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The Spurs Youth Thread - 2017/2018

WindyCOYS

Well-Known Member
Feb 24, 2016
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1,588
For the time being I think Richards will play in the hole behind Griffiths.

Only reason is if they want to play Markanday then he will have to play on the right.

Bennett down the left Markanday on the right Richards in the hole Clarke as backup for the right side,this gives the u18s a lot of options and in a good way they also have a Problem at the back because you will also have Matt Lock coming back and he has played as well as anybody this year.

Where does that leave Patterson in your opinion (who also seems to be quite well fancied)?
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
sorry but the players you mentioned are both great goalscorers and though both are predators they offered much more than that at their prime. Today they twould be worth huge amounts in the current market. To label either of them as Johnny on the spot types is doing them a huge dis-service, you only have to look at JDs goal the other day.

Young Richards if he has half the career of either of those two will be doing better than alright


Defoe is not a great goalscorer. He's just a good one dimensional goalscorer who rarely exceeds 12-15 goals in any full season. And he's never offered anything else other than goals, he rarely touches the ball more than ten times a game and rarely presses or helps defend from the front, which is why his CV is littered with mostly poor teams, and us.
 

Blake Griffin

Well-Known Member
Oct 3, 2011
14,133
38,225
I see that Man City were knocked out of the fa youth cup last night by Plymouth. 6-5 on pens. Someone else can play Chelsea in the final this season

utd and everton are out too, that's the current top 3 from the northern section gone.

chelsea will be very hard to beat once again though, they just have crazy strength in depth. arsenal are good this year and liverpool are pretty strong as well, full-strength i think we might be able to match those two but probably not chelsea.
 

coys200

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2017
8,436
17,403
I see that Man City were knocked out of the fa youth cup last night by Plymouth. 6-5 on pens. Someone else can play Chelsea in the final this season
Wow that’s quite a shock. Have to say I fancy us we look pretty strong all over the team with a lot of physicality. Was the 6-0 defeat to Arsenal a weakened team or are they just very good?
 

Spurzinho

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2016
2,513
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Defoe is not a great goalscorer. He's just a good one dimensional goalscorer who rarely exceeds 12-15 goals in any full season. And he's never offered anything else other than goals, he rarely touches the ball more than ten times a game and rarely presses or helps defend from the front, which is why his CV is littered with mostly poor teams, and us.

I actually agree with that. A traditional fox in the box in an era when specialists like that are completely passe. You just can't get away with playing someone like Defoe week in week out. He forces teams to be very one dimensional and that is just far, far too easy for oppositions to exploit.
 

danielneeds

Kick-Ass
May 5, 2004
24,179
48,764
I actually agree with that. A traditional fox in the box in an era when specialists like that are completely passe. You just can't get away with playing someone like Defoe week in week out. He forces teams to be very one dimensional and that is just far, far too easy for oppositions to exploit.
To be a great goal scorer you need to be above 0.50 goals per game too. And Defoe's league average sits at 0.33. Having said all that to be a 7th all time PL goal scorer (and he may overtake Fowler to finish 6th) is not too shabby given he was probably born in the wrong era, when the big man/little man went out of fashion.
 
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coys200

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2017
8,436
17,403
utd and everton are out too, that's the current top 3 from the northern section gone.

chelsea will be very hard to beat once again though, they just have crazy strength in depth. arsenal are good this year and liverpool are pretty strong as well, full-strength i think we might be able to match those two but probably not chelsea.

We nearly beat Chelsea the other day.
 

Westmorland

Active Member
May 21, 2014
290
449
To be a great goal scorer you need to be above 0.50 goals for game too. And Defoe's league average sits at 0.33. Having said all that to be a 7th all time PL goal scorer (and he may overtake Fowler to finish 6th) is not too shabby given he was probably born in the wrong era, when the big man/little man went out of fashion.
When Defoe was with us he wasn’t first choice that much. It was Keane and Mido..then Keane and Berbatov ..then Crouch and VDV so his record could have been a lot better with more starts.
 

