I was just reading on the O/S that Verts has played in every E/L game,add them to the P/L games,it's nowonder he's knackered
From what AVB says he prefers to have different options for positions rather than like for like players that can be swapped in and out. I can see his point - if the opponents are set up to counter Bale and Lennon on the wings then dealing with Townsend and/or Falque is not likely to cause them too many problems but Sig/Holtby/Dempsey might. Also, in theory, Ade and Defoe ought to work best against different defenders as they have different skills. I agree about Rose but it wasn't a given at the start of the season that he would be up to the job at full back and I suspect the thinking was that Vertonghen would be the main cover there before Kaboul and Benny got injured and left us short. If that hadn't happened Rose would have spent the season doing nothing. I expect Levy would argue that we are over-performing considering the financial resources we have and that we've been able to build a squad that can challenge for the top four and a cup without putting the club at risk.
Totally agree with you about Balance. With regards to money, yes it needs to be used more sensibly, but still, we need extra quality throughout the squad. - Which in turn... will cost money. Forget the performances of Ade or Defoe... we don't have enough strikers. Therefore we have to spend in that department, which is likely to be the most costly. Then there's the balance that needs addressing, as well as those players who haven't worked out for us/aren't good enough to meet the expectations.
I do hope Bale does eventually revert back to the left winger position once (if) Spurs resolve their strike force. He is clearly not a centre forward, and whilst he scored some great goals in his "roving" role, I feel this unbalances the team. Put him back on the left wing, use his running skills to terrify the opposition and put in those great crosses for our new strike force when they come in. Will AVB have enough courage to instruct Bale to revert back to this position? Or will he simply do what Bale wants?
So, you want a centre forward who's good at getting on the end of crosses... presumably Premier League experience would be a bonus, as would availabilty to move in the next transfer window... hang on lads, I've got a great idea...
I know we're on Ade's back a lot... but if Bale was playing on the left, Lennon on the right and Ade and Holtby were a central partnership, does anyone else think that this could have ended up being affective if we'd given it more time? Ade's goal scoring has been horrendous, but perhaps it's because he's not getting the service he's been used to (last season from the wings), + the fact that VDV is no longer alongside him. We hardly gave he and Holtby much of a chance. Like you Barney, I've been feeling that Bale needs to revert back to the left. Not all the time, but just to spice things up again. His wonder goals have made him stand out individually, but so many other players have been suffocated as a result. Last night, he was central all game and in the second half you wouldn't even have known he was on the pitch.
i think if we put Gareth back on the wing,AVB should tell Ade to get in the centre ,stay there and get on the end of the crosses.to many times when a cross has come in,he's out on the wing ,behind the player crossing.
I think the problem with Bale sticking to the left is that it's far easier for opposition defences to gang up on him and mark him out of the game. In a free role he's much harder to pick up. I agree that he seemed to stick pretty much to the centre last night. Maybe those were his instructions?
I agree, he's not totally suited to that role and whilst it's hard to knock him when he's scoring so many, I'd like to see him played on the wing again some more, if only because it will keep our opponents guessing and make it more difficult to plan for him. We'll find out soon whether it's AVB unbalancing the team just for Bale or whether it's his general tactics. Eitherway, Ade always runs out to the wing, whilst our wingers always cut inside and Bale ends up trying to play striker, none of which is a great plan. The sooner we look to set up our attack to do more than just feed Bale, the more we'll get out of the team. As poor as Ade's been he's never going to be able to get the ball on the wing, cut inside beat a few players and get a shot off and neither is he going to start putting great crosses in so as much as he's right to spot that we need an option out wide when everyone's cutting in(mostly on the left), he's not the one that should be doing it. When we're in attack all Ade should be concentrating on is getting in a goal scoring position, the other 3 should be able to sort out some sort of service to him whilst also being able to create chances for themselves, if they're struggling then you can reshuffle the 3 into different roles until we start getting somewhere - Holtby, Lennon, Bale, Sigurdsson and (to a lesser extent) Dempsey can all play anywhere across the 3, they can all cross a ball, score a goal and have plenty of skill on the ball so AVB needs to get them playing for eachother. Bale spends too long lurking and waiting for a counter whilst Sigurdsson cuts inside from the flank everytime, Holtby looks lost and Lennon is expected to provide all our width, which he doesn't usually do because he'd become predictable and easy to stop. We had a similar problem when AVB wast sticking with 2 strikers as it was getting results, then one of them got injured(or was it when Ade got injured) and other than a mad decision to bring it back in Milan, AVB seems to have ditched his mistake. I hope the same happens here.
