I never want to see a formation that has a front three with Coutinho in it. He's a midfielder. The front three should only consist of strikers. I'm also not convinced Sakho makes the cut even pre-injury. Our expectations of what a good defender actually looks like have been so diminished by Skrtel and Lovren that Sakho has become over rated. He's not a bad player, he's just not the standard we've traditionally enjoyed.
I think this is a fair point.
I'm definitely guilty of over-rating him. I thought before his recent injuries he could develop into one of the best in the league, looks a relatively foolish assessment now. I've actually always been quite a fan of his passing, it had a crispness to it, of course he looks like a giraffe on skates while executing it but given his pass % and it was primarily him who moved us forward into midfield with his passing I was encouraged by that. His tackling always looked ungainly but it seemed relatively effective, in the air I've actually been wowed by him on the odd occasion where he steps in front and literally chests the ball at head height from the attack, my only real worry on a consistent basis was set-pieces which to be fair to Mama is a worry with every single player in our team judging by our record on them.
His attitude is first class towards the fans and certain sections, so he ticks so many of the boxes but...
The way he's come back from this injury, dear lord he's been diabolical. It's almost like someone put a pair of glasses on me that brought him into sharp focus, can't stop seeing errors in the lad. Now I'm hoping it's a temporary blip but this is a prolonged period now and it has me quickly losing faith in him.
So right now I'd love to see a total change in GK/CB/CB and just start fresh. Too much lingering on the past, too much incompetence and inconsistency at least with a clean slate we could have a base level to move from.
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