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Good Week/Bad Week

Krafty

Well-Known Member
May 26, 2004
4,768
2,099
Good Week

Clint Dempsey

Outside the box Dempsey doesn’t really offer too much. He is quite physical, he is not bad on the ball, he works pretty hard, but he is very much a square peg in a round hole out there on the right wing and one wonders what his future holds next season when Townsend returns.

He is like the anti-Jenas. He doesn’t have that much ability but he uses every single drop of it to the maximum and seems to pop up when most needed.

The Two Tommys

Both Tom Carroll and Tom Huddlestone have impressed in the last fortnight. Carroll came on and fought hard in central midfield, showing that despite his slender frame he can compete and certainly was not exposed when we went down to ten men.

Huddlestone came off the back of an impressive cameo against Everton to fill in at centre half after Vertonghen’s sending off and did well. Have they done enough to warrant more game time?

Lewis Holtby

It has taken AVB a little time to fully work out what Holtby really is, but playing in a central midfield position the little German is starting to blossom. Still not completely convinced that he is the playmaker we need but he has the technical ability as well as the fight to play in central midfield.


Bad Week

Emmanuel Adebayor

Until we went down to ten men, I thought Adebayor was doing okay. Run into the defenders a couple of times but at least looked like he was trying.

However, in extra time he was an absolute disgrace. Showed absolute no interest to help his team mates defend, didn't get back behind the ball, didn't chase the opposition's defenders to relieve the pressure on the rest of the team, couldn't win a corner, throw in or look to win a free kick. If we had conceded in Extra time Adebayor would have been a big culprit because he was not interested in helping his team mates at all.

One time he got the ball and had the chance to lead a CA, he ran into the defenders when Sigurdsson was free to his left.

The penalty miss is another issue – not hitting the target is criminal – but is more a sign of his poor form this season.

Scott Parker

Yet again we have conceded two goals, the defence has been exposed, and we have needed saves or blocks from defenders or poor finishing to prevent us conceding more.

That doesn’t reflect well on the midfielder who is meant to protect the defence. We know Parker is not the greatest on the ball, so he needs his defensive work to be top notch and if it is not then questions need to be asked about his worth to the team right now.

Both Huddlestone and Carroll have made appearances from the bench and our passing has looked a lot more penetrative. If the midfield cannot protect the defence with Parker in it, would it not be better to put a natural playmaker in there so we are better on the ball? Theoretically, we will gain a lot more than we will lose.

Parker is struggling to match his form of last season. He really misses having a Modric next to him, and that long injury and age have taken a bit of energy out of his game. This could be the turning point of his Spurs career – another poor defensive display against City on Sunday may convince AVB that the only way we can win is to outscore the opposition.
 

Chris_D

Well-Known Member
Feb 24, 2007
2,652
1,278
Ade will get a lot of stick for missing that penalty but let's not forget some great players have missed penalties at important moments - Baggio, Platini and Maradona to name but a few. If he'd scored a few more goals earlier it wouldn't have come down to this but let's not forget we lost this tie in the first half at the Lane not in extra time in Switzerland. We could and should have gone their with a solid lead and then we'd have been OK.
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
Two Toms.
Both should definitely figure in the vital last games to preserve the freshness of the squad.
I think a lot of people may have to reconsider Hud's role and abilities now he seems to have fully recovered.

Adebayor.
Like you I thought he played well against Basel most of the time.
I assumed that he stayed up field as our out ball later in the game otherwise the ball comes straight back every time.
He did quite well at that too. I assumed that it was tactical rather than laziness.
He's languid not lazy. See Berbatov.

Dempsey.
He's a bit like Defoe in that as soon as you write him off
he pops up with a goal or two.
 

will8587

Well-Known Member
Jul 17, 2006
1,342
419
Adebayor.
Like you I thought he played well against Basel most of the time.
I assumed that he stayed up field as our out ball later in the game otherwise the ball comes straight back every time.
He did quite well at that too. I assumed that it was tactical rather than laziness.
He's languid not lazy. See Berbatov.

Disagree with your Berbatov comparison. Adebayor is lazy. A perfect counter-example is his game against Everton. He's often criticized for his lack of goals, which is a fair criticism for a striker. However, he does add something to our play besides just goals. Against Everton, in the latter 89.5 minutes, he was doing things other than scoring goals, but he was still very good. He hustled, held up the ball well, hurried defenders, tracked back, distributed the ball well. Basically, everything that's asked of him, and he did it very well.

