Our Iberians

[zicorice]

Remain doubtful that we can field both Silva & Carvalho in the same starting X1 - yet.

Would be very worried if we went with that in a home game, let alone an away game. We saw at Blackburn that as a central combo they were two lightweight. 

Both are talented but both in the team together at this stage of their career weakens the side rather than strengthens it

I’d urge a rewatch of the Blackburn match, or at least the period when Silva and Carvalho came on. I don’t subscribe to the idea that they lost the midfield because they were too lightweight. Rather we became uncomposed in defence and went with long ball clearances, bypassing midfield and we know we don’t have hold-the-ball up / in behind options up there, so we merely ceded possession.

In Carvalho in particular, and to a lesser degree Silva, they’re not good tacklers, but they do harry and close down and put in a shift. In injury time against Wigan for example, Wigan broke and we had two players sprint back to our penalty box to dispossess their striker, Carvalho being one and coming away with the ball.

I believe that good passing players like Silva and Carvalho need to have others like them to interact with to flourish. We don’t have great pace in our striker so the ball into space behind the defence to set up a foot race isn’t an effective option. That holds for our wingers too. So we have to work the openings more, and that needs people that can pass and move well and then pick out the right ball.

For me the best line-up I have seen this season was against Brentford, which was arguably the most pleasing performance for me too. We had Watson and Sow to concentrate on protecting the goal and regaining possession and playing simple balls forward, providing a strong base. Yet we had both Silva and Carvalho to give us a better passing game and creative options. We don’t have have the natural width, but Ribeiro can compensate for that from full back. 

Playing Silva and Carvalho is exactly what i want see, but in a side with balance so they can mostly play to their strengths. The line-up against Brentford was the best I can think of.

I agree with this, but that's the conundrum isn't it? We need a bit more consistency from our flair players, which is always tough for various reasons.Brentford was decent, Blackburn & Wigan, not so much. Silva is busy and has good moments, but has a bad habit of giving the ball away in dodgy positions when under very little pressure.

Sometimes we have to tough out games to get the result and having both Carvalho and Silva on pitch can leave us a bit susceptible. That said, having Carvalho, Silva, Lolley, Grabban and Sow on pitch, should in theory cause opposition problems, especially if Cash and Riberio are bombing up from full back...."in theory" being the key words.