What??? so you disagree with every single pundit and fan that drooled over Eriksens free kick that went begging at the weekend, that was a brilliant pass that no-one attacked. Wingers put brilliant crosses into dangerous areas, its as much as any winger can do. If you think every cross is aimed precisely at someones forehead or foot you must be joking. It can still be a brilliant pass to someone who runs offside, its not the passers fault. I'm not going to slate what you've put, but you may want a little re-think, as its rather odd
It's lovely to watch but won't get us higher up the league because modern day sports success needs the science more than the flair.
Well actually most of the time if the recipient is offside it is the passers fault for delaying too long (passes to Defoe may be an exception!). To make a cross work there has to be a reasonable chance of an attacking getting to it before a defender. While I agree that Defoe should have been attacking the six yard box on the Townsend cross, he wasn't and Townsend could have seen that he wasn't if he had looked up. You surely are not saying that our players should pass to where team-mates should ideally be, rather than where they are. The Eriksen free kick was different because it was very close to being spot on. Defoe was yards away from Townsend's cross. And actually I think the pundits get this sort of think wrong a lot. I remember Kenneth Wolstenholme saying in a commentary years ago - "That pass was so good, it beat the man it was intended for"!!!
I would certainly distinguish between passes into space which someone is running into and those into a space where no-one can get to. My whole commentary on this is associated with AVB's 'style of play'. Essentially losing the ball is such a big crime that we should expect fewer attempts at the really threatening pass/cross but a much higher success rate from the ones that happen. But it will be some time before the players gel together and start to get this right. In the meantime I am going to err on the side of blaming the passer for losing the ball rather than the receiver for not reading the passer's mind.
Don't know why your backpedalling now, but had you known what I was talking about re Townsend and his 6yd line cross, you wouldn't have put the tripe that you have, he did look up and see Defoe. JD was slow to react and missed his slide by a couple of feet. On the strength of your feeble answer about that, I'm not interested in the rest. Ironically you and Ken Wolstenholme have a lot in common!
I may have been thinking of a different cross as I missed some of the match. It remains the case that the cross would have been brilliant if put in a place where Defoe actually got on the end of it - as it didn't it was best a good try.
Townsend only put 2 in with his right foot, so not too much to get confused with, if you don't recall either you should have said, but I'm leaving this one here.
After the Arsenal game Townsend was getting a fair amount of stick for having crap vision and general hes been labeled as being a player that doesn't think much. Point being is hes still learning and if your a striker who is playing in a side with Townsend, who usually shoots on sight then you may not expect the pass. This doesn't mean the pass isnt brilliant or the attacker is always slow, its more to do with how players understand each others game so you can see why some blame the passer while others blame the striker.
Agreed - although I don't think we should be 'blaming' anyone. The players usually try their best and that's all we can expect.
i said this earlier about partnerships. None of our attackers have partnerships with the others yet. You need partnerships all over the pitch not just a strike partnership (eg, BAE+Bale and Corluka+Lennon were great partnerships for us. Hudd and Modders worked well too imo. Sandro and Dembele early last season too)
Sorry pal,missed that post but definitely agree about the partnerships and understanding between players. Soldado and Eriksen link up well, yet unfortunately for Bobby hes usually the one reading the pass that isn't a goal scoring opportunity, yet the pass that brings in another team mate, hence his lack of opportunities.
I think that the two partnerships that have clicked in attack for us this season have been Defoe & Holtby, where they've really started to read each other's game, and Walker & Townsend. They're not perfect, by any means, but the potential is definitely there.
I see from today's Daily Fail ( Yes, I know) that we are supposedly interested in Pirlo. I, for one, hope that this one has some legs. Even at his age - 34 - he's just pure class.
" Andrea Pirlo played a starring role against his former club AC Milan to keep Italian champion Juventus in touch with the Serie A leaders Sunday. The veteran midfielder scored a free-kick and hit the bar with another, allowing Giorgio Chiellini to volley what would be the decisive goal for a 3-1 lead" He still controls top games but I haven't followed him weekly to know if this performance is isolated or not. reports suggest not isolated, being pivotal in Juves resurgance, Milan regret letting him go. My reservation is he likes time, which he gets in Italy, he won't get it in the PL, he may not handle the close attention other PL managers would give him. I think he prefers a slow methodical approach in starting moves, he doesn't exactly break out at speed and we need to move the ball much more quickly if this bloody system of avb's is going to work. I couldn't bear the thought of Dembele and Pirlo, but he's still in the top5 set piece merchants imo. and worth many goals a season just doing that, but we have Eriksen. I think he'll just stay in Turin.
I think he'd find he would get time actually, most clubs are content to sit back against us and if they set someone on him it would free up Eriksen/Holtby. It's the one area we don't need anymore players at the moment but we'll see how we are at the end of the season, I suppose.
I still can't stop thinking about Sunday's mare... As for Pirlo, even at 34/35, still easily one of the best CM's in the world. Can't see him leaving Juve though, reckon he'll get a new deal.
If we can get him cheap enough, he'd certainly be useful. We've got two good #10s, but no proper deep-lying playmakers. I regretted losing Huddlestone for his ability to start the break with a long ball, and Pirlo would be a Huddlestone +++ (except for the hair). Having a great old vet around for all our young players to learn from seems like a good idea as well. I also realize the Pirlo idea is a great way of letting me think about my fantasy/Spurs team instead of the one that trotted onto the field Sunday... Seriously, all the talent we have now SHOULD be good enough to meet our goals this year. Not to say it will.
If thats the case then, and we've got room for a passer who's not so good defensively....we've just sold one to Hull!
