He’s played 3 at the back with Australia (more from necessity than choice) but I think he’d need more time to develop that as it’s such a big change to the structure. I take your point though players like Davies snd Royale are more comfortable at cb in a 3 and so is dier come to think of it. Porro and Johnson could play wing back. Kulu and son in a 2 up front. Could work.
Not saying it’s the answer just trying to make the point everyone focuses more on pace needed out of possession but we also have to consider passing ability in possession.
Playing a very high line we need pace. Forget the rest. Out of possession he has zero recovery pace.
I do agree, I wouldn’t play Davies at cb. But he did play there in pre season so I assume Ange values the left foot passing in possession.
He’s also pretty bad on the ball in my opinion. Slow to get it out of his feet, slow to find a pass and often misplaces, over hits or under hits passes. He’s one of those players that people say is underrated and I don’t get it tbh. He’s a decent enough defender with your back to the wall but in a high line passing system he’s about the total opposite of what you’d want. His time as a useful backup ended when we signed this manager. He was good under Conte though, I don’t want to totally discredit him as a player, I just really don’t want to see him get any significant minutes anymore. Phillips has way more ability both in and out of possession to suit the current system. There’s no argument based on ability to make to play Davies at CB over Phillips in my opinion.
I love the bloke for his service to the club but...he's not really a passer either.
If you don't have the pace to play a high line then it's brainless to play it anyway. Not sure how quick Phillips is but that would still leave Dier and Davies/Royal in the back 4. It's like saying you want your striker to run on to balls over the top when you only have Peter Crouch to play there.
Royal has pace, and Porro has pace.
Someone asked that the other day and the answer was 'yes'.
I disagree. We have to stick to what we've been doing and use the best players to fit that. Not change the way we play to fit the players. Ange is never going to change his methods and he shouldn't. It's all about the big picture. Like against Chelsea it wasn't about the individual game, it was about setting a precedent for who we are going forward. We press high up, it's non negotiable as Maddison said. If we start thinking differently due to some injuries it doesn't then become embedded into the squad for when they return. It's all about the long term and how we build a philosophy that sticks. Then continue to build the squad and fill gaps where players don't fit. We might drop points in the short term but in the long run when the squad is built for it we will win more games and score more goals. We'll win more games by getting in front and pushing forward for more because it will be fully engrained into the squad. That's what Ange is building and we're very early days into it.
