Flashspur
Well-Known Member
- Jul 28, 2012
- 6,883
- 9,069
AVB's recipe.........speed, muscle, grit and skill but also height......and the token tricky little guy called Eriksen
http://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/john-dillon/432491/Why-big-is-beautiful-for-Spurs
Villalva, 21, is made of the same stuff and has represented his country at youth level. But would he get a game in the current team at Tottenham, who famously imported compatriots Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa?
Not even as mascot these days, you would guess. White Hart Lane has been turned into the land of the giants by manager Andre Villas-Boas.
All but two of the seven players he signed this summer are 6ft or above. At first glance, that is not so startling in the modern game. But the imposing physical presence which has been injected into the squad in defence and among the midfielders is striking, with Etienne Capoue and Nacer Chadli – both 6ft2in – joining six-footers Paulinho, Vlad Chiriches and Erik Lamela.
Spurs look strong, athletic, dominant and resilient, as well as quick and clever. Impressively built as well as tall and able to keep going deep into added time, as they proved when Paulinho scored the winner after 93 minutes at Cardiff City. Surely this increased power and robustness will worry Jose Mourinho of Chelsea ahead of tomorrow’s London derby?
Perhaps it is even a template for another shift in emphasis in the Premier League towards muscle, although no one could claim it is at the expense of technique. Quite the opposite. How could it not be so when Tottenham have also signed the sublime Christian Eriksen?
Manchester City also combined the two qualities brilliantly when they crushed Manchester United 4-1 last Sunday. City’s demolition was not just based on the might of Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany and Alvaro Negredo. The 5ft5in Jesus Navas, for example, was superb.
Spurs already had the 6ft3in Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul as well as 6ft2in Jan Vertonghen and 6ft1in Mousa Dembele. This does not make them the Crazy Gang, however. They want to play the ultra-modern brand of punchy, rapid and crisp football. But it seems that AVB has been keen to ensure they will physically earn their right to do so, too.
This surely explains why Mourinho is concerned about the ability of his team to stamp their authority on matches – and his controversial insistence that fans’ favourite Juan Mata just does not do enough groundwork.
It seems the top of the Premier League has taken on yet another element of physicality even as it has recruited more of the smaller kind of midfield engineers exemplified by Arsenal’s big signing, Mesut Ozil and teamed him up with Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, who are from the same basic mould.
Who arrived back at the Emirates around the same time? The ultra-combative Mathieu Flamini. How big is the club’s lead striker, Olivier Giroud, who is finally making his presence felt? – 6ft3in.
Football teams require variety. But still there is a pattern here. Manchester United’s one signing they pulled off, Marouane Fellaini, fits the big, rangy bill, too, although he hardly managed the imposing bit at the Etihad.
In the midfield and forwards Mourinho selected for the first Champions League tie against Basle – presumably his favoured XI – only Frank Lampard and Marco van Ginkel hit six feet. And Van Ginkel is now out for six months injured.
Yet who denies that the 5ft10in Oscar is a wonderful creative talent? Eden Hazard, at 5ft7in, has a feisty spirit as well as deft talent. But this particular collision between Tottenham and Chelsea could, first and foremost, be an almighty muscular confrontation. You would fancy Spurs to succeed in that department, unless Mourinho tactically nullifies the contest.
If Spurs win, it will send the same kind of message City stamped on United’s foreheads last Sunday. It would be based on the same new principles, too.
http://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/john-dillon/432491/Why-big-is-beautiful-for-Spurs
Villalva, 21, is made of the same stuff and has represented his country at youth level. But would he get a game in the current team at Tottenham, who famously imported compatriots Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa?
Not even as mascot these days, you would guess. White Hart Lane has been turned into the land of the giants by manager Andre Villas-Boas.
All but two of the seven players he signed this summer are 6ft or above. At first glance, that is not so startling in the modern game. But the imposing physical presence which has been injected into the squad in defence and among the midfielders is striking, with Etienne Capoue and Nacer Chadli – both 6ft2in – joining six-footers Paulinho, Vlad Chiriches and Erik Lamela.
Spurs look strong, athletic, dominant and resilient, as well as quick and clever. Impressively built as well as tall and able to keep going deep into added time, as they proved when Paulinho scored the winner after 93 minutes at Cardiff City. Surely this increased power and robustness will worry Jose Mourinho of Chelsea ahead of tomorrow’s London derby?
Perhaps it is even a template for another shift in emphasis in the Premier League towards muscle, although no one could claim it is at the expense of technique. Quite the opposite. How could it not be so when Tottenham have also signed the sublime Christian Eriksen?
Manchester City also combined the two qualities brilliantly when they crushed Manchester United 4-1 last Sunday. City’s demolition was not just based on the might of Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany and Alvaro Negredo. The 5ft5in Jesus Navas, for example, was superb.
Spurs already had the 6ft3in Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul as well as 6ft2in Jan Vertonghen and 6ft1in Mousa Dembele. This does not make them the Crazy Gang, however. They want to play the ultra-modern brand of punchy, rapid and crisp football. But it seems that AVB has been keen to ensure they will physically earn their right to do so, too.
This surely explains why Mourinho is concerned about the ability of his team to stamp their authority on matches – and his controversial insistence that fans’ favourite Juan Mata just does not do enough groundwork.
It seems the top of the Premier League has taken on yet another element of physicality even as it has recruited more of the smaller kind of midfield engineers exemplified by Arsenal’s big signing, Mesut Ozil and teamed him up with Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey, who are from the same basic mould.
Who arrived back at the Emirates around the same time? The ultra-combative Mathieu Flamini. How big is the club’s lead striker, Olivier Giroud, who is finally making his presence felt? – 6ft3in.
Football teams require variety. But still there is a pattern here. Manchester United’s one signing they pulled off, Marouane Fellaini, fits the big, rangy bill, too, although he hardly managed the imposing bit at the Etihad.
In the midfield and forwards Mourinho selected for the first Champions League tie against Basle – presumably his favoured XI – only Frank Lampard and Marco van Ginkel hit six feet. And Van Ginkel is now out for six months injured.
Yet who denies that the 5ft10in Oscar is a wonderful creative talent? Eden Hazard, at 5ft7in, has a feisty spirit as well as deft talent. But this particular collision between Tottenham and Chelsea could, first and foremost, be an almighty muscular confrontation. You would fancy Spurs to succeed in that department, unless Mourinho tactically nullifies the contest.
If Spurs win, it will send the same kind of message City stamped on United’s foreheads last Sunday. It would be based on the same new principles, too.
