Some players don't get the credit until they are not there. You see what you think is average but the coaches/ manager sees differently. It's pretty much always defensive midfielders. I remember when the powers that be wouldn't give Claude Makelele the contract he deserved at Real Madrid and he left. It was the season Beckham arrived and Zidane said "we have put another layer of gold paint on the Roll Royce but we have taken out the engine".
In a game against opposition such as Andorra, where we were crying out for some creativity, a 'workhorse' who keeps dropping back in front of his own back line is a waste of space. The number of times he runs to receive a pass then immediately passes the ball back again is plain ridiculous. I've seen him do it time and time again both on TV and live at a game....oh so predictable. Was Southgate really that terrified of Andorra's threat he needed a holding midfielder rather than a creative playmaker?
Why not trust Smiffy's opinion? He was there.
Eh? Why should I be trusting someone else's opinion and not keep to my own? If you're trying to convince me we needed Henderson yesterday then maybe say what he did that was of such great importance to the team against such abject opposition. I'd suggest bordering on zilch!
Why would Grealish be on instead of Henderson when they play completely different positions? Henderson's a holding midfielder whilst Grealish is a winger. As for why Southgate felt the need for a defensive midfielder it's because this is basically a friendly for us, you want your players to get used to the formation you intend to use against credible opposition, yes we could have just played 8 attacking players and won but that doesn't help the second string team get used to the formation.
While I get what you are saying about the opposition, there still needs to be balance on the pitch, e.g. someone to receive the ball and play it simple, or sit in when a defender goes forward. There's no point in a playmaker coming that deep to get the ball; he should be in the opposition's half.
I repeat, why do you need a ‘holding player’ against a side like Andorra????
I answered that in my comment. We were going to beat Andorra no matter what so we treated it as a friendly, we used a holding player because that's what we'll use against better teams and it gets the second string side used to the formation.
Playing a holding midfielder frees up the other midfielders to take up more attacking positions. Instead of all of them sharing defensive duties they give them to one guy and the others push on more. It’s been a staple of Brazilian sides for decades.
I agree that 1-1 felt like a loss but I think most of us would have taken that before the game. If we'd lost, Poland would be 2 points behind us.
