Extreme pace is required up front but who???

[BerbatovandKeane]

Adriano. Pace, power, skill, aerial ability, hungry for a WC place and free - what more could we want. He and Keane would fire us to the CL.

 

[Michey]

Pace isn't everything. I wouldn't have called Keane and Berbatov the quickest combo but they seemed to do alright.......

Nice too see someone that knows what they're talking about.

People talk about pace, pace and pace.....it won't take us anywhere if we haven't got brains on the pitch!

 

[indy]

Pace you say...
Hmmm how about that guy from Sunderland?? He's quite quick and scored a few goals this season... what was his name again??

 

[Green Valley]

Spoiler

We're talking 4th striker here... Adriano was a great player but has an un-professional attitude.

 

[BerbatovandKeane]

Spoiler

We're talking 4th striker here... Adriano was a great player but has an un-professional attitude.

Surely better to buy a 1st striker. Crouch is 4th striker level.

I think Adriano could be our Cantona.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Usain Bolt is the only man that can save our season

 

[TwoSaintsComeMarching]

Usain Bolt is the only man that can save our season

i lol'd

 

[bubble07]

usain bolt will do nicely

 

[theShiznit]

pace up front is only a real asset against teams that play a high line, and practically no one does that when they come to the lane. I lost count of the amount of times Darren Bent used his blistering pace to get in behind a defence for us Eek

It is all about movement (and ability to receive the ball when you are moving helps) Keane/Defoe and Pav all have great movement. Crouch's movement is limited due to his immobility and his main weapon is to pull off a centre halves' shoulder (ouch) but then the ball into him has to be precise and hope the defender is not quick enough to recover before he gets the shot away.
Keane whilst an intelligent mover, has to have intelligent users of the ball around him Berba/Modric. and He (Keane) is not too clever at receiving/controlling or using the ball on the move. which means quick passing moves can break down when going through Keano.
Defoe has most of the attributes needed but can still be bullied easily enough (and biting ain't gonna help) and Pav whilst also having good movement and being able to move the ball progressively is insane in the mind and Harry never bought him :roll:

I am neither a fan or a hater of Taraabt but when he has been moved into a support striker role for QPR recently, his ability to find space to receive a pass and immediately go on the attack has been very good (obviously what he does when he receives it is a bit hit or miss) but in the absence of the Mod father we need someone comfortable on the ball who can do something a bit different and create space for others.

I am not a fan of Crouch because i find his flaws outweigh his good points but i will not judge him fully until he has played 5-10 games with Modric in the team, he is essentially our Iniesta he makes us tick, his movement is so clever and creates space for all of the other midfielders (which in turn, makes them look good) and his technique is so good that no player is afraid to pass the ball to him even if he is tightly marked, and with a drop of the shoulder; boom two men taken out the game and more space to play in.

the frightening thing against the goons was the indecision, when midfielders/defenders (you know who you are) received the ball in space too long was taken to make the right pass, which then turned into the wrong pass... and rather than carrying the ball easily into space one particular player just stood still with the first thought being look long.

next game cannot come soon enough, be very intersting to see Harry's line up...

 

[SpurSince57]

Yesterday proved that the core of our team has been based solely on pace for far too long. Lennon, Luka & Defoe missing really showed us how much we rely on them to move the ball into the forward positions. Without them we fell back on the most boring type of football ever - lump it up field to the big man, hope he can knock it down for Keane to get on the end of. Never going to work against the Woolwich.

Bentley, i think it's now clear, whilst immensly talented and very ambitious with some of the stuff he does, he just hasn't clicked with any of our strikers, which is a bit odd as his tendancy to nip crosses over and try cheeky back heels should've complemented both Crouch and Robbie but neither appeared to have any idea of where he was going and, when DB found acres of space, neither Crouch nor Keane played him in.

I don't want to ruin another good player, i reckon we need him out next window. He's had plenty of time to find his feet amongst the side but hasn't.

I think that rather than rush back Luka, Lennon & Defoe, we need to look at how we play the more traditional game. We can't put all our eggs in one basket like we have. Kranjcar looks like he could be a solid left sider, we need someone with a similar attitude on the right then, if the pace isn't working, we can swap the muskets for the big guns and pound opposition down, rather than out run them. If we can't find that balance we'll always fall short of the top teams.

I'm afraid Bentley was giving the ball away on a scale not seen since Ghaly. I haven't checked the Telegraph match stats, but I'd be surprised if many more than half his passes ended up where he intended them to go.

Pace is handy, but it's not the be-all and end-all. As someone pointed out, Berbatov and Keane weren't exactly the quickest combo, still less Keane and Mido (although Keane was certainly pretty nippy in a short burst back then), and Kanoute was no speed merchant. Nor, even more so, was Teddy. On the flip side, like the Shiznit says, Bent couldn't use his pace at the Lane because most teams park the bus and there was no space for him to run into—Anelka, who's a lot classier than Benty, to put it mildly, had the same problem.

Looking at yesterday's game again (yes, I'm a sucker for punishment and recorded it), whilst on average the Arsenal players are quicker than ours, they were missing their only out-and-out speedster, Wallcott, and the real difference was in the quality of the movement and the speed with which they move the ball around; it's very much Barcelona Lite. Their players very, very rarely get caught in possession—it's something we've improved at, I think, but we're still too prone to it, and it really shows up when we play the top class. How often do we see a promising sequence of passes go to waste because of a sloppy final ball?

