El brooko79 wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 2:08 pm
/twitter.com/_thomasjclark/status/1432787920356880389?t=Yv3ptxjV8tlgattgXe6riA&s=19
Well that makes a bit more sense.
As soon as I posted above, I found this quote by Moyes on SkySports:
""We've brought him in on loan initially and, hopefully, over the course of the season he will make a valuable contribution, particularly with our busier schedule of fixtures."
Crossd_Hammrs wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 2:22 pm
Well that makes a bit more sense.
As soon as I posted above, I found this quote by Moyes on SkySports:
""We've brought him in on loan initially and, hopefully, over the course of the season he will make a valuable contribution, particularly with our busier schedule of fixtures."
Seems fair all round really.
Sometimes you can get a deal that suits everyone.
My brain has been ticking over again. Maybe we've bought Kral in as Moyes may see Declan as a more attacking DM against certain opposition, namely the so called 'big six'.
Kral and Soucek in front of defence, Rice in front of them with 2 of Benny, Fornals, Bowen & Vlasic with Antonio up top in an attacking diamond, with Declan as the heartbeat of it - 4-2-1-2-1. A solid defensive line with part of that line able to play the killer pass. Declan has according to rumours said he wants to be closer to the opposition box in games, or words to that effect.
He gives us options that are far superior than Mark Noble, bless his aging cotton socks.
-DL- wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 3:19 pm
My brain has been ticking over again. Maybe we've bought Kral in as Moyes may see Declan as a more attacking DM against certain opposition, namely the so called 'big six'.
Kral and Soucek in front of defence, Rice in front of them with 2 of Benny, Fornals, Bowen & Vlasic with Antonio up top in an attacking diamond, with Declan as the heartbeat of it - 4-2-1-2-1. A solid defensive line with part of that line able to play the killer pass. Declan has according to rumours said he wants to be closer to the opposition box in games, or words to that effect.
He gives us options that are far superior than Mark Noble, bless his aging cotton socks.
Or maybe I'm just reading too much in to it...
Or maybe Kral and Rice sitting with Soucek up front ala Felliani @ Everton??
I'm not sure what Kral will bring, but I think the beauty of the Rice / Soucek bromance is that they interchange so well - when one goes up, the other one holds. Either in front of the back four is pretty secure.
When Rice was injured at the end of last season and Lanzini came in for him he did fine, but we did look different. Tomas mostly sat back in the holding CDM role and hardly ventured forward, so we lost his aerial attacking threat as a result. I like the way Lanzini can play fast passes and raise the tempo of a game in midfield, but I'm not sure I've ever seen him win a 50/50 header.
So can Kral step in and replicate the Rice / Soucek role? Time will tell - I hope so. Both fellas deserve a rest now and again.
S-H wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 3:25 pm
Or maybe Kral and Rice sitting with Soucek up front ala Felliani @ Everton??
Kral and Rice sitting in a tree…
I can see us maybe using all three to see out a game like we have with Noble at times, but I don’t think Declan is quite dynamic enough (yet?) to be more of a playmaker and putting Soucek further forward removes those ghosting runs from deep which tend to be the ones that cause trouble. You’ll get much less bang for your buck with you use him as a makeshift targetman where invariably he’ll end up back to goal.
-DL- wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 3:48 pm
We said when he first broke in to the team he wouldn't make a good midfielder and should remain a CB. He moved to DM and the rest is history.
He's like that super-sporty kid at school that was good at everything. Play the little f*cker at CF and he'd score 20 a season. He's one of them.
-DL- wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 3:48 pm
We said when he first broke in to the team he wouldn't make a good midfielder and should remain a CB. He moved to DM and the rest is history.
As soon as I saw him play as a DM, after playing CB, I believed he was better suited to that role and shouldnt look back. Thankfully that stuck as hes truly blossomed in to being 1 of the best around at it. The question now is dpes he remain a DM in future, or progress as a more box to box all round midfielder? Not sure just yet but happy to see him takes turns in venturing forward from DM in tandem with Soucek.
Georgee Paris wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 4:28 pm
Man United thinking about trying one holding midfielder and we rock up with three.
I can see that happening, to be honest. Probably a 4-3-3 with Kral deeper than Soucek/Rice (my understanding is that Kral is more defensive than either of them, but could be a misunderstanding on my part.
It actually probably means we can offer a bit more going forward against those clubs, as the deepest midfielder can drop into the defence to make it a solid bank of five, and that gives our front three a bit more security to stay higher up the pitch (in theory).
-DL- wrote: ↑Thu Sep 02, 2021 3:19 pm
My brain has been ticking over again. Maybe we've bought Kral in as Moyes may see Declan as a more attacking DM against certain opposition, namely the so called 'big six'.
Kral and Soucek in front of defence, Rice in front of them with 2 of Benny, Fornals, Bowen & Vlasic with Antonio up top in an attacking diamond, with Declan as the heartbeat of it - 4-2-1-2-1. A solid defensive line with part of that line able to play the killer pass. Declan has according to rumours said he wants to be closer to the opposition box in games, or words to that effect.
He gives us options that are far superior than Mark Noble, bless his aging cotton socks.
Or maybe I'm just reading too much in to it...
Definitely think playing three central midfielders against the bigger sides is an option now. Could see a 4321 being adopted; could be fluid on which of the 3 pushes on.
Didn’t Moyes say that Declan getting injured cost us CL?
Was interesting that he didn’t reference Antonio injury, lack of striker, sale of Haller, injuries to Cress, Masuaku or Ogbonna.
