Sentences with phrase «in the defensive midfield role»

Cazorla and Mkhitaryan explore the wings and Coquelin and Xhaka are in the defensive midfield role jointly.

N'koulou also has the ability to play in the defensive midfield role.

29 - goal Harry Kane is set to lead the line for the Three Lions tonight, with Kane's Spurs teammate Eric Dier chosen over West Brom stalwart Jake Livermore as the player to partner Jordan Henderson in the defensive midfield role for the home side.

I'd like to see Nelson in a more attacking midfield role and Niles in a defensive midfield role.

Despite Antonio Valencia's tremendous start to the season, Mourinho has little full - back options to choose from and so signing 23 - year - old Fabinho — who can also play in a defensive midfield role — would undoubtedly bolster this area and thus the strength of the overall squad.

At the moment I would not need to take a gooner vote to find out which player would make their starting 11 in that defensive midfield role out of him, Arteta and Flamini.

Not so long ago, when Wilshere was snubbed by England because Southgate wanted Jack to be getting regular first team football in the Defensive Midfielder role, Wenger admitted that he wanted Jack to play further forward, and he even specified where he saw him playing in future.

The Wingers will provide support to the three - man midfield of Elneny or Xhaka (I would go with Elneny right now) in the defensive midfield role; Ramsey in the Vieira role — Yes, our Vieira, if well motivated, is Ramsey — and Ozil in the attacking midfield role.

We're covered in terms of numbers in the defensive midfield role, though I'd like to see the quality improve.

If I were Wenger would definitely test Wellbeck in LWB — allow us to put Sead in defensive midfield role — he could be awesome.

Chambers should be good for cover, but I hope he will also get a chance in the defensive midfield role now, where the odd mistake will not be as dangerous.

Jeremy Toulalan, who has since been made into a central defender at club level, was not his best in a defensive midfield role.

At the moment, our options in the defensive midfield role is too limited.

Energetic, dynamic, tough in the tackle and composed on the ball, Coquelin has really clicked and he also has the most important thing in that defensive midfield role, discipline in his position.

I want to see Kolasinac in the defensive midfield role for this game.

Against Philly in the second half, Stahre made some adjustments to the formation, dropping Florian Jungwirth back into the centerback line and slotting Eriksson more in a defensive midfielder role.

But not for Smith, whose column in The Telegraph explains just how good the Netherlands international was in his defensive midfield role in United's 4 - 0 home win against QPR in the Premier League.

Manchester United's new # 14 million signing Daley Blind will play his football in a defensive midfield role at the club, according to former boss Frank de Boer and could be set to make his Premier League bow in his favoured position.

Trent Alexander - Arnold and Andy Robertson are developing into key men at full - back, and in front of them on Tuesday, Wijnaldum proved an able deputy for the suspended captain Jordan Henderson in the defensive midfield role.

It is looking like a repeat of the three year search for a right back that only ended with the signing of Pablo Zabaleta — who ironically may now be asked to cover in a defensive midfield role.

Nemanja Matic and N'Golo Kante were in defensive midfield roles, while Eden Hazard and Willian supported Costa.

This might be a blessing in disguise for us enabling Pedro Obiang to return in the defensive midfield role.

However until any concrete transfer is to occur, Spurs will deploy Dier in the defensive midfield role alongside Ryan Mason who will take up a box to box role, having put up a good performance against Stoke.

While he normally plays in a defensive midfield role, he starts slightly further back in this XI.

Arsenal have had a perceived weakness in their defensive midfield role for a number of years now and whoever plays in that role on Thursday will have to be on top form against Dzagoev and Golovin.

Pique remains but drifts in and out of form, Mascherano is a definite asset but strikes me as more comfortable in the defensive midfield role he took at Liverpool, Alba remains one of the best left backs in the world and Umiti seems to be settling very well since his summer move.

Not exact matches

The midfield is a diamond arrangement with Ozil at the north of the diamond, Carzola and Xhaka on the sharing the deep lying role in the west and the east of the diamond and Coquelin on the south of the diamond as defensive midfield.

But his age is making me to panic of his manning the Gunners defensive holding midfield role against the speedy Barca's pouncers in Feb Ucl clash at the Ems in Feb next year.

«Mikel Arteta is a nice footballer and does his best in an unfamiliar role but he is not a defensive midfielder.»

