[Albion] Our midfield triangle

[Hugo Rune]

I thought Trossard looked incredibly effective (again) as a number 10 operating just in front of Lallana & Biss in a midfield triangle against Leicester. In fact, as a the unit of 3, they were all great.

However, it got me thinking about GP’s astonishing options here.

He could rest those 3 and play this:

—————-Mac Allister————-
——Moder——————Groß——

Or even give those 6 players a break and still look strong with this:

——————-Richards—————
——-Alzate————-Mwepu——

Raiding the U23s would see very promising players like Leonard given a chance. And then you have loaned players like Caicedo pushing for first team action when they return too.

Astonishing strength in depth that probably doesn’t look out of place in the top six.

 

[Weststander]

An amazing turnaround in the squad in seemingly no time at all.

For ages the trio was kind of - Stephens, Propper and Gross.

Turning points for me in terms of depth of quality were:
- Bringing Mac Allister back early from Boca; and
- The signing of Moder, although we didn’t realise how good he might be. Probably a lot of whinging including from me about a disappointing window.

Clever vision from the club too on building a young squad.
Moder 22
Mac Allister 22
Mwepu and Alzate 23
Caicedo, Richards relative kids

 

[GT49er]

An amazing turnaround in the squad in seemingly no time at all.

For ages the trio was kind of - Stephens, Propper and Gross.

Full respect to that trio - Gross and Propper, we must remember, were thrown straight into the first team alongside Stephens because for the first season in the PL at least they were pretty much all we had. Kayal was injured at the start of the season, IIRC. Incredible job to come in cold like that and do the job they did.

Turning points for me in terms of depth of quality were:
- Bringing Mac Allister back early from Boca; and
- The signing of Moder, although we didn’t realise how good he might be. Probably a lot of whinging including from me about a disappointing window.

I would love to see Moder and Mac Allister starting regularly - I think they're both potentially top players. Don't know quite how we'd fit them in - or to put it more bluntly, who we'd drop to make room for them.

Clever vision from the club too on building a young squad.
Moder 22
Mac Allister 22
Mwepu and Alzate 23
Caicedo, Richards relative kids.

Slightly worried here - the search for a Bissouma replacement (as he will surely move on soon) is becoming almost as much of an issue as finding the myrhical Murray replacement. We buy Moder - but only use him as a sub, and usually out of position. So we go out and buy Caicedo - and ship him off the Beerschot witout a whiff of PL action. So we fork out another 8 figure sum for Mwepu, who clearly needs time to 'get up to speed'. Are we going to see another potential 'Bissouma replacement' coming in next summer too, or even in January?

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Good thread. Interesting and chewy for GP.

Mwepu will be great. Early days. And gut feel is that Caicedo well be a smasher with a bit more game time under his belt.

Ali Mac needs game time to develop too, but I wonder where that will come from. Potter being pretty consistent now with selection.


I think Moder could be world class. But where does he fit in? We'll need him during the season, but again he's not getting consistent minutes on the pitch (for good reason, the form of those ahead of him) and may be a victim of his own versatility. What IS his position?

All good problems to have. Very exciting times.

 

[Stat Brother]

Add Flair Hair and The Lamp to any of those and you have a magical pentagram.

 

[el punal]

An amazing turnaround in the squad in seemingly no time at all.

For ages the trio was kind of - Stephens, Propper and Gross.

Turning points for me in terms of depth of quality were:
- Bringing Mac Allister back early from Boca; and
- The signing of Moder, although we didn’t realise how good he might be. Probably a lot of whinging including from me about a disappointing window.

Clever vision from the club too on building a young squad.
Moder 22
Mac Allister 22
Mwepu and Alzate 23
Caicedo, Richards relative kids

Which proves the point that the club are much better at choosing the best players than the know-it-all sages on NSC who constantly carp and criticise when they perceive that the club are doing nothing.

 

[Machiavelli]

I thought Trossard looked incredibly effective (again) as a number 10 operating just in front of Lallana & Biss in a midfield triangle against Leicester. In fact, as a the unit of 3, they were all great.

However, it got me thinking about GP’s astonishing options here.

He could rest those 3 and play this:

—————-Mac Allister————-
——Moder——————Groß——

Or even give those 6 players a break and still look strong with this:

——————-Richards—————
——-Alzate————-Mwepu——

Raiding the U23s would see very promising players like Leonard given a chance. And then you have loaned players like Caicedo pushing for first team action when they return too.

Astonishing strength in depth that probably doesn’t look out of place in the top six.

Just to be pedantic, keeping to my strengths, I wouldn't classify Tross' role as part of a midfield triangle. The triangle was far more with Maupay and Welbeck. Tross shines when he can play a freer role, drift wherever he wants, find pockets of space, and use his skill to make things happen. He was brilliant at that on Sunday. I think he and Ali Mac are the best in our squad at the mo at finding 'pockets' of space higher up the pitch -- it's a great skill.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Just to be pedantic, keeping to my strengths, I wouldn't classify Tross' role as part of a midfield triangle. The triangle was far more with Maupay and Welbeck. Tross shines when he can play a freer role, drift wherever he wants, find pockets of space, and use his skill to make things happen. He was brilliant at that on Sunday. I think he and Ali Mac are the best in our squad at the mo at finding 'pockets' of space higher up the pitch -- it's a great skill.

Depends on the opposition. Tross spent a lot of time in central midfield on Sunday and he was brilliant there.

 

[stss30]

We've done so well without Gross in the last two games, who is a heavily influential player for us. That's a huge positive & speaks volumes about how our squad depth has improved. I think Ali Mac is a natural successor to Lallana and it's way to early to come to any meaningful conclusion about Mwepu. For me though at the moment, Moder is the player I'm most excited about, appears to just make stuff happen when he's on the pitch.

 

[JonnyCLately]

For me, I think the season will end with our midfield three being primarily, although not exclusively Moder, Biss and Ali Mac pulling the strings ahead of them. Mwepu will come in and out, Lallana will always be there and Gross too.

 

[B-right-on]

What riches we have as a club when a full Argentinean and a Poland International can't get into the starting XI.

Still find it mind boggling when I stop and think about it.

 

[Weststander]

Depends on the opposition. Tross spent a lot of time in central midfield on Sunday and he was brilliant there.

You were correct.

Trossard in exactly this midfield role.

 

[Saladpack Seagull]

Add Flair Hair and The Lamp to any of those and you have a magical pentagram.

 

[Machiavelli]

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1...d-Premier-League-2021-2022-Brighton-Leicester

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

The issue we will have with this strength in depth is getting people enough game time.

I mean Trossard, Biss and Lallana look nailed on when fit. Maybe the only time they will get rotated out when fit is during the xmas period where there's tonnes of games.

Of course there will be injuries etc, but this leaves us with about 5 senior players in CM who are going to be getting frustrated.

I look at a player like Alzate. He must be thinking that his development is being stunted by lack of game time. Then next year or so, there's Caicedo and Jenks after that Moran etc.

This is all brilliant, that we have so many promising young players. But there has to be a pathway.

I suppose the points i'm making are that I don't think we should be buying any more senior players in this position and that it's great that we have strength ion depth, but when we're further in our development as a club we should be making sure that depth is more evenly spread, (so we're not playing Gross left back etc)

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

We need good cup runs now to utilise this talent. Who’d have thought we’d be outgrowing ‘we need to focus on the league’