The problem is that it was notable that he was actually doing all that, because for the previous 7 months, he's not hustled, held up play well, hurried defenders, etc. It was so pleasant to see the old-Adebayor last Sunday, but that Adebayor is not the same guy who's been on the pitch from October-April. What's most frustrating is that his good performance vs Everton confirmed that he still has it in him, he's just choosing not to fully exert himself. And that's why he's lazy.
 

balalasaurus

big black member
Dec 29, 2012
2,065
3,101
Disagree with your Berbatov comparison. Adebayor is lazy. A perfect counter-example is his game against Everton. He's often criticized for his lack of goals, which is a fair criticism for a striker. However, he does add something to our play besides just goals. Against Everton, in the latter 89.5 minutes, he was doing things other than scoring goals, but he was still very good. He hustled, held up the ball well, hurried defenders, tracked back, distributed the ball well. Basically, everything that's asked of him, and he did it very well.

The problem is that it was notable that he was actually doing all that, because for the previous 7 months, he's not hustled, held up play well, hurried defenders, etc. It was so pleasant to see the old-Adebayor last Sunday, but that Adebayor is not the same guy who's been on the pitch from October-April. What's most frustrating is that his good performance vs Everton confirmed that he still has it in him, he's just choosing not to fully exert himself. And that's why he's lazy.
didn't martin jol promise berbs a day off if he scored in the game against us. maybe we could offer ade retirement if he pulls through the season :cautious:
 

GetSpurredOn

Well-Known Member
Jun 18, 2006
5,022
8,922
I do think Adebayor offers an extra dimension to our play. When on form, he pulls the defence out of shape, and can be a real handful, playing others in. But, I sometimes think he pulls wide too much, leaving us no presence or target in the box.
 

Sweetsman

Well-Known Member
Jan 30, 2011
6,673
6,588
Two Toms.
Both should definitely figure in the vital last games to preserve the freshness of the squad.
I think a lot of people may have to reconsider Hud's role and abilities now he seems to have fully recovered.

Adebayor.
Like you I thought he played well against Basel most of the time.
I assumed that he stayed up field as our out ball later in the game otherwise the ball comes straight back every time.
He did quite well at that too. I assumed that it was tactical rather than laziness.
He's languid not lazy. See Berbatov.

Dempsey.
He's a bit like Defoe in that as soon as you write him off
he pops up with a goal or two.

I was hoping that in extra-time that Adebayor did conserve his energy and not run around aimlessly; however, this seems to wind up people to an apoplectic froth. Furthermore, he has not had a consistent run. I think, or more likely hope, that he could be quite dangerous against Man City if he doesn't lose his head like he did against Arsenal.
 

RonnyJaay

Member
Dec 1, 2012
98
108
How Parker can be blamed for those two goals is a joke Dembele gave the ball away so cheaply for the 1st goal Freidel slow of his line to thwart the situation, 2nd goal Friedel again didn't stop the ball going out for a corner and invited pressure.

Parker deputising for Sandro when needed or being brought on to see games out next to Sandro was his meant to be his role this season But thagain hes been asked to play week in week out which he cant do. Give the man a break it all goes back to Harry not using him properly AVB has no choice now
 

spud

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2003
5,850
8,794
Scott Parker

Yet again we have conceded two goals, the defence has been exposed, and we have needed saves or blocks from defenders or poor finishing to prevent us conceding more.

That doesn’t reflect well on the midfielder who is meant to protect the defence. We know Parker is not the greatest on the ball, so he needs his defensive work to be top notch and if it is not then questions need to be asked about his worth to the team right now.
I think that this would be fair criticism if Parker was playing the same role as last season, but he isn't. While Redknapp had him sitting in front of the back four and covering Modric, AVB's system has Parker and Dembele alternating - which is why we have seen Parker carrying the ball forwards and in more advanced positions this season.

Given that, I also question the wisdom of playing him ahead of Carroll or perhaps Huddlestone when either of those two offer far more to our attacking game.
 

JoeT

Well-Known Member
Jun 7, 2005
3,813
935
I think that this would be fair criticism if Parker was playing the same role as last season, but he isn't. While Redknapp had him sitting in front of the back four and covering Modric, AVB's system has Parker and Dembele alternating - which is why we have seen Parker carrying the ball forwards and in more advanced positions this season.

Given that, I also question the wisdom of playing him ahead of Carroll or perhaps Huddlestone when either of those two offer far more to our attacking game.
Agreed 'spud'; Carroll especially, played well in this game and should feature more in future. Why he hasn't been played more before I don't know; possibly AVB didn't know how well he was to play against Basle? He did seem to throw him on when the game looked pretty-well lost.
Could be a great find for next season.
 
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