- Aug 20, 2013
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Quite surprised by this. His abiltiy to thread a ball and create chance has always been better than Winks for comparison. Unless you're thinking of passing in terms of spraying the ball about then I would agree he's not that great at that but he's average. He also has shown more than enough flair for a CM, I've seen skills from him, again for comparison as that is the the point @kremlyn, more than I've ever seen WInks. People are rewriting thinks in their mind due to what they're seeing now. There isn't one youth watcher I've ever spoken to that would have said that Winks is technically better than Onomah or a better player in general pre 20. This is coming from a guy that has been advocating that Winks should have been in the first team squad when he was 19 as he was clearly talented. I don't remember people claiming Winks was a better technician when Onomah was playing against Monaco as a skinny 18 year old. Winks' game hasn't actually changed both technically and in style. So I don't know why people are changing their tune on a very fair point. It's also why I'm surprised when people say that Winks needs to start creating more chances or believe he has the ability to. He never really did that for the academy, so expecting him to do something in the PL that he wasn't doing against u18s is a bit of a stretch, though it would be great to see, and I'm sure coaching can help with that.
While I made the same judgement did when kremlyn made his point, his explanation has been fair. Onomah has always been better at carrying the ball, especially with his head up, taking the ball on the half term into space and quick, slick one touch passing around the box, and ability to thread a pass. For balance, the more technical side of the game I feel Winks was stronger, was turning out of trouble due to his lower centre of gravity however both of their long passing is quite standard though Winks has improved recently and he holds onto the ball less and looks to keep it moving, however he is more than good enough to a carry it. There is a reason why Onomah has been a consistent member of England's most successful age group ever, while Winks rarely featured for his. However, Winks has always excelled more than Onomah, in his workrate, tenacity, consistency and reliability that's no bad thing at all and are all excellent qualities and are essentially the reason Winks is playing first team and not Onomah. It's also the reason why Skipp will likely play first team, and why we struggle to bring through players no matter how talented if they don't possess those traits. Yet not every player that has ever come through for their club, possess those qualities. This is where I think the PL has a problem, and managers aren't really managing academy players. They're taking the easiest to work with, and even then, still not getting chances, so what chance does anyone else have. Rather than working with players with different mental skills and traits and trying to coach and bring them through they instead take the easy option and talent falls by the wayside. It's hardly great management if you can only bring through one type of player ever. It's not like the first team are full of players with all the similar level of the traits above, it seems it's only really the academy players. Someone like Alli was massively criticised for his lack of reliability, i.e giving the ball away and consistency but he has come on leaps and bounds in that area. He was fortunate enough though to come through a club where they couldn't afford to ignore his talent and accepted the rough with the smooth. 'Fortunately' as a well-off club we don't have to do that and can buy those ready made, but it just means not a lot of coaching or development is done and talent is lost. Again that's a PL thing.
Re: Onomah he has maybe had his confidence and ability stifled due to a lack of progression, but he hasn't completely lost it as demonstrated when he plays for England with other talented players, but due to the qualities he lacks, he struggles in the Championship and will be made the scapegoat too. This isn't a surprise to those who said for ages they do not believe Onomah would work well on a loan, but ended up accepting it as he needed some football at some point in his life, however noone had a problem with Winks going on a potential loan as his style would fit anywhere. Hard worker, safe and reliable . Onomah won't come through here, but he definitely would be looking a lot better at another club. Again to return to the point above, while Edwards hasn't been putting away his chances he did look really good. The fact that he wasn't playing in the Championship due to an 'attitude problem' but was then being played in Excelsior is a perfect example of how different coaches/managers interpret and manage players with different behaviours, or don't have the option to not go with someone so give them a chance. Onomah would definitely be at a completely different stage in his career if he was in a different country.
I dont think people are rewriting their minds as you put it. Winks has progressed and demonstrated his ability. Onomah hasn't. Who they were 3 years ago matters only to youth football. In man's football winks is by far ahead in demonstrating what he can do.
We can talk about winks not featuring for his age group with onomah appearing at every age. But Winks is a full international having marked his debut with a mom award.
I really hope Josh gets it together, but he's always been timid in his appearances with us and shown little of his qualities. I've only caught the skills shows in clips that have made it on to here of his loan spells, but in a spurs shirt there is little impact at being a player who is gunuinely competing for a first team place as winks has done.