Last season Partey was doing that while Xhaka was playing a box to box role. While Havertz is trying to do Xhaka’s work, he is just too indecisive, lacking in composure and energy to be effective.
Kai Havertz shouldn’t be what Xhaka was. He should be more of what Odegaard was last season, or a bad mockery of what KdB is to City. He shouldn’t do any build up.
A Thomas problem that wasn’t discussed is that he had become more of a Pirlo than an actual DM. Putting him out there as the defence protector is one of the reasons we were getting skinned in transitions. A Thomas - Rice Midfield would have done wonders.
Now the problem with it is that both don’t have tempo control as their strongest point. It sort of makes sense why the manager kept talking about using all three. And why in a desperate attempt to pull this off, shipped Thomas to RB.
This is why we need a Xhaka profile. Combining grit and ball skills. That’s why names like Zubimendi and Douglas Luiz are being tabled. They’re perfect clones of Thomas + Jorginho. They solve the problem.
I don’t think we miss Xhaka the player, but rather his profile.
Someone who pings balls to everyone.
Last season Partey was doing that while Xhaka was playing a box to box role. While Havertz is trying to do Xhaka’s work, he is just too indecisive, lacking in composure and energy to be effective.
Kai Havertz shouldn’t be what Xhaka was. He should be more of what Odegaard was last season, or a bad mockery of what KdB is to City. He shouldn’t do any build up.
A Thomas problem that wasn’t discussed is that he had become more of a Pirlo than an actual DM. Putting him out there as the defence protector is one of the reasons we were getting skinned in transitions. A Thomas - Rice Midfield would have done wonders.
Now the problem with it is that both don’t have tempo control as their strongest point. It sort of makes sense why the manager kept talking about using all three. And why in a desperate attempt to pull this off, shipped Thomas to RB.
This is why we need a Xhaka profile. Combining grit and ball skills. That’s why names like Zubimendi and Douglas Luiz are being tabled. They’re perfect clones of Thomas + Jorginho. They solve the problem.