What midfield would you advise the new manager to pick?

It's been identified as an area of weakness and no doubt it will have to be addressed in January. I've seen some suggest that Veretout and Sanchez should be recalled in January but tbh If they are on season long loans then that is probably unlikely to happen. The only way you can do that is if the other club agrees and the player accepts the deal ala Cissokho last season but would either want to come back right now? I'd have my doubts.

Anyway these are the options

Central midfielders

Tshibola
Jedinak
Westwood
Gardner
Lyden

Wingers

Grealish
Adomah
Green

Utility players

Amavi
Bacuna

I put the utility option as some have suggested that Amavi should play left wing while I've also heard some suggest Bacuna should play in central midfield to add some legs to the engine room.

Anyway guys what should the combination be in these next three months before the window opens? Here's my suggestions.

442

..Adomah..Tshibola..Gardner...Grealish...

Reason:

Tish is our best central midfielder imo and though Gardner hasn't covered himself in any glory thus far at least the kid is fit enough to get up and down the park whilst also adding a goal threat from midfield. Jedinak did ok against Toon imo but he seems to be labouring right now and his age/fitness is starting to look very suspect which is perhaps leading to the kind of mistakes he made on Saturday. If he gets his fitness up then by all means he could be in there but right now in a middle two I'm not sure.

433

......Tshibola..Lyden.......
...........Gardner.................

Reason: With players around him Lyden could possibly do well. He's been known as a lad who drives forward from midfield and can nick a goal so why not put some young enthusiasm into the middle of the park? Then Gardner could be free to break forward. If not him then maybe we could put Grealish in that role that Gardner is in?

Either way we need to find a solution to this issue within this group of players. Is Westwood gonna suddenly turn into Pirlo with a new manager? No chance. That's why he's not an option for me right now. Jedinak might find his feet but again that remains to be seen. So my logic is why not just put some young legs in there and see what happens? Hell Bacuna might not be a terrible option in there either tbh. He played there away to spurs last season and after Ayew scored and we started to get on top Leandro really drove forward in that game and impressed me that day but of course it all went sour in the end.

I'd play Grealish, Jedinak and Westwood. I've said for ages Grealish is best suited for the Pirlo role

The Beard Tish with Grealish playing in front of them in a free role supporting the striker/s

No Tish Joppe?

DaveAV1 wrote:No Tish Joppe?

I actually meant Jedinak, Grealish and Tish. Just had a brainfart. Think I tried to simultanously say that neither Westwood or Gardner should play, but like I said. Utter brainfart. Tish is by far our best CM.

Let Jedi be a destroyer, let Tish box2box and have Grealish create and ping passes.

Ayew as our attacking midfielder through the middle, Jedi and Tish on either side.

I suspect Westwood will play as the midfielder in the middle. He did it under Lambert and wasn't bad (but my conditions still apply - he shouldn't be allowed in our penalty area or allowed to shoot).

We are just so short of options in centre midfield, it's crazy it was allowed to happen. We've allowed Veretout and Sanchez to leave on season long loans and left ourselves with what is proving to be next to nothing. There is no change that can be made in CM during matches that cannot be viewed other than worrying........unless Tshibola starts on the bench. Jedinak and Westwood have been poor, more so than we might have had nightmares about. We don't really know what Lyden can do as we've not seen him, and so we have to assume that our coaching staff and management see him as not as good as Westwood, Jedinak, or Tshibola.
With what we have I couldn't look any further than a midfield three of Jedina (have to hope he gets up to speed soon), Tshibola (hope he stays injury free), and Ayew or Grealish as the attacking/creative midfielder. But that's if we play a midfield three..........the problem we have is fitting the players we have into a functional team. Thus far, for me, our two most likely looking forwards are Gestede and Kodjia, and I think they need to play as a front two............which makes 4-3-3 a no-goer. If we play those two as the front two they need width on the pitch able to get crosses over, which I assume is why Adomah was purchased for the right hand side. The left hand side is a problem for me, as the only guy I've seen capable of getting crosses over is Amavi, who is LB. Grealish or Ayew don't get first time crosses in, Grealish in particular is really slow. And this is not forgetting that we have a rather expensive McCormack that im sure expects to be a starter............where do we slot him, do we carry on benching Gestede to accommodate McCormack? We need an authentic left winger, and I'm not talking about Jeremy Corbyn.
In a nut shell I'm really not sure what suits us at the moment, I think we're heavy up top and drastically light in the middle whilst not playing our so far best performing CBs!
I think I'd have to plump for a 4-3-2-1 and start with;
............................Gollini..........................
Bacuna.........Elphick............Baker.......Amavi
.........Tshibola.......Jedinak.......Lyden..........
...............McCormack.........Ayew...............
............................Kodjia.........................

