You are correct. It is the key position for me if you’re playing a back four with the players we have at the moment. Let’s be honest 3 of our 5 centre halves are actually midfield players. Our best centre half has missed 20 games in the last 18 months, and our back up came from Futsal. Now you can add Marcal, made of biscuits and Hoever , still a kid in the mix but our regular 5 are as stated
So , firstly why are we signing Semedo if we want to play four at the back? Even for Barcelona in a four he was known as an attacking full back not a great defender. I can understand it if we were staying as a 3 at the back but not a four, not without significant additional personnel. Fabio has been debated to death. He isn’t a lone striker whatever your preference in three or 4 so it’s irrelevant to that arguement. Therefore our recruitment strategy appears very flawed.
In truth I don’t have a clue what the best next step is . We are either far too cautious or far too open. There is nothing in between. Even poor teams know how to play against us as our play is now so slow and monotonous at times, value the ball and keep it rather than quick pass and move to counter. Moutinho is the worse offender. He seems to have morphed into a 1986 Ray Wilkins clone. His set pieces are generally awful and he can only pass backwards. He has really gone down this season for me. That’s what age f do yes when it catches you up.
Neves can’t shoot for toffee at the moment and is living on a reputation gained in 2018. Donk misses more than he scores. WJ is no threat. Neto has gone from potential pots to a Costa impersonator in two months.
I cannot second guess Nuno as I can’t work out his thinking. For me it’s pick the style that suits your majority of players and bolster or build from that. For me that is 352 with Fabio and Raul up top ideally.
I also think that we will lose some big names in the summer. Others can offer more in the medium term.
