I'd like to see Chadli given a go there - someone else suggested that I think - he has all the attributes to play in that position as far as I can see
I think that is almost certainly the case SD. Alli was a pleasant surprise, I'd watched his youtube and Football League Show highlights but never an actual game of his. Looking at his frame you might think he'd be a bit lanky and that his technical ability might suffer as a result, but actually he looks more in proportion when he's on the ball. His long passing was good and he carried the ball forwards well too. Carroll was impressive IMO, especially when linking up with Kane, and I think what he really brings to the team is the ability to keep the game moving at the right tempo in the right areas which is a vital asset. Dier is too immobile to play DM, although his passing off both feet is actually reasonably good which is an asset in that position and will be at CB too, hopefully his midfield cameos are limited to friendlies and he gets most of his game time at CB where he clearly belongs. Trippier was a very pleasant surprise, generally used the ball well, looked quicker than I expected, made a good defensive contribution - overall on that showing he's going to be a solid signing. Wimmer looks a big boy, hopefully its all muscle - he actually looks like he can really shift over 10 yards or so which is an asset, and also looks quite competent with the ball. Dembele looks like he's shed a few pounds and gained a bit of pace (without impacting on his physicality) with it which is excellent, and he also used the ball a bit better than I've come to expect from him. Overall its just important to get minutes into the legs in a competitive environment and the high altitude element to the game will hopefully help the fitness a bit too. The performance in the first half was overall reasonably good but was marred by one or two errors that led to the goals (where have we heard that before eh...) and Kane could have had 3 or 4 if it wasn't for some strong goalkeeping from the All Star keeper. The second half felt like it was played at a higher tempo which was good, and Onomah had some chances that he could well have done a lot better with as did one or two others. You can't really read into the result in a game like this, so overall I'm pretty happy with that.
I didn't see the game, just highlights, but one report I read said that Chadli was playing in the position just behind the main striker. Still moving out to the left, but spending more time centrally. I'm not sure, if Kane got injured, that I could see him as the main striker, though.
I watched the game and although Chadli did move out to the right at one point and popped up in the centre occasionally too, I would definitely say that he mainly started on the left and drifted around a bit, rather than emphatically playing behind the striker. At least, thats my perception of it. I wouldn't want him as a backup to Kane, remember the time we tried that with Dempsey? I'd rather have a youth teamer who at least knows the position.
That's what people said when Wenger tried Henry as a striker...... I do think we all give too much emphasis to 'positions' and not enough to the player's qualities. In modern football everyone needs to be good at most things almost irrespective of position
I agree with nearly all of the comments. Carroll’s specialty seems to be the third quarter of the field. We couldn’t get the ball through their press very effectively in the first half. When Carroll came in, he sliced right through it with clever one-touch passes. More players should get on the end of Trippier’s crosses as they get used to his timing of them. I’d like to see him in the same team with Dembele and Rose. The danger Trippier and Rose provide on the wings should complement Eriksen’s passing and Dembele’s ability to occupy defenders in the center. Kane was far and away the best player on the field. I agree we had better, first of all, find a suitable replacement, and, second, take great care not to burn him out. It’s a similar story with Eriksen. Dier plus Bentaleb didn’t work. Alli and Winks were much better.
I take your point about modern players being less 'specialised' in terms of their attributes Power, CBs and DMs who can't play the ball are almost gone from the game now for example, while forwards have to show defensive qualities and effort as well as assuming their offensive duties. Its the same across many sports, especially rugby nowadays. While many players have the technical and physical qualities to play in a number of positions though, I think where many fall down is mentally. Take Dembele as an example - technically sound, fantastically strong, reasonably quick - sounds like a recipe for a great player anywhere in an attacking position. In reality he doesn't use his assets to their maximum so he is limited as to what positions he plays effectively. Some players just don't seem to 'get' playing in certain areas of the pitch no matter how good they appear to be when playing where they're comfortable. The best though can have a positive effect on team performance no matter where they happen to be on the pitch - at the very highest level look at Messi and Ronaldo operating with freedom across the forward lines at their clubs, while a tier down Rooney has shown remarkable versatility at United over the years and largely remained a key player there, and Schweinsteiger transitioned from an effective winger to a world class CM at Bayern. Lahm too from fullback to CM. What ties the successfully versatile players together I think is 'footballing intelligence'. Back to Chadli, he's a player I'd look to to fill the striker role if we had literally no other option, as he is a handy finisher and has strength, stature and a bit of pace on his side too. But with hopefully more strikers looking to come into the club and a few youth options too he's a long way down the list for me.
