I think that had more to do with the balance between midfield & defence, in that our fullbacks couldn’t be as dangerous. Not to mention the distribution was subpar, and playing out of tight spaces. I think Sow excels here, but he’s been a bit of a mixed bag.
I still don’t like Gudelj in that DM role. I always feel like his positioning is off, and has a harder time reading the game from there. I think he’s more competent from the CB positions.
I also think Kike let’s us down with his play out of defence. He doesn’t feel comfortable enough to play it forward, and usually resorts to playing it to Ramos, Nyland, or hitting a long ball. In the modern game we’re asking GKs to be good distributors, so a CB should already be capable in that department.