The way i've tried to think about it is like this... Lennon ------> Holtby/Eriksen <------- Townsend The two inverted wingers pick the ball up and immediately head towards the centre of the pitch, where the number 10 is. The defence/midfield of Everton (insert any other team we have played this year) stay central and crowd the spaces. So when Holtby/Eriksen pick up the ball they are surrounded by a cluster of defenders and have no option other than to try a hollywood shot/through ball, play the ball backwards or lose possession. I might be banging on about in now but I really think that these 'inverted wingers' are treading on the toes of our creative players. Stay wide, give them some space to pick up the ball and create things.
Cheers Pavon, but "then please do" was tongue in cheek! you have described one of the reasons pretty well though.
Haha no worries. Tongue in cheek or not it allowed me the chance to talk about my pet peeve at the moment
If AVB can move (which I know won't happen) away from his 4231 system then inverted wingers can work, but like you say with the current setup and the cutting inside (from both wings), it does two things A) creates a congested area B) starves Soldado of service and support I'm sure we could add it does three, four, five things and expand on the negatives of playing narrow, yet what does it matter? AVB is a man obsessed, a man on a mission and the results are going his way, thats all that matters to him. Dortmund play a 4-2-3-1. a high pressing game, but look at their line up: please log in to view this image image ru They have a classic right winger (like lennon) and Reus on the left, A holding midfielder next to a creator and then a number 10 sitting in the hole to link up play. Compare that to our dull, physical, narrow set-up. We have the players to play a similar way as dortmund but AVB is the problem, he is holding the attacking aspect of this team back from meeting its potential.
To add Pavon, I think avb is reluctant to use conventional wingers, because as you say, although that would open space for our players, it would open space for the opponents too, which is where I think the underlying problem is, far too much thought given to stifling the opposition to not lose the game, and not enough thought to our own strengths to win it. I've said many times that we have the components of a very good side being played all wrong.
New rules require any player suffering a concussion in the NFL or NHL to sit out the rest of the game, and, I think, one or two after that. Recent research demonstrates that any concussion is a significant health risk.
I've been wondering for a while why we are not using Brad in the cup games far more than we have, as we need him to be match fit should anything happen to Lloris; also Lloris could get injured in the cup games. Seems to be a misuse of our resources, especially with Gomes also on the books. These keepers did a job for us before and the cups are a great way to keep them up to speed.
Lloris went to the floor like the perverbial sack of, and was motionless for some seconds, word was unconscious briefly, that alone should have been the end of any further discussion and off the field you go.
and just before i crash, just had a quick read of this article from the guardian http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/03/tottenham with a neat image on how the players fail to interact properly please log in to view this image What the guy says is right, we have no neat triangles to form, or if we do try and play neat passing it literally gets us no where and then we look to resort to desperate long shots from our wingers who are trapped inside. Looking at that set-up, we need to drop one of townsend or lennon and use two of lamela/eriksen/holtby at the very least so we can move away from our predictable approach.
Drop Lennon. Season after season of no goals, few assists, no end product. He hasn't improved since he was 22.
Playing in tight spaces requires 'one touch' passing like this, not two or two and a half touches! bear in mind their are defenders and even a reserve goalie in the circle taking part. Can anyone honestly see 10 of our players capable of keeping this going....I know I can't! and partly why the system will not work properly with our team. [video=youtube;wZyL68gf4NI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZyL68gf4NI[/video]
Wow... This could easily be me under a different name! Yet 3 weeks ago many of us were saying how badly we missed him. He's only useful on the right. - and seeing as AVB prefers the fullback to do the overlap, Lennon has been pretty much made redundant, despite the fact that getting behind the last defender is what he's best at.