We at Arsenal pay the highest ticket prices in the country, and we have rarely seen all that excess profit spent on players when we need them, such as Arsene Wenger's refusal to sign a defensive midfielder until this January, despite lacking in the role since Vieira's departure in 2005.

You cant escape he fact that Podolski was played rarely and when he was he was played out of position much the same way that Wenger has assembled a squad of players most of which are a talented bunch, but, Wenger has failed to build a team who fit n with each other, we have a midfield that overtly populated with players who al excel in the same role BUT have no solid defensive midfield talent and no options in defence when players have crap periods or are long term injury problems.

Unable to make a difference in a creative forward thinking role and too inconsistent to use in a holding or defensive midfield role.

Anfield boss Brendan Rodgers has improved his central midfield options over the summer with experienced England international James Milner offering Liverpool a versatile weapon whilst last summer's addition Emre Can has matured into a player who's best position is in a defensive enforcer role.

Hugely ineffective midfielder who offers little in the final third and who's ability in a defensive role is questionable it's hard to see quite what Tom Cleverley's purpose is.

It literally takes pretty much all the strengths away from our world - class triangle of Mesut, Santi and Ozil to place a struggling for form Campbell in a more attacking role when the part of his role he's been doing best is providing extra defensive cover, while making us weaker in midfield when our strongest midfielder has been injured!!

Another impressive defensive midfielder, Daley Blind can also fill in as a left - back, so may not have too much to worry about with Gundogan's arrival, even if his best role has perhaps been in front of the back four.

The north London side could well do with a strong tackling midfield presence with neither Mikel Arteta or Mathieu Flamini consistently impressing in either a holding or out and out defensive midfield roles and having taken a shine to Wanyama during his time at Celtic Wenger is now ready to re-ignite his interest in the 23 year old.

I think he can play everywhere in the midfield — certainly not in a defensive role — but all the other positions are not out of reach for him.»

I do nt think we need another defensive midfielder we have Xhaka who in my personal opinion had a decent first season (made some early mistakes but we saw him adapt to the role and learn as the season went on - i aspect him to do develop even more next season)

The versatile Dutch international could also have a role in the side filling in at left wing - back or as a defensive midfielder, but centre - back seems his likeliest position at the moment due to United's desperate need for new players in that position.

Its all good going forward but in his role he should not forget his defensive duties, he was also bypassed a bit to easy by the Newcastle midfield.

I sat «player «rather than «right back «or even defender because the «9 - year old has already taken up two roles in his fledgling Arsenal career and there has also been talk that he might get a chance to show what he can do as a defensive midfielder.

Roberto has shone for Barcelona in a number of midfield and defensive roles, and Don Balon reported that he was considering his future at the club.

Talking of people being critical of AR I was interested listening to Keown last night on MOTD2 where he almost seemed reluctant to praise FC but was very keen to highlight AR's role (and SC's) in the improved Arsenal defensive set - up in midfield.

