Hi guys, seems we have been linked with Andros Townsend and I was interested to see your views on him as I haven't seen all that much of him. Thanks for any opinions http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/S...tory-18719258-detail/story.html#axzz2QY8Z5Txl
Hope we don't sell him to be honest pal. Always been a big fan of his and after Bale and Lennon, he's the only natural winger we have. Very skilful, sometimes a bit too greedy but with experience he'll learn when to release, as you may have seem he's very capable of hitting long range shots and can play on either flank. Like I said, personally I don't wanna sell him but if he goes, he'll be a great signing for whoever he joins.
we've been having a similar discussion recently too. Been great @ QPR, no one can disagree with that. I'd like to see him back in our squad as wing cover for Lennon and Bale, however, some others believe he is capable of starting.
Would actually be interesting to see Bale, Lennon and Townsend on the pitch at the same time to be fair, COULD be deadly. The pace and skill is frightening alone.
Well maybe we can take bale off your hands to free up a starting place for him Seems pretty positive views though, I'm quite excited about this one
Sounds fair I suppose Yeah I don't think there are many Spurs fans that don't rate Townsend to be honest with you. It's just been a case of trying to fit him in but with Bale playing more centrally, it opens up a fight for the LW role, though Sigurdsson has been really good there the past couple of months.
There are many Spurs fans who remain sceptical about Andros, in spite of his impressive games for QPR. This is probably because he has never really kicked on during his time with us. He has had other loan deals which for various reasons don't seem to have worked out and there has always been this doubt if he can perform to a PL standard every week. For several years he has shown nothing more than glimpses of his talent, before dropping into the background again. He had a blinder 2 seasons ago in an FAC game with Charlton and then faded again. Hence the doubters. But he has put the work in on the training ground, worked hard on his final delivery and with regular football in the new under 21 league, started showing his skills every week. Frankly he was ripping defenders apart in that league and has taken this form into the PL at Rangers. Now he is getting frequent MOM awards, player of the month awards and is making everyone sit up and take notice of him. I don't know where his future lies next season, but if any club does take him, then his form over the past few months is an indication of his capabilities and what you can expect from him.
To be honest, I can't see us selling him. AVB likes him and I can only see him getting more time with us next season, a bit like how we loaned Caulker out to Swansea to let him get comfortable with playing in the Premier League before bringing him in as a regular member of our squad.
I wouldn't get excited, it's very very unlikely I'd say. Although, he'd probably suit Swansea down to the ground.
I'm still annoyed that we didn't keep him and give him more starts, to be honest. He's young, pacy, direct, can play on both wings, he tracks back, scores goals, gets assists and on top of all that he's a bloody Spurs fan. Should've been used as cover and back-up for Lennon and Bale at the start of the season, but now he's really made a statement at QPR. I'll be pretty pissed off if we do move him on in the summer. We're finally producing a bit of talent, so we need to use it.
Yeah spot on. Not sure whether it was AVB or Levy's idea to loan Townsend out but I personally think it was a stupid one. Not just due to the fact he's impressed at QPR (which I expected) but the fact our only other natural winger besides Bale and Lennon was shipped out at a time we needed as much of a squad as possible just doesn't make sense to me. It makes it worse that as of now, we've been in desperate need of some actual wing cover so the decision has been made to look even more stupid than it all ready was. In regards to producing talent completely agree with that too, in recent years we've seen the likes of Livermore, Caulker, Carroll & Townsend actually cement their status as first team players rather than U-21/ Development squad. Then there's the likes of Mason, Kane, Smith, Pritchard, Luongo who have been/ expected to be on the fringes of the first team soon and also a good few other youngsters like Coulthirst, Coulibaly, Veljkovic, Bentaleb, McEvoy etc who could have decent futures after one or two loan spells. Definitely exciting for us Spurs fans to know there's a good batch of youngsters coming through.
Depends on the player himself now having had a taste of regular football, with our own usual suspects fit, who do we drop? He may not be happy with just a squad place as cover, "he should stay and be Lennons back up" I think its rather dismissive of the players feelings to say that. Sit on our bench, or games each week with Swansea in Europe? Could be a dilemna for the lad, working with Laudrup is not to be sneezed at thats for sure.
Well he can play on both wings for a start which will help him get games. Caulker was in the same boat too after last season and given that he's been 3rd/4th choice centreback(not inc. Kaboul) he must be fairly pleased to have started half our league games, infact he's played 28 matches across all competitions. I don't see why Townsend wouldn't be able to do similar if he impresses when he gets his chances and he's 22 next season, I don't think he'll feel like he has to move to a midtable club because he's desperate to start every game.
There is a possibility that if AVB was willing to experiment, he could play Bale, Lennon and Townsend all behind the front man next season. Sig's been great on the left but I think having a pacy/ skilful trio behind the lone man could be interesting.
I'm glad someone brought that up, I think its fair to say Stevens level has dropped a bit, through lack of continuous games imo. Back to Townsend the only reason I say this, i think it was SC who said his loan nearly fell through as he wanted regular starts. I'm not speaking for him, just saying that his mindset now 'might' be, first team football or nothing don't care who its for. Having said that, there's a couple of options mentioned in the last couple posts that would be more than worth trying, and if they worked I'd be delighted.
Have to agree with that, I've been really confused why he's been benched quite a bit lately as when he has played, his level like you say has dropped. There's been times when Gallas has started in the EL over him or when Naughton has played LB meaning Verts stayed in centre costing Caulker game time and I just think why are we doing this? The guy has huge potential and yet expecting him to reach that with one game in every 4 or 5 is just not going to help him.
I'm not so sure. I think you benefit from lower levels of scrutiny at clubs further down the table and I don't think against Everton he showed any weaknesses that we hadn't already seen in the first half of this season with us. Of course we'll never know, maybe Caulker would've gone on to be a revelation this season had he stayed at Swansea or got regular games throughout the season with us but its worth keeping in mind that it's early in his career and trying to be dependent on a young player across a whole season can be damaging for a club and even the player.