Just managed to watch the game (finally!). Second half side was very impressive considering it consisted of a lot of youngsters. Dele Alli looked really good, friendly or not you can see why we forked out £5m+ on him, he has that class about him that I think will help him flourish into a top draw player. Onomah, Winks and Carroll all got involved nicely - Onomah should've perhaps bagged a goal - and Trippier showed a lot more than Walker did (not that I'm massively surprised at that). Superb goal from Kane but the MLS' goals were really sloppy to concede, God knows what Chadli was thinking for their penalty and no one seemed to pick up Villa, despite him being one of the best strikers to ever grace the modern game. Plenty of positives though, the altitude probably didn't make things easy for us but that was our first big friendly game of the season and considering it was against the best players the MLS could conjure up, I'm not disappointed by the scoreline or the performance, we didn't deserve to lose the game but we created enough chances and bar a few sloppy mistakes which are to be expected in pre-season, overall we look fairly OK going into the new season in my opinion providing we got no injuries. I've got a lot of faith in this young squad and coaching staff, a striker to compete with Harry is the only pivotal addition I think we need, we've hopefully sorted out the defence and so any other additions are now just bonuses in my eyes.
I was even more impressed by how the second half starters played as a team than by their individual talents. Carroll and Alli will push the starters, based on their performances. I was a little disappointed not to see Oduwa, who may have been our best player in pre-season until Wednesday. Trippier looks to be a brilliant buy. Not expensive, and not, for that matter, a great talent, he may do as much as any player could to help cure us of our characteristic attacking ills of no width and slow buildup. Getting our best CB his best partner should also do as much as anything could to overcome our shaky defending--though I didn’t see any evidence of that in Denver. Still, early days, and I would still say Trippier and Alderweireld look like very canny buys.
The Spurs youth team are currently 1-0 up at HT against Stevenage. Oduwa scored and then got stretchered off later in the half, following a "collision" with an opposition player. Supporters posting on social media from the game seem rather unhappy about the tackle. Hope it's not a bad one, as he'd had an impressive pre-season, by all accounts. It'd be a real shame to have a setback at this point.
What is it with Stevenage and injuring our players? When we played them in the FA Cup a few seasons back they ended Dawson's season.
One of our old players playing for a side managed by another one of our old player, too. Charlie Lee with the alleged ankle breaker.
To call it a "collision" is being very diplomatic. It was genuine GBH on the lad. Charlie Lee has been around long enough to know that type of challenge is completely unacceptable. It took 7 minutes to get the poor lad off. Refs are always reluctant to give cards during pre season games, but this ref got the yellow out immediately. I have no doubt if this had been a league game, then Lee would have got a straight red.
When are our Audi Cup fixtures? I'm a little concerned that this has been scheduled so close to the start of the season to be honest, especially given that we've only really had 1 'proper' pre-season game.
Oduwa went for a scan after the game and he's been cleared, according to the OS. Glad to see that a head injury's being taken very seriously, even if the player seems to be ok.
So the team are playing Tuesday and Wednesday, before the season kicks off Saturday lunchtime. Which mug organised that? The team are going to be tired before the season starts - we'll have to play the youth in one of those games I imagine as well, which begs the question of exactly what the point of this cup is? Money I assume - I hope we're getting a good deal out of it off the pitch because there seems almost nothing to be gained on it.
