Besic, McCarthy and the endearing vanity of Martinez’s central midfield fixation

It also goes on about Barry and McCarthy being much stronger than Fellaini and Neville and how Bobby interested in cover of Besic and Gibson plus Ledson on the way through and the talk of Baines becoming an option at defemsive central midfielder.

Not a bad read.

He claims Besic makes six players in the same position, when it could be argued he’s really only the third that we can rely on. He cites Baines as midfielder despite the fact that Baines has never, ever played in that position in his entire career, based purely on one comment that Martinez made once last season.

Gibson, as we all know, has been out for around 10 months with a serious injury and had a poor injury record even before that, and the third option is 17-year-old Ryan Ledson. So the answer to the question "why have we signed a central midfielder?" is that we are desperately short in that area, which is the most important area of the pitch.

People insist that Gibbo is a holding player because he is built like a slow moving doughnut. No chance. He would have trouble holding up his pants. The lad is an attacker. Has been since he was a kid at Man Utd. Loves to go forward and press everyone else forward. Does it really well. Great to watch when he is fit and on form.

Unfortunately, asking him to suddenly adopt a defensive mindset in order to protect the back four is not on. He would struggle, as was clearly demonstrated in the second half against Tranmere. Setting attackers alight with accurate creative passing is his game. Remember how he urged Coleman to cause havoc last season. Great stuff.

Personally, I think it's all quite simple. Roberto has identified areas of weakness and is doing his best to put things right.

I think "vain" is the wrong word, but I take his point that managers build teams in their own image. OFM was a defender and RM a midfielder. So on the simplest level those are the areas of the pitch they know most about and prioritise. On a deeper, psychological level it's reinforcing their own identity/ego.

Contrariwise, were we notably attacking under Royle? Not really. Was Catterick a divine midfielder? No, he was a centre forward.

The good news is that we should never need to see Barkley or Osman in defensive midfield again, and I await to see how Martinez will use Gibson but I suspect it will be further forwards, or perhaps a combination.

I agree the premise for the article is a bit too "cute" in some ways, looking too hard for a hook perhaps, but I think it's fair overall and stresses one area, at least, that we should be better stocked vs. last year (noting that really so far we've only signed one player we already had last year and are promised another who hasn't actually signed yet ....).

Onwards and upwards ..

Let's hope for a bit of luck on that front this coming campaign!

It's my new favourite word.

I overuse "arguably" or "on the other hand", so this will be useful when I am arguing the toss which can be modus operandum for me at times, just for fun ...

Nil Satis Nisi Argumentum :-)

I can't imagine us ever having to have to resort to Osman and Gibson together again, at least not in the league or against anyone with more pace than Kevin Sheedy. They're both great footballers, and Osman used to have a great engine, but they'd get mullered (1974 version) by every midfield in the Premier League, except perhaps Southampton (and that's because they sold their midfield).

Link

Actually, rereading that chapter a moment ago, I was struck by how obviously John Lennon's lyrics were influenced by Lewis Carroll - and I'm not only talking about The Walrus.

Sorry to say, but Jags does not convince at the back and fails to impress in the passing department, maybe Martinez sees him in that roll.

Besic seems a adaptable type of player from what little I've seen of him, we shall see.

If Besic is as fast as Kevin Radcliffe he would be a great option at the back if he can play that role.