Player Watch: Clément Lenglet

[djhotspur]

Some of the passing there was brilliant, and a lot of it was under pressure.

 

[djhotspur]

Personally think Davies is a better passer than Dier, Romero and Sanchez. And better on the ball than Dier and Sanchez. (although that's a pretty low bar)

Actually there were times yesterday when i forgot it wasn't Davies playing as Lenglet has a similar gait/stature.

Wouldn't write ol' Ben of just yet as he's earnt Conte's trust...

I disagree respectfully, he’s ok carrying the ball but imo his biggest weakness as always been his passing as a player.

 

[Aphex]

Personally think Davies is a better passer than Dier, Romero and Sanchez. And better on the ball than Dier and Sanchez. (although that's a pretty low bar)

Actually there were times yesterday when i forgot it wasn't Davies playing as Lenglet has a similar gait/stature.

Wouldn't write ol' Ben of just yet as he's earnt Conte's trust...

Davies is not a better passer than Romero. It’s not even close.

Lenglet and Romero are essential to the system we play. We need creativity from the CBs

 

[Timberwolf]

I disagree respectfully, he’s ok carrying the ball but imo his biggest weakness as always been his passing as a player.

Yeah he's very safe and ponderous. He's not a bad passer but under Conte he tends to be quite conservative. Once every 5 games he'll do a great ping down the line or something, but aside from that it's all very predictable and limits what we can do down that side of the pitch.

His best work is defensive as he reads the game well and is very often in a good position to cover or make last ditch blocks. But even so, he made about 5 very big errors on the ball last season that led to huge goal scoring opportunities and seemed to get away with every single one of them and as such they were forgotten. If Sanchez made some of the mistakes Davies made last year he would've been absolutely killed on here.

Still think he's an above average option at LCB and perfect cover, but think Lenglet showed yesterday the difference a silky passer and technician can make in games like this.

 

[cusop]

Hes played 90 minutes and did well and offer Conte an alternative. I do think some of you are over cooking the praise, yet he played well and hopefully will improve, when I heard he was on the team sheet I did have a Vlad Chiricheș moment, but I had to remind myself no one can be that bad. I felt he was keen to demonstrate to Conte that he was a safe pair of feet and he did that well

 

[djhotspur]

Hes played 90 minutes and did well and offer Conte an alternative. I do think some of you are over cooking the praise, yet he played well and hopefully will improve, when I heard he was on the team sheet I did have a Vlad Chiricheș moment, but I had to remind myself no one can be that bad. I felt he was keen to demonstrate to Conte that he was a safe pair of feet and he did that well

I think it’s because he was bought to play in the true conte way. Wide cbs are creative and key to building attacks and getting out of the press, so we are delighted he seems to do the things he’s been brought in to do. We love Davies and he’s been a great servant but to have a full flowing conte team wing backs and wide CBs are so so key.

 

[cusop]

I think it’s because he was bought to play in the true conte way. Wide cbs are creative and key to building attacks and getting out of the press, so we are delighted he seems to do the things he’s been brought in to do. We love Davies and he’s been a great servant but to have a full flowing conte team wing backs and wide CBs are so so key.

I can see what your saying and agree with 90% but the 10% I have a problem with, As conte has previously relied on the creative CB occupying Diers spot. I want to believe and really believe that Conte is an incredible tactician and he has developed the basic conte template that all the players must learn and follow, then there is subtle changes he applies and he weaponises them from game to game, when it falls down its because we end up with sanchez on the field who Conte has improved but is one dimensional, he then requires other players to adapt to this limitation. Singling out Davis who by comparison is 3 dimensional, is missing Conte s real purpose. I see Lenglet as a multi purpose player with different capabilities to Davis. And Conte will try to develop and exploit those skills. But there will be games where he does not start

 

[JoaoPereira]

Appreciate the response yeah, it was quite frustrating just how many players were not doing their job and dropped concentration because the way we play we can't afford such switch off's. We cannot go toe to toe with Liverpool and City but we can amass results and bridge the gap by having high standards and playing a more pragmatic system which is built on a foundation of making sure we limit risk compared to Liverpool and City who push high and believe their quality outweighs the risk of highline, so when I see a goal conceded in the manner it was with so many players culpable, it's these sort of things that make me think we are still too mentally naïve.

right, but players are human and concentration lapses are bound to happen. it's about limiting them to periods where we are able to correct them. and as we usually settle on a 5-5-1 formation that sometimes extends into other formations but hardly ever dismantles the 5 at the back, there's pieces in place to make those corrections. that's why transitions are especially dangerous for this team. the backline is used to play with close support and in transition, with players having to reposition quickly off their offensive alignments, it can be tough for them. it is a bit of an off topic but that is a big reason as to why Ramos was a defender at such a high level for such a long time: despite some glaring mistakes, his ability to defend in space was almost second to none. and to defend with minimal support in a football pitch is immensely difficult.

so, I don't agree with the notion that we're naive. the way I see it, we're a pragmatic side, that plays phased football (Conte said it himself) but that has difficulties defensing without a structured backline in place. lapses are going to happen in that part of the pitch, especially with the volume of play Spurs allow to be played in their own thrird, so it is about trying to limit them to periods where we are able to make a play off them.

