faaip wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 6:28 pm
Better than Klich yes..
Struijk has just flapped around out of position for 65 minutes.
As soon as Struijk moves back into CB we start to get a slight foothold in the game and no longer look overrun in midfield.
Same thing happened the last time Struijk was played at CDM v Villa. Looked out of his depth, picked up a silly yellow in the first 15 mins and was off by the 20th. Brought on Shackleton, had Klich sitting a little deeper and we won 3-0.
Struijk is not a CDM. Nor is Klich but I’d pick a midfield of Klich, Shack and Rodrigo over Struijk, Klich and Rodrigo any day.
SaraM wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 6:26 pm
Phillips arguably wouldn't have developed into the player he is without moving between midfield and CB.
Klich playing deeper neutralises his attacking creativity. It's a balancing act when we don't have Phillips, and there are no ideal solutions.
MB doesn't always get it right, but you can see that he is trying to balance the team across the whole pitch, sometimes at the expense of a particular position or player. It's usually a compromise of defence for attack, because that's how we most often win games.
Well of course we know that Phillips is a special player and had an easier time of dropping from CDM to CB than Struijk has from CB to CDM.
And of course Klich playing deeper neutralises much of his attacking threat but as you say it’s a balancing act. Simply put, Struijk was terrible today and looks a whole lot more convincing at CB.
Of course it is only my opinion but Klich with an experienced head brings more at CDM than Struijk. And that isn’t me standing on my soap box and proclaiming that Klich is a great CDM, merely than when I’ve seen Klich play there he’s played a 5/10 to Struijk’s 2/10.