"Too many backwards and sideways for my liking." That has been a problem with the MF all season. And combined with the slow passing, has been the reason opposition teams have been able to organise to easily thwart Spurs attacks.
He was mainly used as a holding player today, with the more creative play left to Paulinho, Lennon and Eriksen until Capoue replaced the Brazilian. Kept the ball well and gave it to the danger men.
"He was mainly used as a holding player today" And yet he showed a couple of times he can drop the shoulder and surge past players to the penalty box. He should be doing this more often, even if someone else takes over to make the defence-splitting pass into the box.
Lennons performance was the most pleasing as there have been a few cheap shots at his direction such as '' not top four quality '' or viewed as being in effective compared to Townsend but the proof is there for everyone to see. Play Lennon in the right system and he is superb which he's proved today and also during those two seasons we did finish top four.
Although I have to mention Paulinho who today gave the lie to those who are saying that all our new signings were below average.
Dembele was certainly influential today and showed glimpses of what he is capable of - but he seems incapable of seeing the quick pass and inevitably relies on his strength and ball retention. That's ok against the likes of a very poor Stoke side, but can't help thinking that stronger sides would find him out. Surprised by the stats about Paulinho. Not that he had a bad game by any means - He had a few great showboating touches and got into some great positions, but his passing didn't look that good. Eriksen also looks a but lightweight in the PL. And his deadball kicking was poor today: too often failed to beat the first man either from corners or freekicks. Star of the show for me was Lennon, although Ade was very influential and again worked his socks off. But a win is a win - and at least we played in a way that was worth watching!!
Paulinho was invigorated today. The big problem for Spurs is him being dragged around the world for nonsense friendlies for Brasil between now and May.
Paulinho is definitely a signing we can be pleased with. I still can't quite believe how much Soldado cost but overall our signings in terms of natural ability aren't fulfilling their potential yet we all know from experience that in a few months they could start impressing more. I think in general fans still compare our players to Modric, VDV Bale, King and then yes our new signings can look average but there would have been times when even Modric, Bale, VDV and King looked average so even Chadli could surprise a few people ( wink)!!
I am pleased just to see us play like we did today. What is the point of having players of the quality that we have if you then put them in a straight jacket. This is where I have no issue with your friend Harry who always gives talent its head.
"What is the point of having players of the quality that we have if you then put them in a straight jacket." Because it works wells for away games ??
I thought you all might like to hear what happened at half time today. As you probably know, the habit is to interview on the pitch, a hero of yesteryear. Today it was the turn of Micky Hazard. Hazard told of how when he first joined the club, he was so homesick, he ran away 7 times. He kept returning and eventually fell in love with the club so much, that these days whenever he returns to WHL, he has a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes. He said that he wanted to cry with emotion when he walled down the tunnel today to come onto the pitch for his interview. He did have two spells with us and he said he was never happy when he was away and when he came back he felt he had "come home". Needless to say, he got a pretty decent ovation.
Depends who you are playing! We went into Europe in the CL and surprised a few teams because we went for it. I'd rather we stick to the philosophy at the top of this board. It's better to fail etc:
"Depends who you are playing!" The PL for a season and a bit ?? AVB has basically fallen because he could not understand that the setup for home games can and should be different. He had the "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" mindset when the current squad is a far more diverse and flexible toolbox to work with.
I didn't see the game but Soldado seems to be earning his wages in successful penalty conversions. Can the guy play a bit as well? I heard expert commentator Michael Owen say a few weeks ago that he's never rated him and saw him up close when they were both at Real Madrid (although Soldado must have been very young).
Yes, which just adds fuel to my major mindset which is that managers often do more harm than good. The modern game demands this chess play between managers to a greater extent than ever before IMO. Correct me if I am wrong but I do believe that managers used to spend their time trying to set their own team to play the best possible football. Nowadays they are often more interested in how to prevent the opposition from playing. This trend produces more boring football games than we used to have, in fact if some of the play was around years ago I am pretty sure football would not have become the worlds favourite sport.
And is why I have used the NFL "coach" analogy for AVB. Being a football manager requires much more than that, and he just doesn't have it (which is no sleight on him - that's life) . And at the moment, the game is not ready for a setup where a Clough type would manage the match sides, while delegating the fine details of squad training sessions to coaches.
It feels like we have paid 26/8 million for a striker as lucky as torres. He can play, he's been involved in goals, be that neat touches or a great cross for Adebayor last week but he has the good fortune of torres. Both desperate to score, both miss easy chances or unlucky not to score. However torres is more dynamic and aggressive and that's one area Soldado struggles.
Good to hear. Presumably the fact that he was a very good player helped. He replaced one of my other favourite players from that era - Neil McNab.