This is an incredibly difficult question to answer for a variety of reasons, most importantly because over the years our once vaunted «beautiful» style of play has become a shadow of it's former self, only to be replaced by a less than stellar «plug and play» mentality where players play out of position and adjustments / substitutions are rarely forthcoming before the 75th minute... if you look at our current players, very few would make sense in the traditional Wengerian system... at present, we don't have the personnel to move the ball quickly from deep - lying position, efficient one touch midfielders that can make the necessary through balls or the disciplined and pacey forwards to stretch defences into wide positions, without the aid of the backs coming up into the final 3rd, so that we can attack the defensive lanes in the same clinical fashion we did years ago... on this current squad, we have only 1 central defender on staf, Mustafi, who seems to have any prowess in the offensive zone or who can even pass two zones through so that we can advance play quickly out of our own end (I have seen some inklings that suggest Holding might have some offensive qualities but too early to tell)... unfortunately Mustafi has a tendency to get himself in trouble when he gets overly aggressive on the ball... from our backs out wide, we've seen pace from the likes of Bellerin and Gibbs and the spirited albeit offensively stunted play of Monreal, but none of these players possess the skill - set required in the offensive zone for the new Wenger scheme which requires deft touches, timely runs to the baseline and consistent crossing, especially when Giroud was playing and his ratio of scored goals per clear chances was relatively low (better last year though)... obviously I like Bellerin's future prospects, as you can't teach pace, but I do worry that he regressed last season, which was obvious to Wenger because there was no way he would have used Ox as the right side wing - back so often knowing that Barcelona could come calling in the off - season, if he thought otherwise... as for our midfielders, not a single one, minus the more confident Xhaka I watched played for the Swiss national team a couple years ago, who truly makes sense under the traditional Wenger model... Ramsey holds onto the ball too long, gives the ball away cheaply far too often and abandons his defensive responsibilities on a regular basis (doesn't score enough recently to justify): that being said, I've always thought he does possess a little something special, unfortunately he thinks so too... Xhaka is a little too slow to ever boss the midfield and he tends to telegraph his one true strength, his long ball play: although I must admit he did get a bit better during some points in the latter part of last season... it always made me wonder why whenever he played with Coq Wenger always seemed to play Francis in a more advanced role on the pitch... as for Coq, he is way too reckless at the wrong times and has exhibited little offensive prowess yet finds himself in and around the box far too often... let's face it Wenger was ready to throw him in the trash heap when injuries forced him to use Francis and then he had the nerve to act like this was all part of a bigger Wenger constructed plan... he like Ramsey, Xhaka and Elneny don't offer the skills necessary to satisfy the quick transitory nature of our old offensive scheme or the stout defensive mindset needed to protect the defensive zone so that our offensive players can remain aggressive in the final third... on the front end, we have Ozil, a player of immense skill but stunted by his physical demeanor that tends to offend, the fact that he's been played out of position far too many times since arriving and that the players in front of him, minus Sanchez, make little to no sense considering what he has to offer (especially Giroud); just think about the quick counter-attack offence in Real or the space and protection he receives in the German National team's midfield, where teams couldn't afford to focus too heavily on one individual... this player was a passing «specialist» long before he arrived in North London, so only an arrogant or ignorant individual would try to reinvent the wheel and / or not surround such a talent with the necessary components... in regards to Ox, Walcott and Welbeck, although they all possess serious talents I see them in large part as headless chickens who are on the injury table too much, lack the necessary first - touch and / or lack the finishing flair to warrant their inclusion in a regular starting eleven; I would say that, of the 3, Ox showed the most upside once we went to a back 3, but even he became a bit too consumed by his pending contract talks before the season ended and that concerned me a bit... if I had to choose one of those 3 players to stay on it would be Ox due to his potential as a plausible alternative to Bellerin in that wing - back position should we continue to use that formation... in Sanchez, we get one of the most committed skill players we've seen on this squad for some years but that could all change soon, if it hasn't already of course... strangely enough, even he doesn't make sense given the constructs of the original Wenger offensive model because he holds onto the ball too long and he will give the ball up a little too often in the offensive zone... a fact that is largely forgotten due to his infectious energy and the fact that the numbers he has achieved seem to justify the means... finally, and in many ways most crucially, Giroud, there is nothing about this team or the offensive system that Wenger has traditionally employed that would even suggest such a player would make sense as a starter... too slow, too inefficient and way too easily dispossessed... once again, I think he has some special skills and, at times, has showed some world - class qualities but he's lack of mobility is an albatross around the necks of our offence... so when you ask who would be our best starting 11, I don't have a clue because of the 5 or 6 players that truly deserve a place in this side, 1 just arrived, 3 aren't under contract beyond 2018 and the other was just sold to Juve... man, this is theraputic because following this team is like an addiction to heroin without the benefits

And not only does the former Gunner think that the Frenchman has got his discipline just right in that really tricky defensive midfield role, he believes that there is a lot more to come as he has seen a steady improvement from the youngster.

Fabinho has largely played central midfield in a defensive role for Monaco this season, though he has also shown himself capable of playing in defence in the past.

Jose Mourinho has been using Pogba less in recent games, suggesting perhaps that there's a lack of trust in the player after his struggles to adapt to a more defensive midfield role for the Red Devils.

Playing in defensive midfield this season, Eric Dier has looked solid so far for Tottenham and seems likely to resume this role against City.

Eric Dier, 22, who joined Spurs from Sporting Lisbon in the summer of 2014 has excelled since being deployed as a defensive - midfielder and is thriving in his new role alongside Moussa Dembele.