I see us playing : Lamela-Eriksen-Holtby as first choice, and think that Tom would have had a shout in the event of an injury to eriksen or holtby. i'm dissapointed then if he is going out on loan, and if he is it better be somewhere where he's going to play. i don't know what the **** benny's blabbering on about.
I don't think we'll be seeing Holtby on the left or right Rob, IMO he'll play primarily centrally or not at all. Him and Eriksen may swap around a bit during the match I guess in your 3 but my guess is that we'll see someone with pace like Townsend out wide.
Agreed. I think we'll see Townsend eriksen lamela Soldado Or Lamela eriksen chadli Soldado Either way, we'll have players who can get down the wing if needs be. Holtby doesn't have the pace and will end up being like sigurdsson. He needs to be central, for the team to be balanced.
I still remember the superb Ajax team of the early 70's. the team of Cruyff, Neeskens, Krol, Haan, etc. they dominated European club football in that time winning the European Cup in '71, '72, and '73. Their players were the nucleus of The Dutch national side that swept all before them before somehow - and I still can't work this out, losing the 1974 WC Final to W. Germany. They played football that nobody had ever seen or even dreamt of before. The idea was that each of the 10 outfield players was interchangeable, that as soon as one player left a position to fill another, someone took his place. There were effectively no strikers, midfield, defence, each player was expected to slot in where he was needed and play in that position. So yes, Ajax has long been considered an elite football academy. I would think that it would be very difficult to play there for a year and not come away a better player. Young Carroll should relish and grab this opportunity with both hands. Those who think that Ajax are a spent force nowadays, may I remind to you how they dismantled the rather expensively put together Man City very recently. A team that cost next to nothing made Man City look rather clumsy and toothless.
although it may sound like i'm changing my tune, i was actually envisaging some flexibility between eriksen and holtby's position. i didnt explain that because it wasnt necessary in order to make my point about carroll. i may of course be wrong, and he might go for pace out wide on the left, but holtby, eriksen and lamela would be the 3 i would be looking at, whether that's tomorrow or longer term
I remember the Ajax team of the early '70,s The team of Cruyff, Neeskens, Haan, Krol, Johnny Rep, etc. this team dominated European club football in that time. They won the European Cup in 70, '71, and '73. They played a style of football that nobody had ever seen before - nobody had ever dreamt of, even. The up idea was that all 10 outfield players were interchangeable. As soon a one player left his position, it was filled by a teammate. As such, it was supposed that there would be no strikers, midfield, or defence, each player slotted in where he was required. The nucleus of the Ajax team formed the nucleus of the Dutch National side that swept all before them before somehow - and I still cannot workout how - losing 2-1 to W. Germany in the 1974 WC final. They have been, and still are regarded as one of the top football academies anywhere. Young Carroll should learn a lot there. It would be difficult to spend a year there and not come away a better player. For those who think that Ajax are a spent force nowadays, I would remind you of the way they dismantled and humiliated a very expensively put together Man City side in last seasons C.L. With a team that cost next to nothing.
Seems we're tapping up some American with the help of one of our supporters: http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/31/floyd...m-by-british-boxer-ashley-theophane-3944359/? "Tottenham winning the north London derby would give me a boost and I have been trying to get Floyd (Mayweather Jr) to cheer in Spurs this season. It makes sense because we are all going to be winners this year."
I personally don't rate Holtby that highly (yet) to be starting League games, he didn't impress me last season and with the players we've brought in, plus the early form of Townsend and Chadli, I don't see where I'd fit him in just yet until others lose form. He seems to be a sort of cult hero at the moment, his passion and professionalism is fantastic but unfortunately he's not done enough on the pitch for me to suggest he's a better option than others. Hopefully he'll be able to prove me wrong when he gets chances but I'd be very surprised if AVB chose him over others when it comes to league matches. I'd go with: Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli ...........Soldado........... As the front 4. Creativity and skill in abundance, Lamela also has a great burst of speed while Eriksen and Chadli aren't slouches either.
Seriously, this needs to be the chant for Eriksen... [video=youtube_share;ApxnAr6pRt0]http://youtu.be/ApxnAr6pRt0[/video]
Good luck to Tom My front 6 ATM would be Soldo Andro Capo Paulo for deffo and 2 from Lamela Eriksen Chadli Holtby Sandro Lennon and anyone else I've missed Long season, much rotation of course, but I've been massively impressed by the 'first four' and I also rate Holtby from what I saw of him on Thursday
I've said it before and I might be way off, but I don't see Lennon or gylfi being with us on Tuesday.
Agreed. Massive shame about Lennon, on his day he really is unplayable and his work rate last season having to cover Walker defensively so many times was brilliant. It's just unfortunately, with the formation AVB is now deploying, the wingers are now technically wing forwards and when it comes to the right hand side, Townsend and Lamela fit the wing forward role better than Azza. I'd want Lennon to stay, I think he can still get plenty of games both in the league and cups however, with this being a world cup year, this may be his last opportunity to play in another world cup. In 4 years time, he'll be 30! (unbelievable how time flies, I remember him being the young teenage whiz kid!) and by then, the likes of Townsend, Zaha, Redmond, Oxocube will all be in better shape, more established and well above him in the pecking order. So I wouldn't begrudge Azza if he felt he needed to leave to improve his England chances.
