For me our best mid is Paulo Cap and Dembe Sandro may come back eventually to change that, but it's looking a while at best. I had a hunch Paulo would outshine Sandro and Dembe this season, and I'm thinking now my hunch will be proved correct. To me Paulo looked better from what I saw before he joined us than Sandro did. A more complete player, and I think it's looking like that will be be the case I do admire Sandro's devotion to the cause, though it amuses me that the true Mr Tottenham, Dawson, is continually left out of 'first XIs' and doesn't get anywhere near the praise that Sandro does. Still I expect once more Daws to lead us out today, despite being written off by so many on other forums, thankfully it's good on here re that and Daws is treated far more respectfully by and large. Sandro and Kab were both in pretty much every 'first XI' over the summer, neither have started a lge game yet, and I expect that to continue today. Daws, no-one's pick except me, AFAIK, will be captain for both games. I'm loving it re Daws, though naturally hope Sandro and Kab get back to full fitness soon. But Daws is Spurs for me, not Sandro.
I hate that Holtby is left out of everyone's 11's when I think he, if given game time, could be one of our best players but I don't KEEP going on about it. Change the record. The midfield I'd likek to see us try is a triangle of Paulinho Sandro --------Holtby -------Soldado
we need to forget sandro for now, as he's not quite ready. But at some point soon I'd like to see: Capoue Paulinho Holtby Soldado Perhaps Holtby might be able to manage 20 mins today? What ever happens, we must try someone else behind soldado. Has Dembele been given enough of a chance? He used to lay further up for Fulham. Sorry to go on about it, but I can't watch Sig receive balls to feet under pressure and watch him give it away or make sloppy passes today. Swansea are a decent side and we need to be at our best. Silly mistakes like this aren't any real cause for concern against the likes of Dinamo tisibisibisibisli, but we can't be doing it agains the Swans. More importantly, I want to see soldado get some decent service from central positions. I haven't seen anyone play him a through ball for him to run onto yet, or a lofted ball over the top. We'll get sussed out if it's just wingers cutting in and making crosses constantly.
You be wasting your time as he jumps from thread to thread repeating the same opinion until someone replies and agrees but Dawson is a popular figure, not just here but in general so it's a daft thing to even get worked up about as we all know Dawson is 1st choice. As for Sandro, he will be 1st choice when fit as long as he regains his form so it's easy to say current players who are fit, will keep their place but I find it naive of some folk to be claiming certain players will keep Sandro out, especially as they have only performed against crap opposition or have hardly played. Plus last year Dembele was the great hope, now he's Mr inconsistent, opinions on players change very quickly but Sandro is certainly one of the 1st names on the team sheet when fit, as is Dawson and we don't need to act like one is more important then the other.
Why not start little tommy behind bobby today? If it doesn't work we have options to change it (eg sig and dembele) and I'm sure it would be a big shot of confidence for the lad and it would be good to see him in the prem with a decent team around him
He's not ready, all young players are deemed not ready until they are given a chance, when the manager says you're ready then they are ready LOL Carroll ironically should be at Swansea as they would appreciate a player of his ability to pass the ball.
Tommy behind Bobby is a terrible idea imo. He played there against tsbilisi and looked lost. He is no VDV. Modric comparisons I can see, but modric played deeper. What surprises me is no one has mentioned playing Lennon behind Bobby. Does no one remember how good he was when Jol played him their vs Chelsea!
that's actually a really good shout Spurm. Swansea are a footballing side, so it'll benefit Carroll, and he could actually win us some free kicks in dangerous positions. - (god knows who'll take them though?!) - That's another conversation! when bale leaves, once again, we struggle for a freekick taker
Do we need someone behind Soldado Why not play 4-3-3 as apparently AVB likes this though he doesn't seem to play it that much Cap Dembele Paulo Townsend/Lennon Soldado Chadli/Townsend With the wingers swapping sides as and when
different scenario though SG. the game was over, the team had no urgency about them and it was simply just a run about for kane and Carroll. Lennon is a good shout. he does have the ability to play angled passes into space. Wasn't it him who played that through ball to Bale when we beat Arsenal 2-1 last season?
In all seriousness our team vs Swansea should be: Lloris Walker---Daws--Kab--Rose ----------Capoue--Dembele Lennon------Paul----Chadli ------------Bobby------ With Andros and Defoe as subs. Then one other depending on situation...maybe tom, or verts if kaboul is flagging.
the team pretty much picks itself, I mean we all know what the startling line up will be, and Swansea will be the better passing side yet we have the pace power and experience up top in Soldado so that's why we should knick it.
The way I see it, and I'm not a tactics guru: Because we play a high pressing game it compresses our team into a smaller portion of the pitch. To me that negates, slightly, the impact wingers can have on the game as there is less space. To counteract that loss in creativity from wide we need someone to do stuff centrally I don't think it's little tommy's best position but dembele looks lost there and I've said enough about sig. Chad plays there for Belgium, we could try that and sig left as long as sig stays out there, he managed it last year so don't see why he can't.
The issue i currently have with the 4-3-3 and our personnel, is that there's this lack of understanding between the mid3 and the front3. because we don't have a "playmaker", we're using the wings as our threat. This won't work all the time if teams set themselves up to deal with this. Laudrup is a decent coach and hell have spotted that the wings are where our danger lies. I'd rather we were playing 4-2-3-1 at the moment.
Gylfi to Bale Parker to Lennon This was during Gylfi's purple patch, when he scored a few and set up a few.
His purple patch was when he was wide with bale central. It worked because bale would sometimes go left and sig could drift in. Tbilisi was a mess (behind bobby) coz dembele was too deep and it sucked sig in semi-permanently. I like sig left, he's got a decent cross and can come in and hit them with his right too.
