Vertonghen as DM?

[Greenspur]

Our defence appears weak, with no really strong central defender. Or can it be that there is not enough protection from midfield?
How about Fazio and Dier as central defenders, with Vertonghen as defensive midfielder. Would that improve things?

 

[Kiedis]

His only appearance for us as a DM came away to Norwich in the Capital One Cup in 2012. We were 1-0 up and ended up losing 2-1 with Vertonghen being totally assbanged by Grant Holt for one of the goals.

Not that a brief cameo has anything to do with anything. I'd go with using one of our DMs as a DM. Capoue or Stambouli.

 

[tttcowan]

He's a left back.

 

[kaz Hirai]

Our defence appears weak, with no really strong central defender. Or can it be that there is not enough protection from midfield?
How about Fazio and Dier as central defenders, with Vertonghen as defensive midfielder. Would that improve things?

Or just use the defensive midfielder we bought in the summer

Not sure what's up with our transfer policy but poch has no interest in any of our summer purchases apart from dier .
Just pissing away our money buying players the boss doesn't want . same under avb

 

[parklane1]

he actually started off as a DM before moving into the back four, but I would like to see Stambouli given a run of games in that position. We have to find a player who is going to give more protection to our back four, neither Mason or Bentaleb can do that.

 

[faze_coys]

Stambouli doesnt do ANYTHING better than mason or nabil so why would you want him in? Hes one of them central midfields who gets DM stuck next to his name because he is so limited.

 

[parklane1]

Stambouli doesnt do ANYTHING better than mason or nabil so why would you want him in? Hes one of them central midfields who gets DM stuck next to his name because he is so limited.

Its all about opinions and I could not disagree more with yours.

 

[Blackcanary]

Stambouli doesnt do ANYTHING better than mason or nabil so why would you want him in? Hes one of them central midfields who gets DM stuck next to his name because he is so limited.

Can you really not see the difference in having somebody defensively minded and the difference that makes in how they play? It's a different skillset and state of mind. Currently neither Nabs or Mason have a level of defensive intuition or capability.

 

[parklane1]

Can you really not see the difference in having somebody defensively minded and the difference that makes in how they play? It's a different skillset and state of mind. Currently neither Nabs or Mason have a level of defensive intuition or capability.

Exactly.

 

[Wheeler Dealer]

I say we bring back Scotty Parker!

 

[beats1]

Can you really not see the difference in having somebody defensively minded and the difference that makes in how they play? It's a different skillset and state of mind. Currently neither Nabs or Mason have a level of defensive intuition or capability.

The issue is that when he has played he hasn't been good enough at stopping people waltzing past him

In the Europa League matches, he did get beat far too easily

I agree with what you are saying but he hasn't been good enough as a DM imo(not for where we want to be) however I have been impressed with him when he has gone forward he has put in some great balls in for the players in front of him

I think he would do fine as a DM in a 433 imo

 

[bceej]

Jan has said one of the deciding factors of joining us over Arsenal is that Wenger wanted to play him at DM.

 

[Flobadob]

We have one really bad game in midfield and now we have to replace one of the two CM's that have done very well this season. They are both young and this is when they will learn, it's the worst possible time to replace either of them with someone else. Especially considering that the other options we have available aren't as good overall, by quite a distance IMO.

We need to build a team for once and Mason and Bentaleb have the potential to be good enough to take us where we want to be. The others aren't even close and never will be

 

[Bobbins]

The problem isn't that we don't play the right DM, it's that we don't play a system that even has a slot for a DM...

We should be looking at something more like this:

---------- DM ----------

Mason ------- Bentaleb

Or inverted:

Bentaleb ----- DM (Capoue/Stambouli)

-------- Eriksen/Mason --------

Two sitting there expected to do all the work, with no support from LM or RM is not enough. I can't stand 4-2-3-1.

 

[Japhet]

The problem isn't that we don't play the right DM, it's that we don't play a system that even has a slot for a DM...

We should be looking at something more like this:

---------- DM ----------

Mason ------- Bentaleb

Or inverted:

Bentaleb ----- DM (Capoue/Stambouli)

-------- Eriksen/Mason --------

Two sitting there expected to do all the work, with no support from LM or RM is not enough. I can't stand 4-2-3-1.

At the very least we need this as a plan B. Mason and Bentaleb are fine when we control possession, but when we don't they look flimsy as you like. We had the Man Utd result coming for a while now.

 

[Kiedis]

Positioning is the hardest and less eye-cathing thing to do right in the DM role. Haven't really got to grips with Stamboulis abilities, but from what I've seen, Capoue is heads and shoulders above Bentaleb and Mason in that department. But as long as he's persona non grata, maybe Stambouli is our best bet. Or hope that our academy products develop that aspect of their game.

Reckon Poch will sort it out.

 

[JerryGarcia]

Vertonghen is our best CB so he should stay where he is. If Poch doesn't trust Stambouli or Capoue then maybe give Chiriches a go there but that would be less than Ideal. It could work but chances are he'd look just as shaky as he does in his natural position.

 

[Mr-T]

This seems to come up regularly, couple of seasons back people were thinking about Kaboul playing there, before that Ledley - albeit Ledley was actually decent in that role.

Thing is, with the 4-2-3-1 that Poch uses there isn't really a specific DM position, just two CMs that are both expected to be box to box, or at least covering each other's forward runs.

I say keep Verts at CB.

 

[Bobbins]

Personally I'd be happy to see Capoue back in the side in a position sitting behind the Bentaleb and Mason pairing, who I'd like to see pushed a little further forward so that they're operating properly in the centre of the pitch, not just off the centre as they do now creating the disconnect we sometimes see between them and the 'front' four. Stambouli could probably do the job, but I think Capoue's a much better footballer.

Then Kane up top with Lamela and Eriksen/Chadli either side of him, operating as actual proper wide forwards, not this silly hybrid WF/winger/wide midfield role they're stuck in now where they have to spend so much of their time worrying about covering their full-back.

Rose and Walker can sit back and be less worried about being pseudo-wing-backs, IMO. It leaves the defence exposed and puts a burden on others to cover them - at the very least in a 4-3-3 the true DM can be the covering player for either side.

*Sigh* oh for the opportunity to see a proper 4-3-3 like this, just a couple of times. Only time I can remember us playing it is when we smashed Newcastle 4-0 away from home last season.

 

[faze_coys]

Can you really not see the difference in having somebody defensively minded and the difference that makes in how they play? It's a different skillset and state of mind. Currently neither Nabs or Mason have a level of defensive intuition or capability.

Neither does stambouli though, he takes up worse positions, backs out of challenges, doesnt read the game particularly well

Not even to mention how dire we play when we sit one of our current dms in our double pivot