Could Lewis Holtby be the answer?

[WiganSpur]

It's been clear throughout this past season that we have lacked creativity and passing ability in midfield and many seem to think that we need a major signing in that area. But are we overlooking the young bloke we signed in January for peanuts? Admittedly he hasn't set the world on fire since his arrival but he's certainly shown glimpses (Norwich away, his pass to Defoe against City etc.) and it wouldn't be wrong to say he hasn't been a consistent regular in his favoured position(s) CM or CAM. Personally, if we aren't able to sign someone of the calibre of Joao Moutinho for example then this guy deserves a chance, a proper chance. I'm a fan of AVB's rotation policy dependent on form and performances but maybe an exception needs to be made for Lewis IMO. Given a regular full 90 mins in the 4-3-3 over a sustained period of time I believe he could really blossom for us.

Sandro (Parker)​

Dembele (New CM) Holtby (Carroll)​

​

That midfield 3 has the balance for me. Sandro holds and does the job as the anchorman, Dembele is box to box and Holtby is the passer that links the midfield to the final third. Is this the way to go next season? or do you believe we are desperate for a signing in there? My belief is that strengthening our attack is much more of a priority. Unless we are able to pull off Moutinho I believe we should sign another box to box player to rotate/cover for Mousa, someone like McCarthy or Anderson for example. Holtby and Carroll can be good enough as the passers for me.​

​

It'd be interesting to know what you guys think.​

 

[faze_coys]

Sandro​

Dembele - Holtby/Carroll​

Think/hope we will see alot of that pre-season.

 

[Brewster]

Holtby will definitely play a bigger part next season with a full holiday and pre-season under his belt. Maybe he will be the hero next year

 

[tommyt]

Sandro​

Dembele - Holby/Carroll​

Think/hope we will see alot of that pre-season.

So much more succinct than Wiganspur

 

[danielneeds]

Let's hope 6 months acclimatising will do him good next season. He's had a mixed bag of it so far, there's no doubting his hunger and desire, and his passing is crisp.

He wants to play in CM but many observers in Germany said his best performances came in the the 3 of a 4231, so I guess AVB needs to work out what his best role is.

Same could be said of Siggy, although Bale's free role is the one he craves. So it's always going to be tricky that one.

 

[mil1lion]

I think it was great to get him in January so he can settle and learn the English game ahead of next season. AVB has managed him well I think.

He has a lot of potential but it' s difficult to see how he will fit in if Bale continues to play central. I'm sure we'll see plenty of him but I think we'll see him rotate with Dembele as the box to box midfielder.

I would expect us to build the team around Bale and that would mean getting a new left winger.

 

[RichSpur58]

Not good enough for to be a first teamer for me. Too fragile to be defensive mid, too slow to be attacking mid. Not a winger, and doesnt have an eye for goal to be further forward.

Subs bench.

 

[jonnyp]

Not good enough for to be a first teamer for me. Too fragile to be defensive mid, too slow to be attacking mid. Not a winger, and doesnt have an eye for goal to be further forward.

Subs bench.

My problem with him is that he seems so slow. I'm not going to write him off yet, but I've not been terribly impressed so far except for his passion and determination. Nothing he's shown so far tells me he's the answer to our lack of creativity in midfield.

 

[IGSpur]

Sandro​

Dembele - Holby/Carroll​

Think/hope we will see alot of that pre-season.

Tbh I would like or hope we do something like this

------------Sandro/Dembele---------Holtby/Carroll----------
-----------------------------Bale/Sig/Holtby--------------------

Sell Parker and get rid of wages. Some games where we play weaker side Dembele would suffice as a strong enough box to box player. Carroll could sit and pass/Holtby same but also enough strengh and energy to tackle too. If we need a backup DM we have Livermore or could always try Luongo

 

[Flightrisker]

Sandro​

Dembele - Holby/Carroll​

Think/hope we will see alot of that pre-season.

I prefer Holtby.

 

[moomin]

I was actually just about to write a large post about how i think we're going to be switching to a 4-3-3 this summer and how i think holtby is going to be a big part of that, but you beat me to it! I agree 100%. I think it was AVB's plan all along to wait until this summer to switch the team to a 4-3-3. He wanted to do it before last season, but we didn't purchase the players he wanted to be able to make the switch (moutinho, willian, andersen, etc.). It's no secret he favors the formation, he used it at porto, tried to force it at chelsea, etc. Thankfully for us, he learned his lesson at chelsea in that forcing a formation that doesn't suit the players doesn't work. Installing a 4-3-3 here at the beginning of this past season with the players we brought in/lack of purchases would've been a disaster. Levy brought in CAM players that suited a 4-2-3-1, Lloris wasn't introduced to the squad yet, our left back was out injured, and our center-backs were not suited to a high line. Pair this with the fact we didn't have a playmaking CM to replace modric, and its obvious the 4-3-3 wouldn't have worked.

Now that he was successful in managing our team this season, i think he will be given more freedom with the squad to select the players he wants to be purchased. I suspect he will want to bring in a new center back to pair with Vertonghen (dawson isn't suited for high line, and kaboul has dodgy knees), another CM with creative traits, a winger, and potentially a new left back (rose might be perfect for what we need). All those are positions that need replacing, and once we purchase the appropriate players AVB wants, we can and will switch to a 4-3-3.

Now back to holtby... lets not forget it was planned all along for him to come in the summer. It was only the fact that schalke gave us an extremely good deal to get him early that he was brought in in January at all. We clearly didn't need another CAM to go with Siggy, Dempsey, and Bale, so it's logical to assume he was brought in for another reason: to be our "playmaking" CM in a midfield trio. This makes sense with my theory that AVB wanted to wait until summer to switch for a 4-3-3. We can essentially forget all about this last season for Holtby. He wasn't played in the position he was brought in to play, because that position simply didn't exist yet in the formation we were using. The Holtby we see next season will be completely different.