As you can see the emphasis would be on Bacuna and Amavi to provide the real width when required, with a central midfield 3 to cover when those two get forward. The midfield three is in the hope that Jedinak comes good soon, and is surrounded by more youthful legs and enthusiasm in Tshibola and Lyden. I've gone for Bacuna as DeLaet is out for the season and I don't want Hutton anywhere near the first team, Richards is fat and lazy..........so Bacuna it is. I've gone for McCormack and Ayew narrow behind Kodjia as they are well covered by a midfield three and we need a solid centre, Ayew is capable of being pushed wider, and if things need further alteration you could switch Kodjia and MCormack and also push Kodjia a little further right.

All in all, I've not a fucking clue

Would a diamond ease out CM worries?

Jedinak at the base (as he can pick a pass but has no legs), Ayew/Grealish/Bacuna/Grealish/Tish on the sides, McCormack at it's point as a #10?

Or Tish and Bacuna, with Ayew as #10 and Kodjia and McCormack up top

Bacuna in the middle of the park is something to be looked at imo. He might not be Iniesta on the ball but he can get up and down the pitch, put a tackle in and as we've seen on occasions he can nick a goal. Personally though I'd like to see Gardner given another shot at things for a few games. You can't be pulling up trees at Forest one minute and then be a total waste of space a few months later. Hopefully the new gaffer will get something out of the lad.

AstonThriller wrote:Bacuna in the middle of the park is something to be looked at imo. He might not be Iniesta on the ball but he can get up and down the pitch, put a tackle in and as we've seen on occasions he can nick a goal. Personally though I'd like to see Gardner given another shot at things for a few games. You can't be pulling up trees at Forest one minute and then be a total waste of space a few months later. Hopefully the new gaffer will get something out of the lad.

Well he has had to play with Westwood each time I think?

Westwood seems to drag everyone down to his piss poor levels and is a difficult player to play alongside?

Play Gardner, Tish and Jedi together and let's see how GG does?

DelboyVilla wrote:

AstonThriller wrote:Bacuna in the middle of the park is something to be looked at imo. He might not be Iniesta on the ball but he can get up and down the pitch, put a tackle in and as we've seen on occasions he can nick a goal. Personally though I'd like to see Gardner given another shot at things for a few games. You can't be pulling up trees at Forest one minute and then be a total waste of space a few months later. Hopefully the new gaffer will get something out of the lad.

Well he has had to play with Westwood each time I think?

Westwood seems to drag everyone down to his piss poor levels and is a difficult player to play alongside?

Play Gardner, Tish and Jedi together and let's see how GG does?

I have to start by saying I wouldn't play Westwood if I didn't have to. He only works in the middle of a midfield three, and has never ever worked anywhere else. He's not that good in defence, can't score, can't play on the wing, doesn't offer much protection to the defence. He can pass though, and while he has a reputation for passing sideways and backwards, I suspect that comes from when our strikers spent all their time marking the opposition defence and not making runs. I would much rather see Tish in that position.

We'll see what happens with the new manager. I'm not averse to playing GG but he hasn't looked that good so far. Do we know how he was played by Forest? In a three or a four? As always it depends who you're playing alongside and whether they themselves are out of position (see Westwood, above).

Nice thread, as I think most people see our current issue is there is no balance to the team and more importantly the midfield.

I agree on the comments with GG in that surely he can't go from being a good player in this league with Forest to being so poor with us... but he has played every game next to Westwood... I think that says it all about mr can't tackle, can't shoot, can't create... but hey, he can keep the ball moving!

We've obviously been left well short in CM, and only RDM can take the blame for that and I think Sanchez could certainly have done a job in this league,but with what we've got I'd go with a starting line up of...

"...................Gollini.........
Richards...Chester...Elphick...Amavi
..........Jedinak...Tshibola........
..............grealish............
.........Ayew.......McCormack.....
................Kodjia..........

I'd also like to see the likes of Gestede, Adomah (because I haven't seen enough of him yet) and Gardner fighting to take those places of them.

