[Albion] Midfield Options

[Raphael Meade]

I think we'd be mad to offload Mooy, he's been very impressive for me.

He's been a very solid club servant but Stephens seems the most obvious to go personally

 

[GT49er]

I think we'd be mad to offload Mooy, he's been very impressive for me.

Well, he was while he was on loan .......... then we bought him.





Oops!

 

[GT49er]

He's not in the u23s pics either.

No, but Bernardo and March were last time I looked!

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

I reckon it is very possible that some of

Stephens
Groß

Jahanbakhsh
March

will move on.

Hopefully there is space for Molumby at the Albion this season.

 

[JonnyCLately]

Agree, I think as a footballer he's intelligent considered and can be clinically precise with a turn or pass . . . His down fall is often being that get out of jail free card for others, and you can't win them all. . Especially when he gets dragged back to do defenders jobs. If there were stats for plasma hot potatoes thrown at a player he'd be sky high.

Couldn't agree more - I love Propper - indecently so - I cannot fathom the vitriol he receives here - I get he makes errors but he's the most progressive and cultured player on our books IMO. I also think he's a great benchmark for younger players to understand first touch, vision, passing etc - my ideal midfield would be Bissouma being a dynamic wrecking ball with Proper and Lallana pulling the strings in front with two wide mean dropping in to cover occasionally - now we don't have those and it's not Potter's philosophy but to me that would be a midfield that's hard to handle. I don't expect Propper to be a prolific goal scorer - Scholes?Lampard he ain't but in terms of linking play he's superlative

Disclaimer: I understand not everyone sees this and appreciate Footie is about opinions

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Couldn't agree more - I love Propper - indecently so - I cannot fathom the vitriol he receives here - I get he makes errors but he's the most progressive and cultured player on our books IMO. I also think he's a great benchmark for younger players to understand first touch, vision, passing etc - my ideal midfield would be Bissouma being a dynamic wrecking ball with Proper and Lallana pulling the strings in front with two wide mean dropping in to cover occasionally - now we don't have those and it's not Potter's philosophy but to me that would be a midfield that's hard to handle. I don't expect Propper to be a prolific goal scorer - Scholes?Lampard he ain't but in terms of linking play he's superlative

Disclaimer: I understand not everyone sees this and appreciate Footie is about opinions

Potter very much agrees with your view on Pröpper. It was all in a recent article in The Athletic.

Davy won't be going anywhere this transfer window.

 

[Justice]

Stephens often gets caught dithering on the ball, he then panics and makes a bad pass, to slow for this level.

 

[zefarelly]

Pace isn't everything but without it you need strength and guile.

No ones perfect, but I think collective frustration with Propper, Stephens and Gross, as well is that they have shown so much positivity at times but not always consistently, but we are a 'teams like these' in the best league in the world, apparently.

 

[Nameless]

Stephens often gets caught dithering on the ball, he then panics and makes a bad pass, to slow for this level.

The reason he was so good in the championship is because he had time on the ball, especially under Hughton we used to lose games because the midfield would get dispossessed so easily but he is good at keeping it simple and not taking to many risks.. I'm hoping Azate or Molumby can do the simple things Stephens does so well but add a bit more energy and pace to the midfield which Stephens doesn't really bring.

 

[blue-shifted]

Couldn't agree more - I love Propper - indecently so - I cannot fathom the vitriol he receives here - I get he makes errors but he's the most progressive and cultured player on our books IMO. I also think he's a great benchmark for younger players to understand first touch, vision, passing etc - my ideal midfield would be Bissouma being a dynamic wrecking ball with Proper and Lallana pulling the strings in front with two wide mean dropping in to cover occasionally - now we don't have those and it's not Potter's philosophy but to me that would be a midfield that's hard to handle. I don't expect Propper to be a prolific goal scorer - Scholes?Lampard he ain't but in terms of linking play he's superlative

Disclaimer: I understand not everyone sees this and appreciate Footie is about opinions

Undoubtedly with time and space and his head up, he can flick a pass with the outside of his foot in a manner nobody else at the club can. Potter's style asks a lot of the midfield. In particular to be able to receive a pass from defender or keeper with back to goal and not only retain possession but justify the risk of playing out from the back by forming a plan to get it forward. All the time a pack of wolves who know this move is going to happen are on him. It's very, very hard and it's interesting to me that GP found Stephens the more secure option than Davy towards the end of last season.