I really appreciate you took the time though to go back and check it out rather than us just stay staunch in our views, I have a lot of respect for that and to be honest really want to highlight it because it's so rare in this day and age. I think my tone at the time of those posts was that of a very frustrated person because I really wish Sanchez was viewed as what he is, a limited defender but a fantastic level for somebody who is sitting on our bench and if he wasn't limited or didn't make the odd mistake then we wouldn't be as fortunate as there's no way he'd settle for the bench and I have been a bit exasperated recently that a lot of people don't seem to accept him for what he is. If he was starting every week then I'd be saying let's upgrade him but for me although Davies and Dier have been fantastic since Conte came in, I do believe that both can be upgraded in the future and the goal should be that they then become the players who are the back ups and then yes maybe cash in on Sanchez having a player like Dier who can play CCB/RCB and that's how you elevate the squad level. You don't elevate the team by spending large amounts of money to find a player marginally better than Sanchez whose role will be to be a backup for Romero when there's still Davies you can upgrade on, Hojbjerg you can upgrade on, Eventually Dier or adding a backup to Kulusevki or adding a different type of attacking midfielder. The CB who will most likely not play 10 games in the prem this season is not where the resources for upgrades need to be focused imo.

no worries, I just like sports in general. in the end I could have disagreed with you even after reviewing the play and that would have been fine regardless. and I agree with everything you said afterwards. Sanchez puts a low ceiling on our offensive phase but he is absolutely fine as a back up as his defensive ability is more than good enough to cover for Romero. my main issue with him, excluding his inability to play out of the back, is the fact that he thrives climbing that right handed pocket to deny progressions into the half space but can get overaggressive and leave space out of the back, or have late challenges that concede free set pieces in dangerous areas. he works better in a 3/4 court press but that's not what we usually settle on defensively. he's still good in positional play but not as good as in that role.

 

[Sarsipius]

Absolute G

 

[gavspur]

I thought he was ace. A lot of the time when Davies hits it long up the line, he gives it straight back to the opposition. This rarely happened with Lenglet yesterday. It was refreshing. Lenglet-Dier-Romero is a nice mix of different qualities for 3cd’s. I also noted Dier stepping forward almost in to midfield at times yesterday too. I wonder if that is a plan to help disrupt the opposition, and that he’s able to do it now as Lenglet and Romero are much better on the ball?

 

[y1dk1d]

No offence to Davies as I love him but if Lenglet performs like that regularly I really hope he becomes first choice LCB

 

[Nodutus]

Apart from his brilliant passning I like the bit when he refused to be bullied by Mitrovic and just threw him away when Mitro pulled his shirt

 

[FrankSpencer]

He will start 100% of games against teams that low block us, plus most games at home. He’s a perfect progressive passer in games where we’ll see the majority of the ball.

Fully expect to see Davies back in the team against Citeh, and Lenglet start against Leicester.

Looks a cracking signing.

 

[west indie]

The back 3 laid the foundations for yesterday's 80 minute dominance with crisp 1 - 2 touch passing with zip. Noticed Lenglet & Romero allowed Dier to push into midfield quiet a bit also, which was another positive.

Fulham are no mugs and have held their own so far this early season, but the way we were relentless that's the marker for the rest of the season

 

[C1w8]

First couple of touches were bad, held on to it too long and got dispossessed, but settled in nicely and felt he was an upgrade on davies for the game that played out, played really well once he realised you dont get 10 seconds on the ball in the prem.

Will be interesting to see who gets picked Saturday but good to have two viable players for the position.

 

[jolsnogross]

It'll be interesting to see if Lenglet and Perisic play much together. Very silky partnership and you wonder if they could handle speedy wingers on that side. He played well yesterday without a doubt. Davies usually has a couple of forays forward that I don't think Lenglet tried. We have two good options for that left footed centre back.

 

[C0YS]

I disagree respectfully, he’s ok carrying the ball but imo his biggest weakness as always been his passing as a player.

I mean he's not a creative passer, but he is very good at moving the ball forward quickly. But yes it's very obvious that Lenglet is the better passer, and both Romero and Dier have much more range than davies.

 

[C0YS]

Lenglet had a good game, but he wasn't really tested in a defensive capacity, so we will see.

I do think that the passing against Fulham was only partly down to the back three, I think the ability for our front three to find space though helped a lot, and that makes everything much easier. Of course Fulham's weaknesses did allow us to expose them quite nicely.

 

[aussiespursguy]

Davies isn't good enough either

Disagree.
The perfect professional. Happy to be the squad player.
Steps up when he needs to, and he has needed to for some time.
Very underrated by many on here.

 

[MightyModric]

So did we put an option to buy in the loan agreement?