gets 5 mins. I agree Johnson has MASSIVE flaws but he has pace and can finish, so it is not impossible to utilise those traits in a certain system. Gray hardly gets a sniff either, the kid is class.
 
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