From the way the staff were talking to him and basically demanding that he leave the field I felt it was clear that they must have quickly concluded that Lloris lost consciousness at some point. It was surely the only reason the physio would turn round to him and say "You're coming off". So I was just assuming that this was the case. To then see the physios actually change their mind due to Lloris' insistence was amazing. Surely it is absolutely standard parctice that any loss of consciousness means getting sunned, doesn't it? And the same happened to Townsend the other day?! Allowed to play on despite having been knocked out? WTF?! As RWAEB has pointed out (about twenty times) - this sort of thing is taken very seriously in American sports now. It is hugely dangerous and can have really long-term, delayed effects. Seriously the whole physio/medical/management team should think themselves hugely lucky that nothing further happened to Lloris because if it had it would have amounted to the kind of scandal that brings about major change in the game. And I would hate to be any of those people when my decision leads to serious injury of someone utterly unnecessarily.
must admit i'm not impressed with Soldado,you can argue that he gets no sevice but when he has the ball he does nothing,on MOTD2 last night,they showed him not getting into the 6 yard box,when a cross does come in,time to give Defoe a run
What comments are you referring to? I posted that article as its a similar view to one I share, before this bloody database error and phamtom posts, I was making the point after the game that we don't have enougjh quality natural passers of the ball, something I've been hoping to see change for a while now. Players like Holtby are called ****, and yes hes a let down, but there is not enough support or movement around him, so the players aren't interacting properly in the final 3rd. The goons have carzola, ozil, ramsey, arteta and even wilsthire, so when on paper their system looks narrow, they still move and pass in neat quick movements and open up space. When we play narrow, we find the ball in congested areas and have a lack of movement to pass the ball and the neat triangles, which are a vital part of systems don't really happen for us enough, When they do, like agaisnt Norwich was it? when siggy eriksen and soldado linked up, it helps cut open a defence and create a great chance to score. Avb has to drop one of townsend and lennon and revert to a system similar to the dortmund one if he wants to play a high pressing game, tika taka has never been a realistic opton, he slowed down our passing last year and it caused issues as we know and if it wasn't for Bale, then we would have failed to get near 4th.
Such a basic training method, getting the players used to getting a pass away to a team-mate when under pressure. The true demonstration of this was in the CL final when Man Utd were harrassing the Barca back four terribly. And yet those back four were still able to get passes away to a team-mate even when it looked like they were a moment from being flattened.
Boss???....and I thought you had a degree of intelligence! ...open your link, and just keep scrolling down, past all the diagrams and blah, the very bottom of most internet links have posts from the public or members if the link is from such a source, in this case other Spurs supporters. There's a few anti Lennon and Townsend fans in there whose views wouldn't be too welcome here thats for sure, but there's some sensible comments too. Btw, I agree with the rest of the post aswell.
Haha.. Funny notso! I saw the comments, I meant which ones in particular but now you cleared that up I can rest easy buddy... LOL The comment sections on guardian and telegraph are like the old 606.... Amusing to read. It be where Holte hangs out!
Did you get to skim through all 167? I went to it earlier and they were all there, went into it again after I read yor reply and couldn't get past the first few, I had to sod around to open them up, the first few are lame anyway. Did you get as far this lot.... "People were right when they said Townsend was the new Walcott, all pace, direct running yet absolutely clueless decision making" " Yes, our position in the table is flattering to deceive at the moment. Hopefully Eriksen and Lamela get some more game time, but then who do you drop? Townsend needs to stop shooting at 25 yards out all the time, in some sort attempt to get goal of the month" "Townsend has an alarming propensity towards shooting from any and all angles, that loss of possession has to stop." "Townsend is not as good as Walcott. He is much closer to Jermain Pennant . Crazy that he is kept Lamela [ genuine class] from starting a single PL game. 10 games in and he has the worst goals per shot record in European football. His only goal was not even a shot, it was a cross that went in. No other top side would tolerate so little return from a front man. That, plus no goals Lennon and serviceless Soldado, what a goal threat we are." "Townsends first thought when he cuts inside should be "where's Bobby", but by and large he doesn't even look up, its head down, get half a yard, don't look, smash it hard as goalwards and hope no legs are in the way, waste of possession" Harsh, but there's some truth underneath the harshness.
