Is it creativity we lack?

[Krafty]

I think we have some creativity, in an English sense (ie down the flanks or long balls flicked on) and in Hudds we have someone who can play great through balls, but I think too many of our chances are half chances at best. There were several crosses before Brum scored on sunday that were pinpoint had players got into the box. Taylor spilled the ball a couple of times abdly and yet there was no one by him to tap it in.

It could be a lack of confidence, no one wants to gamble, but when they do they get results. Jenas is a prime example - when he gets forward something happens, but too often he doesnt bother.

With berbs and keane playing we too often have our front men dropping deep and no one getting into the danger area once the ball has been laid off. A bit more urgency would help, especially to convert any early pressure we create.

 

[nickspurs]

I think we do lack some creative players. I remember one game against Everton when Arteta was at the heart of everything dangerous. I just thought that we don't have anyone who does what he can do.

His name has come up plenty of times in threads for that reason. I don't for a minute think we can prise him away from Everton though....

 

[tooey]

Unfortunately, Jenas in no Gerrard...

mg:

...big discovery, I know.

Sadly this is true...... But intill we get a decent midfield player i have to depend on our deadwood for entertainment....

 

[muffwah]

I know the defence is rubbish this season (massive under statement) but are we simply not creating enough up front, yes we are scoring but hardly any goals are coming from long shots (freekicks sometimes via bale) and we often just try to break down the right, then when that doesnt work, go back and try breaking down the left, we only ever seem to go side to side.

anyways thats just my views:shrug:

thoughts?

This goes down as the most absurd thread ever for me.

First and foremost we lack defence, sometimes we are not clinical enough up front as well.

 

[HuggyBear]

5 in the middle with Thudd being our creative influence. Leave Bent up front on his own as a target man and play a 4-5-1.

 

[defoe18]

i mentioned the defence

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I think our deffensive problems are perhaps ensuring we as fans put all our concentration in one area. When we play 442, at times this season we've equally dropped points due to a lack of creativity. Yes we lost to Sunderland becaue of a late goal, but we bossed the game and had most of the posssession, yet we created very little. The same can be said of the Everton game. We lost becasue of a deflected FK and Gardner going to sleep, but we still dominated the game, but again without creating anything. Against Wham, we didn't create anything really either. The first half we seemed to be in control, but we didn't do anything with our possession. We tend to be very neat and tidy on the ball, but don't move quick enough to stretch the opposition and create space for our attacking players. Even against Aalborg, when we played 442 in the first half, we didn't look dangerous. So yes, our defence has caused massive problems and we've scored lots of goals, but arguably we should have scored lots more goals, to the point our deffensive problems weren't so evident. It sounds silly to say this about a team that has scored 26 goals in 15 games, but we really should have scored more. It isn't as if we concede goals becase of our attacking style of play. We rarely seem to get caught on the break with too many men forward. We concede goals because of stupid errors. We actually give away the 5th lowest amount of chances in the Prem (I don't know if that is still the case, but it was upto the Blackburn game). So in terms of team set up, we are a very solid unit. It's when the individual pieces of that unit get tested, things turn to shit. There is an agrument to suggest that with a bit more creativity in CM and more solid individuals at the back, we could have had an outside crack at the title this season. If you check our results over the last 2 years when our quality players have been fit (ie King, Carrick and Bebratov), it actually supports this agrument.

Joey, you my remember I was making a similar point a few days ago. I think we only disagree about who is the weakest of those weak components.

The reason I doubted we would not push for CL this season was that we lacked quality creativity. (I actually started a thread about it before the season kicked off) Particularly away from home. We often have plenty of possession but fail to create quality chances. At home it is different as we can afford to be more cavalere as away sides rarely show vast ambition.

We often create chances but it is all about the quality of those chances. There is a difference between a half chance and a really quality chance.

You can even be critical of our strikers in terms of quality of finishing and creativity sometimes (but I guess we are really getting picky). But the point is at times last season and this - particularly away from home - we lacked the ability to create quality chances and convert possession into goals.

And becauseof our weak central defence we can't invite teams on and hit thm on the break so easily (as it often doesn't get past the inviting them on bit without us picking the ball out). If we had a rock solid defence this would actually allow us another attacking dynamic. I actually like the way kaboul steps out with the ball - this helps - but the defending part lets it down.

 

[ultimateloner]

Our creative players are Berba and and Hudd. No one else is creative. Lennon would only ever hug the side line, malbranque cuts back in eveytime etc.

What we have are a bunch of players with good ability. Creative players are catalyst and they don't come easy. Bale might become one with luck.

 

[joey55]

Our creative players are Berba and and Hudd. No one else is creative. Lennon would only ever hug the side line, malbranque cuts back in eveytime etc.

What we have are a bunch of players with good ability. Creative players are catalyst and they don't come easy. Bale might become one with luck.

Malbranque is a creative player.

