12 Sep 2026 21:43:16
I'd drop wirtz and get the 3 midfielders on the pitch. We're screwed if there's an injury but the board put us in that position.
Dom and grav or dom and macca are nowhere near good enough to carry a midfield.
Play grav, dom and macca.
Play your two wingers, then isak.
Wirtz does not need to start. We need to start winning league matches.
Wirtz doesn't offer enough for this shirade to continue. He's not supported by a proper 6 and a scholes type either which is what you'd need.
12 Sep 2026 22:26:46
By all means drop him and find out that nothing changes.
That title winning midfield was always a myth. Trent's ball progression masked its flaws.
12 Sep 2026 22:50:13
Slots first choice midfield in his first season winning many games was a 433 with Gravenberch sitting and Dom and Macca in front so you could be right by dropping Wirtz.
12 Sep 2026 23:03:56
Well if it's a choice of three from the four of Wirtz, Macca, Dom and Grav then Macca at the moment would be the one cert(didn't think I'd be saying that).But wirtz by no means definitely deserves to be in before the other two on performances so far. All 3 have been dreadful.
12 Sep 2026 23:48:39
Er @Ron, the board don't make operational decisions about who to buy or not buy. Hughes, God bless him, was the one (supposedly) about transfers.
13 Sep 2026 01:23:21
So you say Dom+Grav or Dom+Macca are nowhere good enough to carry a midfield. And your solution is to play Grav+Dom+Macca? I'm confuse, how does that work exactly?
13 Sep 2026 02:11:37
I disagree to drop Wirtz.
13 Sep 2026 03:19:48
Wirtz was linking everything yesterday, without his movement we'd have been really bad. Grav and Dom are a bigger issue in my opinion.
13 Sep 2026 05:24:37
The best natural, instinctive footballer at the club is Wirtz by a country mile.
The team, by the end of the season, will revolve around him.
Get off his and the rest of the squads' backs whilst AI is bedding into his role and getting the team to play the way he wants his team to play.
I'm not saying don't be critical but suggesting that criticism is constructive.
13 Sep 2026 07:22:08
Wirtz has got great technical ability and movement but he was truly shocking yesterday. There was no defending that performance. We'll bash grav because it's easy but wirtz was our worst player on the pitch. Constantly giving it away and making the wrong choice in front of goal.
He seriously needs to improve.
13 Sep 2026 08:20:37
Wirtz looks like a player that is trying too hard and trying to do to much.
Yesterday he was taking on shots when the pass was the better option and attempting to Hollywood passes and losing possession when keeping possession to ease pressure was the better option.
Saying that though he was still probably one of our better performers which wasn't hard.
But I'd say Dom and Grav were a far bigger problem in and out of possession.
13 Sep 2026 08:33:07
Unfortunately, the title-winning midfield got found out by the end of that season.
Adding Wirtz meant that the other 2 midfielders in the team needed to be quick, defensively aware, have bite and be able to play forward quickly and simply.
That is not the profile of any of the other CM's at the club. Maybe Trey, but certainly not any of the senior ones (except maybe Macca at his best)
This was made obvious last season, but for reasons i can't fathom, not addressed in the last window - despite options like Sangare and Camara being available.
Hopefully, we can do something in Jan, but i fear it will need one or more sales - and the only one of our CM's i can see attracting any attention atm is Macca.
13 Sep 2026 09:04:15
Not sure what game you were watching reyrey? Wirtz wasn't great with the ball barring a nice flick for kerkez i think on the overlap, but he outworked everyone in the team and looked to be the only player in the team that knows how to press and block passing lanes. Dom and Grav were non existent in the middle with lacklustre press and no positional sense. Dom lost about 8/9 duels and couldn't make a pass. Grav was basically a cardboard cutout.
Barcola was also guilty of not pressing, but I can forgive that due to being new and perhaps not fit. Kostas i'm afraid is not a Premier League level player and again showed that. Munoz was also pretty useless just head down kicking and running and losing the ball. No question Wirtz needs to be better when he has the ball given his quality and the price we paid but he was far from the worst player yesterday.