[Albion] Centre Midfield is the problem

[The_Viper]

None of them look comfortable in a flat three, our player of the season arguably Gross has been made useless with the change, Bissouma and Propper both want to do more than their being asked to do.

I think our problem is our wingers personally. We got into a goal scoring or chance creating position 4 times last night at 0-0 and all 4 times the wingers gave the ball away poorly. If they kept that ball and put it in the box that's another 4 chances we could have had that just got wasted. They're incredibly off the pace, but how much incentive do you have to throw the ball into the box when you have 1 person in there and 4 to 5 defenders because our midfield are so deep? It's just a bad situation all round.

 

[Whitley Bayster]

I would like us to try two up top with two mobile players like Locadia and Andone or one of them off Glenn. Get at least one more option to get the ball to stick. The Murray Gross combo works well. They are both slow but both adept at holding up the ball and bringing other players in. We are mising that link up from Gross very badly. Gross' absence since Christmas has to be a factor in the lack of points and goals. None of the new players have adequately plugged the No 10 gap. When he's fit again it would be good to see Andone or Locadia given a chance to play off him

 

[zefarelly]

I said the other day our wingers aren't delivering . . . . we should pack midfield

Stephens Propper

Gross Bissouma

Andone Propper

 

[Pavilionaire]

I will say it again, the squad is Championship quality punching above its weight in the Premier League ffs!

Surely if that is the case you either get relegated straight away or get found out in your second season? Players that have looked comfortable and have delivered at this level = Ryan, Bruno, Bernardo, Duffy, Dunk, Propper, Gross, Murray. They're better than Championship quality players.

 

[Weststander]

Will these new midfielders still be passing to a slow striker on his tod 30 yards up the pitch?

Seeing as everyone on NSC these days seems to love Locadia and Andone (and detest Muzza), shirley those amazing young guns have the pace?

 

[GT49er]

Could you give me an example of a midfield powerhouse in a lower half side who is netting 5-6 times a season?

Højbjerg? Westwood? Capoue? Surman?

Our midfield is doing as instructed, Propper can offer a hell of alot more, Stephens is a limited midfielder but effective. Bissouma is raw.

How many times were Kayal/Stephens/Sidwell/Norwood netting in the Championship promotion campaigns? A couple each from memory. This is the way we play, the midfield is the second line of defence.

This is how Hughton uses the resources that are available to him. Seriously upgrade CM, and the rest of the team will take a step in the right direction too.

 

[allystrat]

I agree we are lacking in key areas, but the fact is that it’s not easy to find upgrades. Even splashing £60+ million on 3 players offers no guarantees. Just look at Leicester. Spent over 60m on Adrien Silva, Vicente Iborra and Slimani. All failed and shipped out on loan.

 

[Icy Gull]

Seeing as everyone on NSC these days seems to love Locadia and Andone (and detest Muzza), shirley those amazing young guns have the pace?

Shame they are either injured or overlooked as starters most of the time isn’t it?

Do not put me in the Murray hater bracket, just think we should be using him as a squad player not a shoo in as a starter most games. He has been immense for us but time is catching up with him at this level

 

[Pavilionaire]

I agree we are lacking in key areas, but the fact is that it’s not easy to find upgrades. Even splashing £60+ million on 3 players offers no guarantees. Just look at Leicester. Spent over 60m on Adrien Silva, Vicente Iborra and Slimani. All failed and shipped out on loan.

Good point. Dutch giant Ajax are interested in buying Davy Propper, a bloke deemed too slow and not scoring enough goals to cut it in the Prem. It seems £20mill doesn't get you much in midfield these days.

 

[Weststander]

I think you’re a touch harsh on Pröpper. He can pick out a player, he can do the quick short passes, he can beat a man and run with the ball, but when he’s given no outlet and has approximately 2 seconds on the ball he’s never going to succeed. Our wingers are camped so deep in our own half he can’t use them, we also only have one attacker in the whole squad with searing pace, and he’s played about 100 minutes all season. We are an incredibly pedestrian team and if we face an opposition that presses us we are screwed.

The question is then, how to do we become a team that isn’t pedestrian?

How many of our squad have the pace to consistently trouble their opposite numbers in PL matches? Andone and Izquierdo?

If you’re saying we need to buy first teamers with true pace, I agree. But also with the ability to control games, retain the ball, create chances. Such players do exist outside the top 6, e.g. Pereyra, Doucoure, Maddison, Townsend, Brooks, Ryan Fraser.

I’ve deliberately kept Wolves out of it as they’re FFP cheats, a mini ManC (with identical income to us, they signed a £30m striker today).