 

[blue-shifted]

I think we'd be mad to offload Mooy, he's been very impressive for me.

He's been a very solid club servant but Stephens seems the most obvious to go personally

Yeh, we only bought him in January

 

[Seaber]

Our attacking midfielders Mac Allister, Mooy, Gross and Lallana can all play out wide, which will be important for changing our shape mid game. I think they could all also play further back in midfield doing the sort of role Propper normally does.

Having one or two of the above players starting, depending on shape, supported by two of Propper, Stephens, Bissouma, Alzate or Molumby gives great licence to change the shape of the midfield during the game. I can't see us letting one of the attacking players go, but perhaps Molumby on loan or Stephens are the most likely to go.

March and Trossard have the advantage of being good at LWB and CAM as well as out wide, I haven't seen Ali J or Izquierdo excel in another position though, so their one position-ness may be a reason to move them on.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Couldn't agree more - I love Propper - indecently so - I cannot fathom the vitriol he receives here - I get he makes errors but he's the most progressive and cultured player on our books IMO. I also think he's a great benchmark for younger players to understand first touch, vision, passing etc - my ideal midfield would be Bissouma being a dynamic wrecking ball with Proper and Lallana pulling the strings in front with two wide mean dropping in to cover occasionally - now we don't have those and it's not Potter's philosophy but to me that would be a midfield that's hard to handle. I don't expect Propper to be a prolific goal scorer - Scholes?Lampard he ain't but in terms of linking play he's superlative

Disclaimer: I understand not everyone sees this and appreciate Footie is about opinions

Potter doesn't mind the errors - he keeps telling us that football is a game of mistakes. What he won't forgive is not trying to be progressive and letting fear of failure drive your actions. Davy fits the bill, I think we are seeing that Dale doesn't fit GP's approach quite so well (though did/does a very passable defensive midfield role whilst we are evolving the squad).

'Football is a mistakes game,' Potter explains. 'You play for 90 minutes and the score is only 1-0 so by definition you can see that things haven't worked pretty much all the time.

'But football leans towards a blame and fear culture and I don't want that. I met guys in my education from medicine and the military and they recognised that it wasn't necessarily about being fearful of making mistakes, it was about knowing they may come and reacting positively to them when they did. That resonated for me. Fear means you can't be yourself.

'Mistakes would happen in surgery, for example, and how the surgeon reacted to that mistake would determine life and death.

'If someone can tell me how to eliminate mistakes from football then please do. I am all ears. But my experience suggests there will be bumps in the road. It's how you, and particularly the players, deal with them that matters.'

 

[blue-shifted]

Potter doesn't mind the errors - he keeps telling us that football is a game of mistakes. What he won't forgive is not trying to be progressive and letting fear of failure drive your actions. Davy fits the bill, I think we are seeing that Dale doesn't fit GP's approach quite so well (though did/does a very passable defensive midfield role whilst we are evolving the squad).

'Football is a mistakes game,' Potter explains. 'You play for 90 minutes and the score is only 1-0 so by definition you can see that things haven't worked pretty much all the time.

'But football leans towards a blame and fear culture and I don't want that. I met guys in my education from medicine and the military and they recognised that it wasn't necessarily about being fearful of making mistakes, it was about knowing they may come and reacting positively to them when they did. That resonated for me. Fear means you can't be yourself.

'Mistakes would happen in surgery, for example, and how the surgeon reacted to that mistake would determine life and death.

