Sentences with phrase «role of defensive midfielder»

He almost occupied the role of a defensive midfielder in Gasperini's side.

However, as the 13 assists created by Steven Gerrard puts a limelight on an attacking role of a defensive midfielder, Liverpool fans might be looking towards their new signing to show at least glimpses of the same mantra in his 1st season and the two - footed German has plenty to offer in this respect.

Not exact matches

With the emergence of Francis Coquelin as Arsenal's first - choice defensive midfielder and with the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and even Santi Cazorla, who has grown accustomed to playing a deeper role, fighting for a place alongside the young Frenchman, the Gunners captain will certainly find it difficult to get into the first - team.

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.

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.

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.

Meanwhile, should he arrive from Leicester, N'Golo Kante would become the natural defensive midfielder that would do the key role, allowing Cesc Fabregas to provide some help on both sides of the pitch.

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.

Defensive midfield Arteta, flamini, coqulan To get a top def mid we would have needed to get rid of flamini n coqulan who would be ideal for the emergency left back role vermaelen played.

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.»

Xhaka has his qualities, but playing the defensive midfielder role like Kante does, is not one of them.

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.

I maintain Ramsey s more of a curse than a blessing... no10 role is nt jes fr him.He shud stick more to keeping d midfield together n his defensive input... Walcott still nt convincing enough... jes need som1 exciting up front for once... not jes speed of even hold up play... itz gotten us this far, need sth diff yet again... And som1 pls tap Ox, the game s started!

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.

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.

442 diamond - like formation might work if we had the base of the diamond as a dedicated defensive midfielder role with Coquelin (or new addition, or even perhaps Elneny), playmaker at the top of the diamond, the side operating like wingers (or falling back for more defensive cover as required) and two strikers.

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

That leaves the box - to - box role and the defensive midfielder, unless our manager elects to play a sort of double pivot to protect the weakened defence.

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.

To put the burden of that pivotal defensive midfield role on coquelin alone seems to be a faulty plan to me.

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.

3) Chambers, is the very first variation, he plays just ahead of the Centre back pair in the first amphibian role of Half Centre back — Half Defensive Midfield.

Although it is not yet clear where the versatile Daley Blind will play, he looks well suited to the defensive midfield role for United, and a similar style of player to Chelsea's Nemanja Matic, though it is the Serbian who is surely the better player based on his superb performances since re-joining the Blues in January.

Also, we know that Wenger has not really agreed with our need for a tough tackling defensive midfielder, as proved by his use of Mikel Arteta in the role.

The fact is that Arsenal are blessed with an amazing array of attacking midfielders, and especially have Cazorla (Wenger's Player - of - last - season) and Alexis Sanchez who are more than capable of making the No 10 role their own next season, while we are desperate for a more defensive - minded midfielder to share the burden with Francis Coquelin.

Wenger has no concept of defensive coaching — none whatsoever and frequently plays attacking players out of position, even giving attacking midfielders the midfield anchor role as in the case of Arteta.

If Iwobi can work on his defensive game, putting tackles in and having the right stamina, He should be ahead of Ramsey in that central midfield role.

It seems as though the debate about Arsenal and the defensive midfield role will go on as long as water is wet, or at least as long as Arsene Wenger is the manager of the Gunners.

He will be faster, more penetrative, some goals in there and will shield the four back players not out of brute force but intelligence... He will not be a defensive midfielder, but a deep positioned play maker... A Xavi of Barcelona and the 4.1.4.1 AW attempted and found Arteta too isolated could now work with a hard working Ramsey... imagine a 25 year old Arteta converted to his present role... definately he would be more effective than what we have today.

Arsenal are in great need of a defensive midfielder, a position that has been a problem for them all season and Ginter, originally a centre back, has slotted into the role with a natural ease.

Khedira won the Champions League in May and then played a prominent role in Germany's World Cup triumph over the summer and is therefore clearly a quality performer and perhaps the ideal man to balance out the heaps of midfield creativity at Arsenal with some much needed defensive nous.

Our midfield no longer picks itself, but I expect Wenger to opt for the most defensive approach of fielding Francis Coquelin alongside new signing Granit Xhaka from the start of the match, and possibly even playing Mohamed Elneny in a box - to - box role to stop our opponents from trying to over-run us on the break.

Ozil needs to be played more centrally if we hope to benefit from his creativity with the ball and Welbeck's first touch is far too sloppy to be played along side Lacazette... we need to find a formation which allows more service to those making runs from the middle of the pitch... Lacazette can not play so much with his back to goal or we're simply playing the same unsuccessful offensive scheme we played with Giroud, who is much better in that type of role... I can only hope we keep Sanchez and purchase a true defensive midfielder then switch to a 4 -4-1-1, which allows us to have Ozil play more centrally with Sead and Sanchez on the left side and Ox and Bellerin on the right, which would stretch defences so much that we could overwhelm most opponents with both runs in behind and overlapping runs out wide

I think that's his best position has he has the technical skills for it, but every creative / attacking midfielder believes that is their best position because of the freedom the role allows and the reduced defensive duties due to the role being that essentially of a 2nd striker in a 442 or 4411, leaving the bulk of defending to 2 CMs.

During his time at Southampton, Chambers typically played the role of a right back for his side but has primarily focused on a centre back or defensive midfield role at the Gunners.

A highly promising young midfielder who also operates well in a number of defensive roles, Emre Can has proven a very astute buy by the Merseysiders.

Godoy plays much more as a number six defensive midfielder with Panama, but the more free - roaming role he has in San Jose also allows him to direct the action on both sides of the ball.

Mourinho has the guts to play David Luiz a CB as a defensive midfielder but Wenger has no vision of playing Vermaleen a team Captain in that role.

Depending on the situation, both have played more as a pair of number sixes — true defensive midfielders — and at other times they have switched roles to take on the number eight attacking midfielder position.

Despite graduating from the Centre of Excellence as a central midfielder, the 19 - year - old has adapted to defensive roles at centre back and full back this season.

Coquelin was a revelation in midfield for Arsenal during the second half of last season, claiming the defensive - midfield role.

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.

Key to his exclusion is the variety of options available to the coach, especially players who can play in more than one role like Shehu Abdullahi and Wilfred Ndidi unlike Esiti who is only best as a defensive midfielder.

In front of him, Jordan Henderson has featured less frequently in the league since Christmas due to injury and rotation, and less playing time for the club captain in the defensive - midfield role has correlated with the uptick in defensive performance.

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.