that is why we have Kulusevski to play there as well, and he is also back. And then Simons soon as well.It goes without saying that we need him as a creative force and he's the only playmaker we have. Without him, we usually end up passing the ball left to right in front of the defensive line, waiting for an opening because someone dies of old age, or pinging hopeful crosses towards the best hands in pockets-attack in the league. But I worry that he could break into tiny pieces every time he has the ball, and I don't think I will ever trust him to last a season.
Madders was an ever-present during Ange's great start and pretty much missed the entirety of a horrific season. Those stats are a bit meaningless for me given the circumstances. That said, I'd much rather have him than not. He was brilliant the other night and his goal looks better every time I see it.Correlation doesn’t imply causation but he certainly does seem to help us enjoy that winning feeling
There's also the fact that during those 500 odd days he's not started we have lost Sonny, had no Kulu, and had one of the longest injury lists in our history. Madders is a big part of making our team tick, but there's more than just him to consider in the stats above.Madders was an ever-present during Ange's great start and pretty much missed the entirety of a horrific season. Those stats are a bit meaningless for me given the circumstances. That said, I'd much rather have him than not. He was brilliant the other night and his goal looks better every time I see it.
Correlation doesn’t imply causation but he certainly does seem to help us enjoy that winning feeling
I view Maddison the same way I viewed Romero. Top level player on their day....its just 1/3 games due to a combo of injury and inconsistency.....and suspension in the case of Romero.
I think it needs the addition of a Fernandes in midfield to be the actual passing fulcrum so that Maddison is more of a finisher of moves rather than the complete instigator. Fernandes will be the one deciding whether push the ball out to the wings or through the centre.Not a bad shout. Even this early in his recovery, there is potentially a risk of getting over reliant on Madds. Take the Coventry game. Madds had an amazing 55-60 touches in the first half on Monday evening. He then left the field on 69 mins with 69 touches. Whether you give Coventry credit for that tail off in the second half or look to Madds lack of match fitness, it's easy to see how a game can change momentum when you're playing mostly through one guy and he gets negated.
I'm wondering when we can look forward to a game where we have Porro/Kudus and Udogie/Savio as our wide options. Then throw Madds into the mix as a 10 and see whether that makes us more balanced and less predictable. If we have these 3 major forces through the left, centre and right of the pitch then that gives the opposition way more to think about.
Think I'm just gonna enjoy just having him and Kulu back for a while though.
I think it needs the addition of a Fernandes in midfield to be the actual passing fulcrum so that Maddison is more of a finisher of moves rather than the complete instigator. Fernandes will be the one deciding whether push the ball out to the wings or through the centre.
At the moment we've yet to see a complete team because we haven't had all key elements available. Not so much specific players but player types. We haven't started with a real 10 until the Coventry match. We only played with Savio on the left once, Kudus himself has only started the last 2 matches I believe. So the balance hasn't been there and still isn't honestly. Once all the available player types are available then I think we will see better balance and less of the game all going through one player or channel hopefully.
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