Player Watch: Victor Wanyama

[arunspurs]

I know several others have said it before, but Wanyama's mobility has surprised me. I guess I didn't watch him closely enough at Southampton. He's quicker and has better passing range than I thought. Perhaps not a signing that got a lot of Spurs fans excited, but a very important signing. It was vital that we signed someone that could play in Dier's place when he's out, but Wanyama seems to have made the defensive midfielder position his own now. Excellent

I was not surprised with his mobility. But I was surprised by his ability on the ball and ability to run through the midfield with the ball. Wanyama does the exact job as Dier. But the main difference is , after recovering the ball, Dier is more of a passer & rarely runs with the ball if he sees space. On other hand, Wanyama, has ability to skip past players & always runs into space first before looking for the pass. And his passes invariably finds his man.

 

[Sweech]

But is he better than Filip Lesniak?

 

[teok]

http://www.football365.com/news/five-players-who-have-become-unlikely-heroes

Five players who have become unlikely heroes

Victor WanyamaWhen Ritchie Valens released ‘La Bamba’ in 1958, he did so safe in the knowledge that, one day, almost 50 years later, a train full of alcohol-fuelled Tottenham Hotspur fans would dedicate it to a central midfielder they had signed in the summer.

https://twitter.com/TottenhamAMF/status/779976066064678912

There were reservations over whether Wanyama would even start in this Tottenham side when he joined from Southampton for £11million. Would Pochettino change the two-man midfield of Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele which was so effective last season? Was Wanyama back-up for the pair?


No chance. The Kenyan has been a revelation in the centre for the Premier League’s only remaining undefeated side. His defensive work has always been his strength, but he has even been a revelation going forward as a driving force from deep under Mauricio Pochettino this season. Tottenham have played nine games in the Premier and Champions League this season; Wanyama has played in eight of those. The only game he missed? The club’s sole defeat of the season so far, to Monaco.


He had spaghetti and it was very nice i enjoyed it. And now Tottenham are enjoying him being quite wonderful in midfield.

 

[EQP]

But is he better than Filip Lesniak?

No!

 

[Sweech]

No!

It must be close though.

I knew he wasn't as good as Veljkovic, we'd regret selling him like Man U did Pogba some said and that's been confirmed from Veljkovic's three starts in the German third tier. I miss him already.

 

[EQP]

It must be close though.

I knew he wasn't as good as Veljkovic, we'd regret selling him like Man U did Pogba some said and that's been confirmed from Veljkovic's three starts in the German third tier. I miss him already.

Not even! Flesni ( I like to call him Flesni) is a busy **** and sometimes when he's not playing football he likes to **** ********* ******* **** * **** ***** ** while **** ***!!! Meanwhile, Wanyama is eating Spaghetti as if Spaghetti is close to what Flesni eats!! Flesni eats **** **** **** ************* *** on top of **** with ***** marmalade!

 

[Charly***]

Against city he reminded me of Desailly from the old Milan team

 

[Bus-Conductor]

It's a fair cop, I deserve it. Wanyama has been superb.

Didn't want Wanyama because I feared he was either being signed as back up (A remit I thought someone like Lesniak might be able to fill) or to be played in the type of double pivoting tractors in treacle with Dier we saw in the first few games, when I wanted us to move forward with a more progressive footballing CM alongside a holder in Poch's rigidly adhered to 4231.

To many the ideas of breaking the Dier/Dembele pairing was utter sacrilege. And for that reason the idea of Wanyama just didn't inspire me, because I wanted it broken but with a more progressive, ambitious and footballing option, not another robust automaton with risk aversion wired in as standard.

From his first game though he's impressed me, and to be fair to me, from the first game I've said he did and that I think he'd be the player I'd keep in, as his qualities would allow us to play a more progressive "footballing type" with him.

 

[Cravenspurs]

It's a fair cop, I deserve it. Wanyama has been superb.

Didn't want Wanyama because I feared he was either being signed as back up (A remit I thought someone like Lesniak might be able to fill) or to be played in the type of double pivoting tractors in treacle with Dier we saw in the first few games, when I wanted us to move forward with a more progressive footballing CM alongside a holder in Poch's rigidly adhered to 4231.

To many the ideas of breaking the Dier/Dembele pairing was utter sacrilege. And for that reason the idea of Wanyama just didn't inspire me.

From his first game though he's impressed me, and to be fair to me, from the first game I've said he did and that I think he'd be the player I'd keep in, as his qualities would allow us to play a more progressive "footballing type" with him.

I have always supported the Wanyama rumors as he is a beast. He has limitations, but he is a great shield.

But I am guilty of favoriting Dier. I like the Dembele/Dier..sacrilege part. I think the energy around that last year was special and the idea of breaking that up was hard.

If Poch plays both Dembele and Wanyama I hope we keep the shape and have Eriksen drop deeper. Dembele pressing up the pitch in place of Sissoko is my preferred form. I love Dembele playing up the pitch and winning the ball back.

 

[NEVILLEB]

Competition for places. Exactly what winning teams have.

This is very exciting!

 

[mark87]

I think looking on from the subs bench at the city game, Dier now realises he needs to up his game to try and get picked ahead of Victor and that can only be good for the team.

