Sandro Tonali

[Shearergol]

Played in completely the wrong position and the wrong tactics. Like Bruno.

[Sibierski]

21 minutes ago, joeyt said:

He played exactly like this before the ban but people forgot about it. Apart from the Villa when he scored he looks completely the wrong fit for the way we play

 

He's too talented to be stuck at RCM playing one time passes back to the defence. We need to change systems

Tonali/Bruno as the two sitting and Anderson in front. Could’ve been something but never seen it and never will. 
 

Need to sign someone who can play in front, or CDM and have Bruno in that advanced role. 
 

Don’t even see him crash into the box anymore. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

He's fast, athletic and covers loads of ground. I don't see why he's the wrong for the way we play. 

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by AyeDubbleYoo

[Kid Icarus]

Didn't like the change but we improved when he went off. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

He's playing way below his level but then so is everyone else. 

[hakka]

3 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

He's fast, athletic and covers loads of ground. I don't see why he's the wrong for the way we play. 

 

 

 

 

We don't pass to him much and when we do nobody makes the runs for his quick thinking forward passes. Bruno seemed to have a high link up with Miggy and Trippier, but it isnt working with anyone down the rightd for some reason. It's odd as he's been here a while now to know our system and players. Just feel like he has too much of a free role in a failing system at the moment.

[nufcjmc]

Just don't seem to have found his best place. He covers so much ground but he's played better for his national side than for us already this season.  Can he really play with Bruno in the side? Or is it a formation  issue again?

[duo]

1 hour ago, nufcjmc said:

Just don't seem to have found his best place. He covers so much ground but he's played better for his national side than for us already this season.  Can he really play with Bruno in the side? Or is it a formation  issue again?

Tactics - or lack of.  We should be owning the midfield with Bruno, Tonali and Joe.  

[TheBrownBottle]

1 hour ago, duo said:

Tactics - or lack of.  We should be owning the midfield with Bruno, Tonali and Joe.  

It never looked like a particularly good midfield to me - it’s far too slow for a start; Joelinton isn’t technically good enough to play there, and Tonali is very much ‘jury’s out’.  I haven’t seen anything to convince me that any other manager would be able to make that work as a three man midfield. 

[buzz]

1 hour ago, duo said:

Tactics - or lack of.  We should be owning the midfield with Bruno, Tonali and Joe.  

 

Disagree, that midfield isn't complementary at all. 

 

I think we'd look better/more solid with Joelinton back out wide again but that only works as long as Gordon's out injured.

[Kanji]

Thought we looked better because JL and Willock were doing their thing wide left more than anything. 

[Sima]

He has to play on the left side of a double pivot to get the best out of him.

 

He’s of a higher general standard than Joelinton so its going to take Joelinton getting dropped to maximise his ability.

 

Something on the face of it Howe isn’t willing to do.

[James]

Have Tonali and Willock shared a pitch yet?

[ramirez]

3 hours ago, James said:

Have Tonali and Willock shared a pitch yet?

both started at Forest

[James]

Which was really early for both of them back in the team - it may be a pairing worth trying either side of Bruno

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Does he play in a 4-3-3 for Italy as well? I haven't watched. 

[Shearergol]

They play a 5-3-2 don't they?

[TRon]

35 minutes ago, Shearergol said:

They play a 5-3-2 don't they?

 

A lot of people think the players we have might be more suited to that formation.

[Sima]

You need fast CBs on the outside of a 3-5-2.

Not our oil tankers.

[TRon]

Just now, Sima said:

You need fast CBs on the outside of a 3-5-2.

Not our oil tankers.

 

It was a 5-3-2 that was mentioned, so I would probably have Kelly down as the left sided one. Maybe Krafth could be the right sided one for now and Schar given the central role.

[Tsunami]

We looked a better shape when Longstaff came on and Longstaff did harder yards than Tonali and it showed.

 

Howe needs to find a way to make a midfield with Tonali in it to work. We can’t be having a situation where we are missing Longstaff simply because of work rate and ball recovery. That’s where we are at the moment.

[The College Dropout]

Isak and Gordon at least have credit in the bank

[Lush Vlad]

I said I wouldn't single players out in another thread.  But I thought he was anonymous yesterday.  As were most of the midfield when it came to controlling the game, TBF.  I would wager around 2/3 of our possession, comes from almost pointless passing across the back in our own half.  Joelinton and Tonali get shoved out wide or bombing up the pitch, almost marking themselves out of the game.  It can't be their own doing.  The flat 3 has been found out and is getting exposed time and again on and off the ball.

 

FWIW, I don't think we are particularly better or worse with Longstaff and he is far from the answer.  The problems still exist and then we have someone worse on the ball.  But is perhaps more involved?  So no real gain there, IMO.  I thought last season it was mainly due to the injuries, fatigue and having an injured Longstaff and a not Premier League ready Lewis Miley often forming part of the 3.  But it runs deeper than that. 

 

Time to tinker with the set up please, Eddie. 

 

 

[The College Dropout]

Been this way for ages. Eddie really does need to switch things up.  
 

Compounded by the transfer policy.  No proper options at 10.  

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by The College Dropout

[r0cafella]

I find his return quite disappointing if I'm honest. They've had over a year to bed him in yet he doesn't influence the game anywhere near enough. I thought he'd hit the ground running but it just hasn't been the case.