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Hard to knock him when he assists and scores, but over the course of a season he won't be much more than your standard Matt Ritchie/Joey Barton type of player. I wouldnt be opposed to him getting the nod central ahead of the players we have at disposal there, but he should never start ahead of a fit Almiron/ASM/Fraser, but clearly will because Bruce.

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Might be a better option than Shelvey in the middle

 

Is he fuck a winger though, and a header and nice shot won't convince me of that :lol:

 

He wasn't meant to be playing as a winger.

 

He was essentially an extra midfielder when we had the ball, allowing us to match up well with West Ham's 3, with Manquillo then given even more license to push forward from right back in the space on the wing. It's why Hendrick then got into the positions he did for both his assist and his goal.

 

When we had the ball he was pretty much playing his preferred role in more central areas. Thought it worked well, as it also allowed for him to cover for Shelvey centrally, when Shelvey occassionally went forward as they were both on the right side of the pitch.

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Kaka is so wordy :lol:

 

:blush:

 

I like the intricate details of this sort of thing  :razz:

 

Arsenal have been doing something similar with Maitland-Niles of late. Defends in a back 5 as a left wingback when Arsenal don't have the ball, but slots into the left side of central midfield when they have the ball.

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He looked like a good athlete, but technically deficient on the ball.

 

I was disappointed that Bruce had both him and Hayden in the side, which did hamper our ability to play the ball through the midfield. But having said that, Bruce picked a team to do a job on West Ham, and it was effective. We always looked the more likely winners.

 

Longer term, I'd like to see Longstaff in that position, with Hayden and Hendrick competing for that midfield anchor role.

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Might be a better option than Shelvey in the middle

 

Is he fuck a winger though, and a header and nice shot won't convince me of that :lol:

 

Not sure why people want to drop Shelvey so quickly all of the time. I thought Shelvey played well yesterday

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That cheeky nutmeg he did while waiting for someone to get their arse in the box did catch me by surprise I'll admit. Then the goal capped off a fairly solid debut in fairness. Just hope long term we don't have to see frasier/almiron on the bench because we need that "extra defensive reinforcement"

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Bruce talked about being concerned about West Ham's size on set pieces at the start of the game, and I think that's really what influenced his selection.

 

It was a pretty big strong team we went with yesterday to counter that, and it worked really. Good to have those sorts of options.

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Bruce talked about being concerned about West Ham's size on set pieces at the start of the game, and I think that's really what influenced his selection.

 

It was a pretty big strong team we went with yesterday to counter that, and it worked really. Good to have those sorts of options.

 

Options is the key word. The question being whether Bruce knows how to utilise those options. Keeping Miggy, ASM and Wilson fit for the home game against Brighton should be proven to be inspired.

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