Now I think VI's approach was largely to blame. He just didn't want us to play through midfield, look at his Barnsley team. Everything about his approach was built around kicking it long and pressing from there - % football it used to be called by Bassett and Gould. In this system a midfield is there to chase and harry more than it is to pass.
If we have three midfielders in there (one holding) and two linking up (Mowatt and TGH for eg), it could completely change the way we play and I think and Mowatt in partciular would come to life and we'd maybe even get a goal or two from midfield (I hope).
VI just made his and our life so difficult for 'ideological' reasons it was maddening. Bruce for all the criticism he's getting has had a long career by being pragmatic and working with what he has instead of 'template football'.
Totally agree here. If you watched Mowatt from day one his first instinct was always just to get it forward, harry and press. That was the job of the two and in that first month he also looked like a potential goalscorer from midlfield. However, playing alongside Jake in a two meant he was having to cover a LOT of ground and i think it both frustrated and took the edge off him. The Millwall game really highlighted this, Val said he had compromised and overcomplicated things, i took this as going back to his core principles, he did and it was horrible kick and rush football.
For me, if Jake has a role now it needs to be in a holding midfield position. Cover the back four, and simple passes forward. Then, lets see how good TGH is alongside Mowatt who can be the one breaking the lines. We don't have a creative midfielder, but then MP's don't come around very often and we were lucky to have him get us over the line, so we are reliant on one of Grady, Phillips or Robbo to offer that bit of creativity or beat a man. We know that Grady and Phillips at their best can beat an man, and we've seen Robbo pick some lovely passes through this season. What the new manager is inheriting in additiona is a potentially powerfull forward line. I'd love to see Carroll and Grant play as a two up top whilst we await Dike's return.
So yes, its not the best midfield in the division, but when Val went through his "compromise" phase we did play some decent football on the deck. The issue was that almost every move led out wide and the delivery and finishing just wasn't of the required quality. Rinse and Repeat!! Hopefully the new manager will have the coaching craft to mix it up a bit and i think the players will (initially) respond to having a bit more freedom. I am confident that in the Summer the club will address the weakness in midfield ans its something Val was looking to address this window, but it was scuppered by the injury to Dike.