"When you start talking about 'working on his decision making' I worry. I don't think it's possible to really alter this process in a footballer when by the very nature of the game these decisions need to be instinctive." Townsend last season played a U21 match against Citeh. Ostensibly a selection game for the Tbilisi Europa game (as AVB was watching) . Rather than doing a "big kids against small" , show-boating etc, he played a selfless and disciplined game for the team. A performance he then replicated in the actual Europa game. So IMHO is there is no fundamental flaw in the way he can choose to play, bar an inflation of ego due to a couple of England games.
Ha ! Sorry Roo/roo No idea mate. Was on my ipad (still am), and thought i'd copy pasted my comment once. Obviously not ! I will try harder next time
Andros Townsend is 23, played 121 league games and for a player that is meant to offer end product he has never scored more then 2 goals for any club on loan.. 30 league games, 1 goal (for us). He is also one player that attempts the most dribbles in a game or shot attempts. For a player that is constantly trying to dribble & shoot, his end product is possibly one of the worst for any player to play premier league football based on the attempts he makes. Maybe one season he will have a period where everything goes right, Zamora managed it with Fulham when he had a season where everything clicked so its possible, but he will never be a player that consistently performs to a level that warrants being mentioned as an improvement on Lennon.
Didn't Townsend actually break the Premier League record for most successful dribbling attempts in one game during his time at QPR? Can't remember the game, but they were down to ten men and I think that they got something out of it.
I'm sure he also broke the record for most long range shot attempts in a game without hitting the target. Towsends game is all about pace, dribbling and long range shots. Thats his mindset and thats how he grew up as a footballer and there have been many old fashioned wingers like him but compare him to someone like Anderton, shaggy was a proper winger with end product who had vision adapted his game.
When he was on loan at QPR he had a stat where he had more dribbles than any other Prem player over the whole season. He played 12 games
No mention of distance covered but there are there definitions http://www.optasports.com/news-area/blog-optas-event-definitions.aspx
The game that I was talking about was QPR 1-1 Wigan, when Wigan scored an equaliser with virtually the last kick of the game from a really stupid free-kick. Shaun Maloney got the goal, but the man that fouled him has been punished severely. He was forced to go and play for Sevilla, scoring the winning penalty in last season's Europa League final. He also got selected in UEFA's 18 man squad of the tournament. Isn't karma great? Townsend completed 14 successful dribbles during that game, which is the most since Opta started keeping track. I wonder how many he must've attempted?
"No mention of distance covered but there are there definitions" An attempt to pass an opponent while still in control of the ball. For the stats to be meaningful, you need attempted/successful dribble counts, and distance covered per dribble. I doubt they compare to the level of say Bale and Lennon (players skinned, distance covered etc) .
It would be great if Opta started doing stats on skinnings, 'megs and tekkers. Extra kudos for completely pointless ones, eg Taarabt vs Derby
I hear we've been linked to 20-year old Colorado Rapids midfielder Dillon Serna, who is making headlined for this goal and subsequent celebration: http://www.mlssoccer.com/video/2014...istance#ooid=dja2Jwbzq73m5S18AFByO76NVL8W-r8n ...actually, we aren't, and I completely made that up - I want to see how long it takes before the Fail report it!