Which makes me worry when people say, 'Oooh, we should give Taarabt a chance', because whilst dribbling and step-overs are all very well, and undoubtedly thrilling to watch, if they end up going nowhere, what's the point. This is what got on my tits about the enthusiasm for Zoko's runs; how many of them actually produced anything?

I never saw Rowe's Spurs (you'd have to be at least in your early 70s to remember them well in their pomp, and contrary to popular opinion I'm some way off that), but when people talk about the 'Spurs Way' they should recall it was that team that really kicked it off, that dribbling was discouraged, and that swift passing and intelligent movement were what counted. I'd love to think that somewhere there's some undiscovered extended footage, but I doubt it; the nearest you're likely to get to a flavour of what we were like is the DVD of Hungary's demolition of England at Wembley—or today, Barcelona and, with the saddest of ironies, Arsenal.

 

[Teemu]

Extreme pace, you say? Dennis Rommedahl anyone?

 

[SpurSince57]

'nuff said.

 

[dannythomas]

What we need is a striker with the clinical finishing skills of Lineker, the brain of Sheringham, the speed of Defoe and the flair of Klinsmann. Trouble is that Greaves is now 70.Still quicker than Crouchie though.

 

[spursman85]

Apparently we do miss Lennon a heck of a lot when he's not playing. There are even damn lies, aka stats, to back it up. This football blogger writing on Tottenham's record in the Premier League notes that we've won 46% matches since start of last season that Lennon has played in, as opposed to 31% when he hasn't.

Against the top 4, the difference is even worse, suggesting he really is pretty key. Is it all about his pace though? Thinking about it, although his final ball may have improved, it really wouldn't be too effective without his pace.

 

[WexfordTownSpur]

Not a fitness coach in the world can do anything to make Huddlestone, Bentley, Keane, or Crouch faster. You either have it or you don't, and they just don't!

Even if you don't have extreme pace but at least a burst of acceleration is required, like what Fabregas showed for his goal. There is no way Huddlestone could have done that. We need more pace throughout the team and it is an issue for us. The majority of Arsenal's players have a decent amount of pace and when you mix that with their strength and technical ability it's almost impossible to match over 90 mins. Especially with the team we had out yesterday.

We cannot be too surprised by the result, but I do feel that when we sign players in the future the scouts need to do like Wenger and look for pace or acceleration as an attribute. If not then the player needs to be extremely gifted technically, like Modric.

We do have pace, it is just bad luck they are out, or have been injured.....or maybe need a little more time. As has been said we have Lennon and Defoe who have blistering pace, more than most teams have on there side. We also have Modric, Hutton, Naughton and Bale, all very quick!

I don't think our problem is just pace, our problem is, some of our players just aren't good enough to take over from the likes of Lennon, Modric and Defoe.

I would have liked to have seen Kranjcar play on Saturday, not for his pace, but his skill!

Like I said if we want pace on Saturday, this team is quick......but it is skill, imagination and guile we need also:shrug:

-----------Gomes----------
Hutton - King - Woody-----BAE

Naughton - Palacios- Jenas - Bale

--------Defoe----Keane

 

[mkkid]

How about buying Bent back!

 

[worcestersauce]

Just flicked over to Sheffield Utd – Newcastle game and within 2 minutes Kyle Walker had played the ball beyond and outpaced two Newcastle defenders who took him down for a free kick to the right of toon’s penalty box then chased across to make the last saving tackle in his own box and the commentator described him as being absolute lighting.

Maybe he could help us?

 

[sharky_marky]

Why not think outside of the box and play Naughton when Lennon's not available? The lad is similarly super-quick and can cross from what I've seen of him; he should have been on the bench on Saturday to cover both the RB and RM slots.

 

[haxman]

Just flicked over to Sheffield Utd – Newcastle game and within 2 minutes Kyle Walker had played the ball beyond and outpaced two Newcastle defenders who took him down for a free kick to the right of toon’s penalty box then chased across to make the last saving tackle in his own box and the commentator described him as being absolute lighting.

Maybe he could help us?

And then he went off injured. He's a Spurs player alright.......

Played well before that though. Ankle ligament damage they're saying.

 

[vegassd]

I am neither a fan or a hater of Taraabt but when he has been moved into a support striker role for QPR recently, his ability to find space to receive a pass and immediately go on the attack has been very good (obviously what he does when he receives it is a bit hit or miss) but in the absence of the Mod father we need someone comfortable on the ball who can do something a bit different and create space for others.

the frightening thing against the goons was the indecision, when midfielders/defenders (you know who you are) received the ball in space too long was taken to make the right pass, which then turned into the wrong pass... and rather than carrying the ball easily into space one particular player just stood still with the first thought being look long.

Could not agree more.

I think Modric brings so much to our team that is never picked up by the printed press, Sky Sports, Match of the Day etc. it's almost criminal. He is the guy who made the Hudd/Palacios partnership look like top 4 quality (at times!) and he is the guy who functions as the "tick" of our entire team.

This season is the first when I have started doubting Ledley's influence as an "on the pitch" leader. For me, Keane has the passionate leadership thing but not the calm leadership thing. I think Modric will become the quiet leader of our midfield and eventually our squad, and the longer we can hold on to him and build a team around him the better.