Mirth Yeah I think it's just the price you have to pay to have players who roam a bit. Gabriel gets to track that area left behind, which is fine because Rice drops down a lot between the defenders anyway. I feel deficiencies is the wrong word when it's a point of the system.
We can't play this way with Lewis-Skelly for instance, who's suited to folding into midfield instead at every opportunity. That makes us overpowered centrally but it's also more risk-adverse, and he doesn't get found out as much because we just end up rolling the ball around. It seems to me that Cala's presence in the team is calculated around wanting to have quicker and straighter passing lines, to mix it up a little and get some pace on the ball in the attack.