 

[Bold Seagull]

Not everyone thinks our midfield is the problem..

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/apr/04/brighton-yves-bissouma-hard-to-leave-my-parents

 

[Thunder Bolt]

For what it is worth, last night couple of Chelsea fans were quite complimentary about Dale Stephens; and they weren't doing irony.

Dyche wanted to buy Stephens whilst in the Premier League, and Inigo Calderon told us that he was the Players player of the season that particular year.

He's just another scapegoat for fans, imo. Those who know, in the game, rate him.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

The question is then, how to do we become a team that isn’t pedestrian?

How many of our squad have the pace to consistently trouble their opposite numbers in PL matches? Andone and Izquierdo?

If you’re saying we need to buy first teamers with true pace, I agree. But also with the ability to control games, retain the ball, create chances. Such players do exist outside the top 6, e.g. Pereyra, Doucoure, Maddison, Townsend, Brooks, Ryan Fraser.

I’ve deliberately kept Wolves out of it as they’re FFP cheats, a mini ManC (with identical income to us, they signed a £30m striker today).

I think our current squad would benefit from a different formation, but that’s unlikely to happen. I’m not really sure what the answer is, would one midfielder make all the difference? Possibly. We’ve got to stop turning over possession so easily, we need to play further up the field. Our wingers are picked on who has the best defensive discipline, that can’t be good.

 

[Arkwright]

I've banged on about this for a while but it won't happen, I think we could play a back three with Stephens sweeping. Montoya and Bernardo are good enough to play wing back and then we could easily have a creative midfielder playing central.

I think that Propper and Bissouma are creative just need to be given a bit more of a free role and push higher up the pitch.

As I said it won't happen as currently the midfield play far too deep and hence isolating the lone striker. Last night I thought in general the centre midfield was ok our problem was with the two wide players, Knocky in particular was lazy and at fault for the first goal.

 

[samtheseagull]

had pace alongside them didnt they?

and that is our problem, not individuals with lack of pace but too many without pace. theres a few players who are suited to a defensive game, but not the counter-attack or the box to box activity for 4-3-3. at least two key players probably need to move on in order to make this change work, not because they are not good enough but not suited.

That was not what i was answering to. Moggy said you need pace to be a good midfielder which isn't true

 

[Wardy's twin]

Except giving away a needless penalty against 10 men that cost us 2 points which we could really use right about now.



Hughton has rarely, if ever, deployed Kayal in that role. He even opts to play Propper in that role over Kayal. Our midfield is not like-for-like.

Kayal gave away a daft penalty , Bissouma lost the ball and Southampton scored.....players make mistakes.

What people are pointing out is that with Kayal you see someone who looks like he wants to play , against Millwall he was our only effective attacking option.

 

[Weststander]

Kayal gave away a daft penalty , Bissouma lost the ball and Southampton scored.....players make mistakes.

What people are pointing out is that with Kayal you see someone who looks like he wants to play , against Millwall he was our only effective attacking option.

You may or may not be right, but don’t we need to keep the WBA/Derby/Millwall matches out of this? We only want to look at how our CM is doing in PL matches ... not very well.

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

I said the other day our wingers aren't delivering . . . . we should pack midfield

Stephens Propper

Gross Bissouma

Andone Propper

With overlapping full backs. Bernardo would be excellent and get an equivalent at right back.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

I've banged on about this for a while but it won't happen, I think we could play a back three with Stephens sweeping. Montoya and Bernardo are good enough to play wing back and then we could easily have a creative midfielder playing central.

I think that Propper and Bissouma are creative just need to be given a bit more of a free role and push higher up the pitch.

As I said it won't happen as currently the midfield play far too deep and hence isolating the lone striker. Last night I thought in general the centre midfield was ok our problem was with the two wide players, Knocky in particular was lazy and at fault for the first goal.

This is the sort of formation I’ve had in mind. Montoya and Bernardo are two of our quickest players, I’m sure they’d thrive if we used 3 centre backs. Leave Stephens as the only deep midfielder, allow Pröpper and Bissouma to playe further up and use whichever combination of Locadia, Andone, Murray, Groß, AJ. Personally I’d like to see Pascal play in his #10 again with Florin ahead of him.

 

[Machiavelli]

Agree with OP's point about Kayal. He is always a pest to the opposition and tireless with it. Should maybe be given a start on Saturday to liven it up a bit.

Dreadful passing stats though. Will work wonders against City. That said, I'm not convinced that anything will work wonders against City.