It all stems from his time in Spain The ubermensch's Los Ladrones were the darkness, which meant that Fraudiola's Barca were the light, and pundits have maintained that Narrative regardless of what their eyes are telling them a dozen times in the first half of pretty much all of their games
By the whole team all the time during a game. The last pass is only possible by the passes that preceded it going back to the way the goalkeeper cleared the ball. This so called assist or the adulation of strikers is phony. As we saw against City if the team does not perform Kane doesn't get the ball and is not able to score. These stats are just a way of making a game of mixed skill and chance sound scientific. They are completely bogus as far as I am concerned. Counting the goals scored by a striker shows how well he does his job but it does not give credit to the rest of the team. There is often a midfielder/ playmaker who makes a bigger difference than the striker. Kane has been playing both roles as did Bale on his first time with Spurs. When we had Ledley King playing he was at least as important as the striker and so on.
I think Winks is better than people think. There was some research a few years back by StatDNA who looked at the Brazilian league to see how well the better teams did on passing the ball. Amazingly, when adjusted for pass difficulty, there was no difference at all between player or team skill level. The reason the better teams won was because they attempted easier passes so lost the ball less often. If that is generally true then you need to coach players to take fewer risks.
So then how do you say Eriksen didn’t take the games by the scruff of the neck if by your definition he wouldn’t have been receiving the ball? Eriksen played just behind Kane so would’ve relied on Dembele and co to get him the ball. If he doesn’t get assists or creates chances it means those behind him don’t get him the ball. When Eriksen got the ball though, more times than not he made something happen, that’s why you can argue chances created are more impressive than assists as it shows that maybe the strikers were letting him down by not getting him more assists. To be the player with the most created chances in the league at the time shows he was the player we were relying on to make things happen. He was that midfielder/ playmaker that made the difference, we’re seeing how much of a difference he made now that Ndombele and Lo Celso can’t do a fraction of what he could. I’ll agree with anyone that his final 12 months was dire but to suggest he didn’t turn up enough or didn’t make a difference or didn’t create things is incorrect. He made a massive difference and he also got the best out of others, especially Dele, once Eriksen downed tools and left Dele has been nothing more than woeful.
You can also use that sequence to back-up what Spurf's saying and I think that the truth lies somewhere between the two. Once Dembele's body gave out and he couldn't perform at the top level regularly any more it damaged everything. Eriksen stopped getting the ball in dangerous positions as often and his confidence went, leading to less chances created. That hurt Alli, which lead to his own spiral. Our central midfield isn't good enough, but it's also not being used correctly, in my opinion. Winks is supposed to be some sort of playmaker, yet he's the deepest player in there. Hojbjerg is there to protect the back four, yet he's not used centrally and has been run into the ground by playing him in every game. Ndombele and Lo Celso are both a bit crocked, but they're placed in positions where they get kicked a lot when they're fit.
I agree on that, Dembele’s loss has been massive as we have no control over the midfield. I’d imagine it would’ve been similar if you took Modric out of Redknapp’s team, van der Vaart would’ve likely suffered as well. There’s knock on effects with all key players declining/ leaving and it’s why our recruitment has been scrutinised heavily as none of the replacements are anywhere near as good as their predecessors. The fact this season Kane has had to take on Eriksen’s role as well as his own shows how poor we’ve done at replacing the Dane. I’m not sure how to use our midfield anymore to be honest. On paper, Hojbjerg, Ndombele and Lo Celso should be great but in the games we’ve seen it’s been dismal. The two creative players can’t seem to control the game enough. That may be partly down to Jose’s tactics but I’d still expect to see flashes or glimpses of what they could do and I just rarely do. I think they can be good players but don’t seem to want impose themselves enough. That then leads to Hojbjerg just trying to do too much and ends up neglecting his primary responsibilities.
I think that we can play Hojbjerg, Ndombele and Lo Celso together, but they need to be used in a formation that makes sense. We've stuck them in a 4-3-3 and defended, which I don't think suits them, despite it being fairly close to what I'd do with them. Put Ndombele alongside Hojbjerg in a 4-2-3-1, get Son and Moura playing in off the wings and get at teams and I think they'd work. Kane can still drop deep in that system, as no defence is going to fancy a break when he's got Son and Moura running in behind.
One thing worth noting, over the weekend a Betis fan dropped by r/coys and stated Lo Celso is best used in the van der Vaart role, while we've been casting him as either Eriksen or Dembele for the past eighteen months That certainly does seem to fit, because even though Betis played a 4231 when Lo Celso was on fire there they had the unfortunately-named Loren Moron up top and he barely scored any, although on the other hand Lo Celso, Joaquin and Canales all scored more than him, so their setup was very similar to Poch's at Southampton where Ricky Lambert's job was to hold onto the ball to let Jay Rodriguez, Adam Lallana etc break into the area and score So in terms of how he can be used for us, all we have to do is look at how we used Dele Alli (i.e. when he was actually on the pitch) and that's realistically how to set up for Lo Celso, and the benefit is that Gio and Dele are different enough players that opponents can't set up as like-for-like as Dele is an out-and-out second striker who makes late runs to the far post while Gio is as capable of setting a teammate free in space as he is making a late break to score So the catch? Well, that's easy: central midfield's still a complete mess, because realistically we need at the very least a Modric-type metronome in there to spread the ball about, and it's probably wise to have a Huddlestone-type player who can ping balls over the top in reserve for games against stubborn teams, and we have neither of those available
When he made a difference is the operative part. He had the ability to do it but he went missing too much even when he was at his peak with us. Not as bad a s Ndembele IMO not as bad by a long while but he was never a totally reliable player in the way that Kane Bale or King are/were. All players have off days for sure and probably because he was such an important part of that Spurs team. When Eriksen was off the boil it was very noticeable, that's too his credit in a way, but his last year or so at Spurs was consistently poor.
