I need to watch TAA play that new position a bit more to understand it further and also see how the players around him are deployed. From what I saw today (or think I saw), Henderson seems to sit much higher than he usually would be, Jones is a bit deeper and wider, TAA slots in between him and Fabinho although he doesn't always match their positional height on the pitch and seems to be given some freedom to go higher or lower depending on the situation and the call he makes.
My point is that if this is going to be the way we play going forward then I think we might see one of the midfielders we target be someone with a profile matching a bit more one of a CAM. The reason I say that is that I usually dismiss any rumour linking us to players who are very clearly CAMs or CMs with attributes that ressemble those of a CAM too much. While I still think that we won't go for an outright CAM (that type of player is too luxurious for the system we play), I think one of the CM's we'll go for might have those CAM attributes.
To illustrate my point, I don't see us, for example, going for a Maddison type of player, but I would see us go for a Mount type. Both aren't ideal CMs as far as I'm concerned (for our system), but the latter presses better and is more comfortable than the former in the middle of the fray. Maddison is a luxury player you put in the hole or on the wing, but the deeper you pull him, the less you get from him because he doesn't press too good from what I've seen and he won't beat the opposition press for you in that middle area.
All in all, if we keep that setup with Trent tucking into the midfield and pulling strings from deep then one of the LCM or RCM will have a higher starting position (like Hendo did today) and therefore I think one of our midfield targets will be a player that sounds like that: a player that is primarily a CM which means that he can help with the press, winning the ball back and tracking (implies lots of stamina) but also possesses some CAM attributes like the ability to manoeuvre in tight areas, run with the ball at feet and drift into winger areas and still be comfortable with the ball at his feet. Essentially, a healthy Keita although we can afford that player to be a tiny bit less effective at tackling because like we saw today, this shift in our formation implies a lower sitting LCM partnering up with the CDM, a free flowing Trent what will be tracking back and a very active sweeper CB (Konate).
Essentially, we seem to be moving back our press by a few yards by crowding that midfield and enabling Trent in exchange of leaving the right wing a bit more airy which will require a versatile RCM to cover that space with Konate, but also offer something going forward in what will be tight areas (half spaces and in front of the opposition box). Why are we moving back our press a few yards? Essentially, the forwards. I reiterate what I said a ton in the other threads, the forwards have been blamed for a lack of goals all season when their true crime has been the quality of their press. That's where our problems start. Them not scoring goals is not even in their control once you can't win the ball back high up the pitch (our main creative vehicle).
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