Gareth Bale and Davide Santon... lessons to be learned?

OK... as the transfer dance commences which will eventually see Bale join Real Madrid it's maybe time to reflect on how a half decent Welsh lad came to be touted as the most expensive player on the planet.
The catalyst seems to have been his relocation to and subsequent rebirth on the wing.
This allowed him to basically shake free his defensive shackles and raid down the flank.
He still poseessed a great defensive ability... somthing which helped Spurs time and time again when they had to get men behind the ball... thereby making Bale an even more valuable piece of the Spurs jigsaw.

Move 300 miles North and we have Davide Santon.
I'm not for a minute trying to make a direct comparison with Bale but Santon always seems more comfortable... and able.... in forward positions... running at defenders. Given the ongoing issues with Jonas I think it is time for Santon to be moved further up field into a more advanced position. I'd drop Mapou in at left back and have Saylor and Colo at CB.
Santons natural instinct is to attack so it's about time we took the shackles off this lad and let him show us what he can do.

My preferred formation to accomodate this would be:

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We would then have the width to start playing balls in from the wing once again.

Who knows..... Santon may develop into a 'Bale lite' and eventually be sold for £50m.... thereby keeping the fat man happy.

 

I'd definitely move Santon forward, lets face it, he's not the best defensively. Only thing I'd do differently is go and get a left back or put my faith in Haidara or Dummett. I don't like the idea of Mbiwa playing left back. he did ok there but looked uncomfortable at times. He is a centre half or right back option for me. Its time we restored some balance in that area with a left foot.

 

Definitely something in that mate. I think the same with danny rose as was constantly saying last year to play him on the wing instead of the hapless McClean. All three players have something in common, they're much better at attacking than defending, I'd go as far to say that Bale was a dreadful fullback. I say it's well worth a shot and Spurs should try the same with Rose.

 

I'd agree with this - think Santon would do very well pushed higher up and could be a very dangerous and effective attacking player for us.

For balance here is someone with the opposite opinion:

http://www.themag.co.uk/the-mag-articles/santon-on-the-wing-its-good-but-its-not-right/

 

Haidara over mapou at LB: the lad is going to be good and we need at least 3 first string CB's

 

It will be interesting to see what all the excitement regarding Dummet is about too.

 

Indeed. If he has managed to leapfrog Fergie as most likely to make the jump up fro reserves he must have something about him. Might have to stop calling him Dummy.

 

Lets face it, how many good defensive FBs are there these days?

 

Remember when Bale was on a 30 game winless run at the start of his Spurs career? Oh to have slipped in a £10 bid then...

 

I disagree with those saying he can't defend.

He was immense in the first half of the season and was definitely our best player until the French lads came. Then he started to fall off a bit and got injured.

When it comes to playing him on the wing... I'd rather get a proper winger in personally. But he could do a job there.

He isn't the greatest defensive player, but he does have defensive capabilities. He could be an all round good wide player. Attacking and helping out the defence.

 

I don't think anyone is saying he can't defend Tash. He did have a good start to the season and was our best player at various stages. The alarming drop off in form was worrying but I still think he is a talented lad. However even in his spell of good form, he showed a lack of positional sense and a lack of awareness of where his fellow full back was. Anybody who has played in a defensive role at just about any level knows, you should never have both full backs in the last 3rd. There were times he was trying to get on the other end of the other full backs crosses! So many times he left us so exposed rampaging up field without thought or drifting across the pitch but we had people raving about his attacking prowess. I couldn't understand as we were losing games because of goals that were directly attributable to him. Of course the problems were exasperated further because Tiote was so poor.

I like full backs to be attacking but the priority role is as part of the defensive unit. He looked all the better when he was finally released against Wigan. He was then able to attack without causing mayhem for the defence, but still able to offer some support as he is a fit lad and has defensive traits.

The only team I have known to get away with ignoring the basics of defending are Brazil at various stages. At times their national team has been so ultra talented that you'd have both full backs in the last third. Their ability to control possession and outscore the opposition allowed this. We're not Brazil though.

 

Close though.

 

France is nowhere near Brazil

 

He was in my year at my school (Kenton)! He's not bad at all but unless he's improved dramatically I wouldnt have him anywhere near the 1st XI, I think he will end up in league 1 tbh which isn't bad at all!

 

Didn't Rose play at left wing for team GB in the olympics?

 

Ok I admit it, I don't think he can defend. Well, at least no more than most wingers or forward-thinking midfielders. Or Debuchy for that matter.

He doesn't think of defending first or put the concentration into defending first above everything else.
I think he's one of those players who has defaulted to LB because nobody is sure of where to put him, just that they want him in the team.

He arguably probably even prefers to be RB and we won't even put him there!
He's not effective enough as a winger to make that spot his own so you end up with another winger stuck behind.

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I don't like him, I do, just not totally sure why. Especially given the end of last season.
Which is exactly the problem I think Pardew has, wants him in the team but he's probably not quite sure where.

So in short I would agree with your original idea. Ditch Jonas for him and tell him to push on...

PS: I also think it's not just Santon guilty here, it's a frequent problem with modern full backs.
They tend to be defensive frustrated wingers but often totally forget about the defensive bit. Frustrating.

 

No no , your lineup doesn't include JONAS and that's just wrong.


In all seriousness, Bale has one crucial trait better than Santon.

And that is that he possesses gamebreaking pace and acceleration.

He has the pace of a sprinter, and can beat even the best defenders just by pushing the ball and sprinting after it.
Add to that his technical ability has improved a lot since he first came onto the scene.

As of right now, Santon is nowhere close. Santon has an OK shot, Bale's is deadly. Santon can't deliver a better cross than Bale.


Of course I'm not suggesting Santon is the article Bale is now, but I am suggesting Santon is a different type of player from Bale.
Whilst not being able to reach Bale's attacking potential, Santon can go a far different route, and ply his trade as a FB. With experience I can see him becoming a leading EPL defender for us at the very least. He had an OK-to-bad year last season, but looking back, last year he made FAR TOO MANY schoolboy errors like miskicking the ball, missing a header or the like that cost us goals. If he could clean up that part of his game I can expect him to have a much better year.