I could write about the 4-3-3/how our players suit the formation for days...... I'll be dreaming about it all summer. The future is bright and lilywhite

 

[guy]

Holtby showed in a few of his sub appearances that he has the ability to play the clever passes that we have missed so so badly this year.

Why we didnt see it more often Im not sure, was it due to him settling into the pace of the EPL? Or was it due to a lack of real quality in holtby himself?

I would definitely be willing to give him a run of games next season in the middle though as he is different to our other MFs (and the closest think we have to a modric-esque range of passing)

 

[Mouse!]

Holtby shouldn't be judged too harshly on his first four months in a new League, team and under a new manager. I think we can expect to see him looking a lot more comfortable in his role next season, when he's had a pre-season with this team and he is no longer the new kid trying too desperately to impress.

 

[JerryGarcia]

I was actually just about to write a large post about how i think we're going to be switching to a 4-3-3 this summer and how i think holtby is going to be a big part of that, but you beat me to it! I agree 100%. I think it was AVB's plan all along to wait until this summer to switch the team to a 4-3-3. He wanted to do it before last season, but we didn't purchase the players he wanted to be able to make the switch (moutinho, willian, andersen, etc.). It's no secret he favors the formation, he used it at porto, tried to force it at chelsea, etc. Thankfully for us, he learned his lesson at chelsea in that forcing a formation that doesn't suit the players doesn't work. Installing a 4-3-3 here at the beginning of this past season with the players we brought in/lack of purchases would've been a disaster. Levy brought in CAM players that suited a 4-2-3-1, Lloris wasn't introduced to the squad yet, our left back was out injured, and our center-backs were not suited to a high line. Pair this with the fact we didn't have a playmaking CM to replace modric, and its obvious the 4-3-3 wouldn't have worked.

Now that he was successful in managing our team this season, i think he will be given more freedom with the squad to select the players he wants to be purchased. I suspect he will want to bring in a new center back to pair with Vertonghen (dawson isn't suited for high line, and kaboul has dodgy knees), another CM with creative traits, a winger, and potentially a new left back (rose might be perfect for what we need). All those are positions that need replacing, and once we purchase the appropriate players AVB wants, we can and will switch to a 4-3-3.

Now back to holtby... lets not forget it was planned all along for him to come in the summer. It was only the fact that schalke gave us an extremely good deal to get him early that he was brought in in January at all. We clearly didn't need another CAM to go with Siggy, Dempsey, and Bale, so it's logical to assume he was brought in for another reason: to be our "playmaking" CM in a midfield trio. This makes sense with my theory that AVB wanted to wait until summer to switch for a 4-3-3. We can essentially forget all about this last season for Holtby. He wasn't played in the position he was brought in to play, because that position simply didn't exist yet in the formation we were using. The Holtby we see next season will be completely different.

I could write about the 4-3-3/how our players suit the formation for days...... I'll be dreaming about it all summer. The future is bright and lilywhite

It will be interesting to see which formation we play on the upcoming trip to the Bahamas, if we are going to switch to a 4-3-3 then we might as well try it as soon as possible. I'd imagine the players would already know about any plans to change formation and might have talked about it at training. I'd like to see it but would that mean Bale plays on the right?

I definately want to see Holtby get a good run of games and some responsibilty, I think he'll step up.

 

[moomin]

It will be interesting to see which formation we play on the upcoming trip to the Bahamas, if we are going to switch to a 4-3-3 then we might as well try it as soon as possible. I'd imagine the players would already know about any plans to change formation and might have talked about it at training. I'd like to see it but would that mean Bale plays on the right?

I definately want to see Holtby get a good run of games and some responsibilty, I think he'll step up.

I definitely think so. The last couple games of the season Bale either started on the right or rotated to the right at some point during the game. His goal in the sunderland game was a result of him cutting inside from the right wing. His experience playing in the middle as a CAM for a large part of this season will have been a valuable experience for him when it comes to cutting into the middle, which will be easy for him to do coming off the right with his favored left foot. He'll be more of a threat on goal coming from the right side.

 

[Danners9]

As he was originally meant to join in the summer, any appearances last season are a bonus and part of the adaptation process. Players learn a lot by watching their team play but he was coming into a new league, new team, new players, new tactics.. he looked alright in some of the games and quiet in others. His energy and smart use of the ball was good and he'll get better with more time.

Should only be judged on next season when he is integrated into the team properly and not restricted to sub appearances.

 

[SpursSince1980]

Good post. Funnily enough watching him this season I felt that he could eventually succeed Parker. He has a good engine, and is a solid tackler. He's clearly an enthusiastic galvanizer too. Yeah, I can see the playmaker potential too... but something about him smacks of a DM. I'd consider having him work close with Scotty to see what he might develop into. Less we forget, Parker was once considered as a playmaker, AM like Holtby. He changed his game at Newcastle to become the DM lynchpin from the last five years.

 

[Monkey boy]

If he is the answer given what he's done so far then fuck knows what the question is?

 

[worcestersauce]

He showed a good eye for the killer pass this season but I don't recall one occasion when it ever came off, they seem to have been blocked, cut out, intercepted every single time which makes it seem that he's too slow with the pass or too slow making the pass. I hope that's wrong.

 

[dondo]

What we lacked last season was a deep lying playmaker in the modric/carrick/ cabaye mold.
With a midfield of sandro dembele and holtby,we will be the same as last year with no playmaker to set the tempo.

I think holtby will be a good player for us but imo he is a box to box player and not playmaker