I think we have a good player with a good attitude in LoCelso, he just needs an injury free run in a side with a plan and a confident coach. Whoever the new manager is, he needs to be an experienced old head, it smacks of very bad planning by Levy and the board to chuck Mason into such a difficult situation especially when they could just as easily have got Redknapp back to fire fight until the end of the season. With the added bonus of his expertise on player selection. Harry would have been able to deliver a verdict on the squad to the board at the end of those 1/2 dozen games. Ryan can hardly be expected to do that.
I keep thinking who invented my favourite move where a player takes a corner,short one to a colleague.......and two passes and it's back to his own goalie,who then usually kicks the ball into the air straight to the opposition. Not to mention all those wingers who receive the ball and without thinking pass it back to the full back who passes on to the goalie. I mean,who thought of this crap? I keep thinking of Cliff Jones and others of his time,receiving the ball and down the line he went heading for the opposing goal!!! Although Gareth Bale was a wonderful change when he played full back and winger.....got the ball and ****! gone!!!!
I disagree, I think he was very reliable. The fact we had no backup for him other than Sigurdsson in Eriksen's first season showed how reliant we were on him and it's why some have argued that maybe he felt burnt out in the end (I don't personally agree with that though by the way, I just think his head was gone), he'd missed very little football over his 6 and a half years, players like Ndombele and Lo Celso have probably missed more football in their time at the club than Eriksen did in his. He kept himself in great shape and whilst he may not have been gritty - which attacking midfielders rarely are - he actually covered a hell of a lot of ground for the team, often clocking up more miles than the likes of Rose and Walker who'd bomb up and down the wing all day. As for going missing, again, he went missing no more than any of Kane, Son, Dele or Dembele during that era so I don't get why you single him out for that. He also turned up in as many big games as the rest too. Assists in both FA Cup semi finals (the Chelsea one especially is one of the best passes we'll ever see), goals against Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, West Ham, Man Utd, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Juventus, not forgetting he won our player of the season twice too... I have to be honest I think you severely underrate and underappreciate just what a brilliant player he was. I agree his last year was poor, I won't ever deny that but his first five years he was often superb.
I think he can be a good player but I'm beginning to think that won't be with us. He tries hard but doesn't seem to have the adequate level of quality, on the flip side I'd say Ndombele has the quality but doesn't try hard enough. I'd love to be wrong and see both become successes but how much longer can we truly afford to give them? They're our two most expensive signings, brought in to essentially replace two former key players and yet both have done very little so far. Personally, if the option was there in the summer, I'd happily cash in on both if we were offered close to what we paid, and then allow the new manager to bring in one or two big money players of their own choosing to then implement their style. Realistically we won't get much for the players most of us deem deadwood (Sissoko, Lamela, Dier, Aurier etc) and so if we're needing to sell to buy, players with a higher value that aren't quite key would be better to sell I'd say and these two, despite their troubles, would still fetch semi decent fees in this market.
I single him out because he was the hub of that team but we had some good times with him for sure but like Spurs he wasn't able to go that bit further that our team 'should have been able to go. The battle of Stamford Bridge showed what we up against from experienced cynical players with an ineffective referee. Maybe I am unfair to Eriksen as he was not a bruiser but that's what we really needed and that was with Dembele.
I don't get too much into transfers because I know little about players around the world until they appear in a Spurs shirt or at least in the PL. I would just be happier without players like Ndembele who coaches have to work so hard to motivate. He is a luxury we cannot afford.
The reality is no one in our team were able to go that bit further and that goes for the manager too, it's why we came up short when it really mattered. Poch unfortunately messed up massively in a number of big games. We've not scored in our last four cup finals, so it shows that players like Eriksen, Son, Kane, Dele etc all failed to do it when it really mattered and that's why I think it's harsh when you seemingly single out Eriksen for that. Dembele cost us a goal in the FA Cup semi final against Utd, he wasn't without his faults either. I don't know why but there's a mental block on this team when it really matters and it's been there since the 08 League Cup final. That day every single one of those players busted a gut in that match, we've not seen that level of commitment, hunger and desire to win since I'd say.
He's a player that would probably suit Barcelona, a tiki taka style approach where someone like Busquets is behind him would likely see him flourish. He'd have more time on the ball too as La Liga is slower yet more technical I'd say. I think that's why he looked brilliant in Ligue 1 too as Ligue 1 is also slower than the Prem and allows him more time. I don't think he's a bad player but he's just been poor in the Prem for the most part, just like Lo Celso (outside the injuries). In an alternate reality we could have signed Tielemans and Grealish, we'd likely be enjoying football a lot more right now if we did.
Yes I agree with you on that. In hindsight we should have offered Villa what they wanted in the first place we might just have pulled it off before the new owners stepped in. To be fair you did say this at the time.