'If someone can tell me how to eliminate mistakes from football then please do. I am all ears. But my experience suggests there will be bumps in the road. It's how you, and particularly the players, deal with them that matters.'

There's hope for me yet!

But seriously, how great must it be for a player to know your manager will have your back if you cock one up which leads to a goal.

 

[zefarelly]

There's hope for me yet!

But seriously, how great must it be for a player to know your manager will have your back if you cock one up which leads to a goal.

which kind of leans toward the way we played at the end of CH's tenure.

 

[Perkino]

Most supporters have their preferred players and watch the game through tinted spectacles. I for one never could see the justification to play Adam El-Abd in a defence that had Greer, Tunnicliffe, Elphick, Dunk et al but others thought he was ideal for us

 

[portlock seagull]

There's hope for me yet!

But seriously, how great must it be for a player to know your manager will have your back if you cock one up which leads to a goal.

Good post. And making me rethink in tune with GP's perspective. He's right about the game being littered with mistakes. Are they really mistakes? No, not really. They've always been there! That's football, sport and life in general.

I blame the media, who constantly analyse and scrutinise, labelling everything as a 'mistake' (leading to the goal). We've been conditioned to view everything as a 'mistake' (leading to the goal), whether it's Ryan dropping an easy catch in front of the enemy's prolific striker or Murray giving it away in their half and they've still got 10 other Brighton players to beat before it hits the back of the net or equivalent.

In old skool currency, only the former would have been labelled and that's fair enough. But not the latter, yet everything is labelled as such by Lineker, Shearer and co. Can you imagine football without 'mistakes'? How boring would that be, you're demanding nil nil each week by joining in with such punditry.

Therefore, I'm going to try and take GP's view a bit more this forthcoming season. As long as Dropper, sorry Propper, stops playing like a Kamikaze at Heathrow.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Couldn't agree more - I love Propper - indecently so - I cannot fathom the vitriol he receives here - I get he makes errors but he's the most progressive and cultured player on our books IMO. I also think he's a great benchmark for younger players to understand first touch, vision, passing etc - my ideal midfield would be Bissouma being a dynamic wrecking ball with Proper and Lallana pulling the strings in front with two wide mean dropping in to cover occasionally - now we don't have those and it's not Potter's philosophy but to me that would be a midfield that's hard to handle. I don't expect Propper to be a prolific goal scorer - Scholes?Lampard he ain't but in terms of linking play he's superlative

Disclaimer: I understand not everyone sees this and appreciate Footie is about opinions

Excellent post.

 

[Doc Lynam]

Good post. And making me rethink in tune with GP's perspective. He's right about the game being littered with mistakes. Are they really mistakes? No, not really. They've always been there! That's football, sport and life in general.

I blame the media, who constantly analyse and scrutinise, labelling everything as a 'mistake' (leading to the goal). We've been conditioned to view everything as a 'mistake' (leading to the goal), whether it's Ryan dropping an easy catch in front of the enemy's prolific striker or Murray giving it away in their half and they've still got 10 other Brighton players to beat before it hits the back of the net or equivalent.

In old skool currency, only the former would have been labelled and that's fair enough. But not the latter, yet everything is labelled as such by Lineker, Shearer and co. Can you imagine football without 'mistakes'? How boring would that be, you're demanding nil nil each week by joining in with such punditry.

Therefore, I'm going to try and take GP's view a bit more this forthcoming season. As long as Dropper, sorry Propper, stops playing like a Kamikaze at Heathrow.

Interestingly in post match interviews I've noticed GP calls them moments or actions, quite clever really takes the venom and blame out of the language.

 

[blue-shifted]

I read a good book about mistakes

Basically it compares professions and the cultures within those professions.

In the professional cultures mistakes are accepted and are dealt with in an adult way, with no threat against the individual, performance (for example the safety record) consistently increases.

In the opposite professional cultures, where the wagon get circled after mistakes, improvement is painfully slow