what I don't get, is the way we didn't give Hotlby and Ade enough time to form some sort of central partnership, yet we're happy to have Sig, Dempsey and Holtby all hampered by playing in positions that don't suit them, just so Bale can stay central. Has anyone else noticed how we rarely shoot from outside the box? The amount of times I've seen Dembele take his standard "shimmy side step" to the left and not shoot, is so frustrating. We're going to be playing a narrow game now with no Bale or Lennon, so we're going to need to start having a dig from distance, and following up and loose balls. There's no way we'll break teams down without 2 of the fastest players in the league out of action. But no one seems to want to shoot! Is it instruction from AVB not to? The lack of goals from midfield is worrying. Mata and Lampard have 10 and 12 respectively for chelsea
I actually thought that our only impressive chunk of the game yesterday came when Bale was down the right at the end of the first half, where he often plays for Wales. Sigurdsson went down the left, Holtby moved into the middle and things seemed to work for a while. The Welshman then seemed to play down the left in the second half and went out of the game, but we had so little of the ball that it was hard to work out where anyone was supposed to be.
True, but then again, he's usually marked by 2 ,or even 3 players which means more space on the pitch elsewhere and someone in our team who's therefore not being marked. Freerole is fine, but his main duty should be to cover the left side of the pitch, IMO. It'll be interesting to see how we get on over the next couple of games. Not in terms of results, but how well certain individuals play as they may be given a chance to prove themselves in a more favoured position. Then what?! Does bale just come in and directly replace them? What if Holtby and Ade went central and formed an understanding which got Ade a couple of goals, a great team performance and produced a bit of a spark? Interesting dilemma that'd be.
I understand the thinking behind this PS, but I'm not sure that I agree with it. If you've been playing against pacy wingers from 60 or 70 minutes, then the last thing that you want to see is the introduction of a pair of fresh, pacy wingers, most of the time. Having variety is useful, but so is being able to make changes without destroying the shape of the team or completely ripping up the basic game plan.
The simple truth, bar the few exceptions, Spurs have not played well as a unit since Bale has played the free role. Spurs have managed to win games due to Bale's goals. The luck was due to run out and unfortunately, this has been proven recently. Much as I hate to see Bale injured, it does give AVB a chance to revisit the midfield and try and get the balance right. Yes there are a few injuries to contend with, but this is an opportunity to find out what works best for for the midfielders who are not being played in their strongest positions. I believe the team will adapt quite well without Lennon and Bale and will potentially strengthen the midfield, although I do have some concerns about scoring enough goals to overcome the goals we keep conceding!
A player that cuts in from the flank every single time is a sign of a player who is not the least bit comfortable playing there in the first place...
To all those saying Bale played centrally only yesterday- After Dempsey came on Bale went to the left but got very little service and in the end switched with Dempsey. Ade not getting the service? he was useless whenever he got the ball in any position.
I tend to agree with this. It's like the team are always looking for him, a bit like school kids who always try to give it to the fastest, most skillful player, rather than the lad in space. We were "found out" a few weeks back, just before the Liverpool game, IMO. There may be aspects that will improve, but I don't see how we'll adapt and potentially strengthen overall. I see some boring, nervy football coming up, with a total lack of penetration or creativity. It's going to be a horrible few games.
Thanks for clarifying that B&W. I had no idea. Which shows just how little bale was in the game. If someone had told me he'd been taken off, I'd not have known any different until the injury happened.
I didn't notice either...but that may have been due to the poor position of ITV's cameras (ie, they site them too low down).