 

[Khilari]

Agree with above - thought Wanyama was a large immobile hulk-type (the avengers one, not Brasilian one) - immobile, strong, a sideways passer and red card waiting to happen.

How wrong I was!

Yes, also means Dier won't have to play all of 60 games for us and we will have a fresh looking midfield lineup in the cups, league and in Europe

 

[Flashspur]

It must be close though.

I knew he wasn't as good as Veljkovic, we'd regret selling him like Man U did Pogba some said and that's been confirmed from Veljkovic's three starts in the German third tier. I miss him already.

Ssshhh...there are some expert pundits on here who believed Veljkovic was the second coming

 

[hyperterric2004]

Dier is young and part of a team with a heavy fixture list while playing a very high energy game

He will get plenty of game time this year and the extra quality/competition in the squad can only serve to further his development I feel

Agree, in addition I remember last season being so worried what would happen if Dier misses a game. Now we have options and we can rest players.

Dier last season must of been well into the red zone.

 

[Larryjanta]

Agree, in addition I remember last season being so worried what would happen if Dier misses a game. Now we have options and we can rest players.

Dier last season must of been well into the red zone.

And Dier's versatility mean he'll play most games, even if it's coming off the bench.

Conservatively speaking, we're probably going to have c.54 games this season, I would expect Dier and Wanyama to play 4 games together and then Wanyama getting 30 games in DM and Dier 20 games. Should be enough to keep both happy and with them both coming off the bench another 10-15 times, that's nearly a full season.

And that's before we get into injuries.

Basically, we have enough games for them both to be happy!

 

[Spurrific]

Most tragic link of the window. Rather play Fazio as DM. This isn't hyperbole or an exaggeration but if you rate Wanyama I will deduct a point away from my ranking system of how much I value your opinion on football. It's out of 100, @millsey you are currently on -8,000,000

Yeah, I was pretty bad too.

Soz all

 

[Bus-Conductor]

I have always supported the Wanyama rumors as he is a beast. He has limitations, but he is a great shield.

But I am guilty of favoriting Dier. I like the Dembele/Dier..sacrilege part. I think the energy around that last year was special and the idea of breaking that up was hard.

If Poch plays both Dembele and Wanyama I hope we keep the shape and have Eriksen drop deeper. Dembele pressing up the pitch in place of Sissoko is my preferred form. I love Dembele playing up the pitch and winning the ball back.

Maybe my post didn't make it clear (I've edited now so that it is) but I actually never shared the belief that to break the Dier/Dembele partnership was sacralidge, I was very much of the opinion that we should, and as soon as I saw Wanyama at Everton I realised we'd signed a player who might make that possible, as he is far more dynamic defensively than Dier and allows that defensive/offensive balance compromise.

After the first few games I thought my worst fears were being reslised with the Dier/Wanyama 4231, but the last three games have tactically tickled me in all the right places, I've seen elements of things I've been hoping to see for a long time. Some tactical diversity, one very busy hunter matched up with one or two less risk averse footballing options.

I spent the first few weeks of the season saying Pochettino has got to show some tactical bollocks, teach offensive players defensive discipline rather than defensive players offensive

I have always supported the Wanyama rumors as he is a beast. He has limitations, but he is a great shield.

But I am guilty of favoriting Dier. I like the Dembele/Dier..sacrilege part. I think the energy around that last year was special and the idea of breaking that up was hard.

If Poch plays both Dembele and Wanyama I hope we keep the shape and have Eriksen drop deeper. Dembele pressing up the pitch in place of Sissoko is my preferred form. I love Dembele playing up the pitch and winning the ball back.

Quoted this over in the tactical autopsy thread.

 

[Giovanni]

Extreemly closely matched are victor and eric. I prefer victor as first choice if i was choosing for a cup final (cough cough cl haha).
I did say in the wanyama tranfer thread that when we got him poch would get him back to the level he was as southampton 3 years ago and that by the end of this season he would be first choice. The only thing i got wrong was the fact that hes first choice already imo.

But its awesome to have 2 top top players for that dm position.

 

[DJS]

Yeah, I was pretty bad too.

Soz all

Jeeeeeez I think you deserve to be falcon punched in the nutsack for that one personally.

 

[ardiles]

It's a fair cop, I deserve it. Wanyama has been superb.

Didn't want Wanyama because I feared he was either being signed as back up (A remit I thought someone like Lesniak might be able to fill) or to be played in the type of double pivoting tractors in treacle with Dier we saw in the first few games, when I wanted us to move forward with a more progressive footballing CM alongside a holder in Poch's rigidly adhered to 4231.

To many the ideas of breaking the Dier/Dembele pairing was utter sacrilege. And for that reason the idea of Wanyama just didn't inspire me, because I wanted it broken but with a more progressive, ambitious and footballing option, not another robust automaton with risk aversion wired in as standard.

From his first game though he's impressed me, and to be fair to me, from the first game I've said he did and that I think he'd be the player I'd keep in, as his qualities would allow us to play a more progressive "footballing type" with him.

Oh drat!
I now fear that in our next game, he's going to score an own goal, break one of our players leg in an over enthusiastic race to clear the ball first and then get sent off after a fight with Lamela on who will be the taker of the next penalty that's awarded to us.