 

[KeaneIsKeane]

Though Lennon is not a creative player he still creates chances and opportunities by being one of the few players along with Bale who will take on a defender. And since he's playing as a winger anyways, I think this is just as important.

 

[GenericID]

If you create more chances (even if you don't convert them much), ultimately the opposition has to spend more time defending or throw more bodies foward instead of constantly waiting for the break, opening themselves up further. With our current backline, we can only defend through attacking, so I don't think the creativity<>defence issue isn't interlinked.

 

[liewser]

Maybe we do always break down the right but its not just boot it up to lennon and let him chase, we do string decent passes and moves together down that side, even if it is always down that side. The only teams who really have that kind of "creativity" across the pitch are united and arsenal, possibly at a stretch liverpool this season.

If you're talking about creative individuals with individual skills then no maybe we dont have that bar berbatov, possibly keane at times, but again there arent many teams that have that.

And 30 yard screamers are not a sign of creativity.

 

[stevenqoz]

It really depends on what you mean by creativity. I'm not sure people on here are talking about the same thing. To me it is largely to do with passing or combinations of passes. Hoddle to me was one of the ultimate creative players. He could deliver a ball wherever he wanted to. What he did brought other players into the game. Tony Galvin was one of the main benefactors of a Hoddles creativity week in week out. Huddlestones pass to Keane against Birmingham would stand out as being highly creative in the sense that the technique of lifting the ball and dropping it became a skill when it was carried out in the very restricted area available.Some would say that Gascoigne was also creative but I feel he was more likely to create chaos for the opposition that his side benefitted from that, as a result.
We do lack creativity when Huddlestone is off the field. No other player we have is
as creative for us. The likes of Lennon and Tabbart may one day gain the control of they do / have an end product but they are not there yet.
I genuinely believe that Berbatov in another life could easily be a central midfield creative player for us (or anyone else) for he also has the ability to turn training field techniques into on field skills if he so wanted.

 

[tooey]

Maybe we do always break down the right but its not just boot it up to lennon and let him chase, we do string decent passes and moves together down that side, even if it is always down that side. The only teams who really have that kind of "creativity" across the pitch are united and arsenal, possibly at a stretch liverpool this season.

If you're talking about creative individuals with individual skills then no maybe we dont have that bar berbatov, possibly keane at times, but again there arent many teams that have that.

And 30 yard screamers are not a sign of creativity.

Wrong.....A plyer is makeing aka creating a chance by taking a chance at a long shot.

 

[fozzi44]

:roll::roll:

Awk - c'mon, it is hardly creativity we lack, in fact we are probably one of the most creative teams in the premiership - certainly we are the most creative spurs side that I can remember seeing in a very long time.

Our problem is conceeding too many goals, plain and simple, there is no point in trying to find other excuses or blame other areas. These figures from todays guardian pretty mucg says it all.

1.57 - ave goals conceeded per game - 80 in 51 matches.
2.00 = ave goals scored - 102 in 51 matches:clap:
12 - number of matches in which we have conceeded 3 goals or more - a quarter of gamesmg:
10 - clean sheets kept in the whole of 2007 (arsenal have kept 13 this season)
41 - Goals at WHL last 10 league games, average of 4 per game
5 - the amount of matches we have failed to scored in in 2007:beer:

Now looking at that it is quite clear where our problems lie, and creativity and scoring is certainly not one. So how about we put this to bed.

 

[DC_Boy]

as some have pointed out - defining creativity is important here - robbo creates quite a few goals by hoofing it up the pitch and our forwards get on the end of it. Some people don't see that as 'creativity'.

Players like Hoddle were creative artists - same as Berbs today - of course from a different position

For pure skill you could go the Lane some/most days and Hod would be the best player on the pitch even if the oppo won and might even create more chances.

Same with Berbs today - a lot of what he does is beautiful to behold even if it doesn't create a chance.

Other teams are more prosaic - a famous example in recent years has been Bolton - they create chances sure - but the way they create them doesn't please the eye (of many 'neutral' fans anayway)

Though it's typical of football's tribalism that though we have played far more beautiful football in the past two and a bit seasons than Bolton - and indeed have done so over the past fifty years - we're hated more by 'neutrals' than Bolton

 

[nickspurs]

Wrong.....A plyer is makeing aka creating a chance by taking a chance at a long shot.

Sorry but long shots are simply not creativity. If you equate them to creativity then just go and measure chances from OPTA or something similar and it's a stats exercise.

Creativity is using skill to conjure up a chance by doing something out of the ordinary. Robbo creates a chance by hoofing to Keane to score but it's hard to claim that's creativity per se.

I, and I hope many others, would say that an intelligent flick, a defence-splitting through ball, an ingenious dummy or a well executed one-two are all examples of creativity.

Where you draw the line on what counts as creativity is debatable but please let's not put 30 yard screamers in there. I love them when they go in but it's not the glory football I love Tottenham for.

 

[Has1978]

We do lack a little, especially down the middle.

However, it is less of a problem than our lack of concentration and belief. They've killed our season so far.