Gardner could be a shout for grealish's position, and Grealish and Adomah could be a shout for the Ayew and McCormack position, and Gestede likewise for Kodjia. But for me this gives not only a balance to the team but also competition for the main places, and so far this season we've seen that RDM has built a mentality where all the new signings will be in the team, when it should simply be the best for the formation/team set up, gets the spot and we have players fighting for it!

Fight... that's what we're missing!

I'm repeating myself to the extreme, but Grealish should be a deep laying playermaker. Put him on a diet, get he working out. Let him dictate the pace of the game from the back. The fact is that he isn't a very good dribbler. He doesn't have great pace. He doesn't have a shot. The idea of him being a CAM stopped in the academy. On the senior level there are better players for it. We have several already. McCormack and Ayew are already better in the hole than Grealish.

Is Raul Meireles still a free agent?

Just read an interesting piece about the Villa midfield written by Richard Sneaks the former Baggy, he says Westwood must surely be aware that the Villa fans don't like him and this will deffo affect his form and confidence. Also says our transfer business was poor and our midfield is woeful. Says Tshibola id still raw and inexperienced and nowhere near ready for a DM position, Jedinak is obviously on the wain and that leaves an out of form Westwood and Gardner with no other options!

I have to say i 100% agree with him and this is why we are where we are in the table for me.

The Utterer wrote:Just read an interesting piece about the Villa midfield written by Richard Sneaks the former Baggy, he says Westwood must surely be aware that the Villa fans don't like him and this will deffo affect his form and confidence. Also says our transfer business was poor and our midfield is woeful. Says Tshibola id still raw and inexperienced and nowhere near ready for a DM position, Jedinak is obviously on the wain and that leaves an out of form Westwood and Gardner with no other options!

I have to say i 100% agree with him and this is why we are where we are in the table for me.

It's absurd that this is pretty much what I said when the window shut. Yet nobody is paying me millions to win us matches.

If AVFC had any brains they would hire me as a consultant

Imagine the meetings...

Xia - what next on agenda?
Joppe  - Rowlett
Wyness - Tony, we've narrowed the search down down 3 candidates.
Joppe - Rowlett, Rowlett and Rowlett
Round - All 3 candidates...
Joppe - no, just Rowlett!
Round - as I was saying, all 3 candidates have identified our midfield issues and have offered solutions.
Joppe - fuck right off! I offered you the solution before it was even a fucking problem that needed a solution!
Xia - Joppe you shut fuck up now
Joppe - Rowlett
Xia - SHUT FUCK UP JOPPE!

As for Westwood, I recall saying he looked a shit-load better without Sanchez next to him (and that Sanchez looked world class without Westwood!).

But I can't recall who was partnering him when he did look half decent. Maybe Gana and Veretout?

Either way, it's clear we can't play both Westwood AND Jedinobody.

Trotters wrote:As for Westwood, I recall saying he looked a shit-load better without Sanchez next to him (and that Sanchez looked world class without Westwood!).

But I can't recall who was partnering him when he did look half decent. Maybe Gana and Veretout?

Either way, it's clear we can't play both Westwood AND Jedinobody.

I think we're all agreed that Tshibola has to be one of the three CMs. I'd continue with Jedinak for the time being. It's between Westwood/Lyden/Gardner for the remaining place in my midfield 3............I think I'd give Westwood 3-4 games with a midfield 3 to see if that could be the difference.

I wonder if Jedinak is being misused? Certainly playing him on his own in a 4-1-5 is misuse. Probably Ab-use!

For me, he needs a very focused role either breaking up play in front of the back 4 with simple instructions to get the ball to players x, y, z in that order.

Tish in his current form simply has to be another midfielder and I'd give Lyden a go. Why not? Westwood hasn't torn up any tress and Gardner is a nothing player.

Apparantly Jedinak not doing it for Australia either!

CLICKY

The midfield is a huge concern! The way i'ts looking i think i'd prefer Gardner or Westwood & Tshibola in the centre with Adomah or Green on the right & Grealish on the left and maybe Jedinak just coming on late to shore things up? We are so weak there though and it's almost at crisis point without even any injuries there!

Have we gotten nobody in the reserves who could add some energy & pace in there? I know we have Green on the right but what about in the centre?? Has to be a chance for someone there surely?

Remind me can we still get a clubless player in?? As surely we need someone?!

The Utterer wrote:
Remind me can we still get a clubless player in?? As surely we need someone?!

That's why I asked about Raul Meireles. Not young but we could sign him now if he's still not got a club