Spurzinho

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Jan 24, 2016
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When Defoe was with us he wasn’t first choice that much. It was Keane and Mido..then Keane and Berbatov ..then Crouch and VDV so his record could have been a lot better with more starts.

Ask yourself why he didn't get more starts. Its because he could be an absolute liability. When he didn't score he did absolutely naff all. Defoe's problem was Darren Bent's problem also. They didn't create anything themselves, rarely set anyone else up and were significantly less clinical in front of goal than their stats suggest. Defoe has a reputation as a natural born goal scorer but that isn't what anyone who watched him on a regular basis could agree with. Defoe needed 4 or 5 quality chances before he hit the back of the net, not least because of his penchant for smashing it. Bent was exactly the same. The reason they had reputations as clinical goalscorers is because (a) their teams were often built around them as the only goalscorer & (b) they did very little else bar get themselves into position to score. Defoe & Bent used to drain goals from the rest of the side when they played because everyone else became a supporting player to them. I absolutely never understand the love in from fans or "pundits" alike.
 

newbie

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2004
6,051
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Ask yourself why he didn't get more starts. Its because he could be an absolute liability. When he didn't score he did absolutely naff all. Defoe's problem was Darren Bent's problem also. They didn't create anything themselves, rarely set anyone else up and were significantly less clinical in front of goal than their stats suggest. Defoe has a reputation as a natural born goal scorer but that isn't what anyone who watched him on a regular basis could agree with. Defoe needed 4 or 5 quality chances before he hit the back of the net, not least because of his penchant for smashing it. Bent was exactly the same. The reason they had reputations as clinical goalscorers is because (a) their teams were often built around them as the only goalscorer & (b) they did very little else bar get themselves into position to score. Defoe & Bent used to drain goals from the rest of the side when they played because everyone else became a supporting player to them. I absolutely never understand the love in from fans or "pundits" alike.

I think Defoe had far more to his game then bent, Defoe always started really strong scored a lot of goals early on in the season then would have a poor second half of the season.
 

Spurzinho

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2016
2,513
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I think Defoe had far more to his game then bent, Defoe always started really strong scored a lot of goals early on in the season then would have a poor second half of the season.

Hence my comment about him making the side one dimensional. It wasn't just Defoe that became predictable our whole build up play. Hence JD always losing his place after three months. The manager had no choice because we'd been susses out.
 

ralphs bald spot

Well-Known Member
Jul 14, 2015
2,777
5,177
Defoe is not a great goalscorer. He's just a good one dimensional goalscorer who rarely exceeds 12-15 goals in any full season. And he's never offered anything else other than goals, he rarely touches the ball more than ten times a game and rarely presses or helps defend from the front, which is why his CV is littered with mostly poor teams, and us.

just count the goals - he is still scoring goal now. Always a threat and was great for us for the main art of his career, you may talk about pressing but there are plenty of players who can do that the hardest thing in football is scoring goals and he is done that wherever he has played.

Nothing else but scoing goals thats an acknoledgement of the man not a criticsm, a forward who can defend or one that can score goals? Make your own mind up
 

ralphs bald spot

Well-Known Member
Jul 14, 2015
2,777
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Ask yourself why he didn't get more starts . Its because he could be an absolute liability. When he didn't score he did absolutely naff all. Defoe's problem was Darren Bent's problem also. They didn't create anything themselves, rarely set anyone else up and were significantly less clinical in front of goal than their stats suggest. Defoe has a reputation as a natural born goal scorer but that isn't what anyone who watched him on a regular basis could agree with. Defoe needed 4 or 5 quality chances before he hit the back of the net, not least because of his penchant for smashing it. Bent was exactly the same. The reason they had reputations as clinical goalscorers is because (a) their teams were often built around them as the only goalscorer & (b) they did very little else bar get themselves into position to score. Defoe & Bent used to drain goals from the rest of the side when they played because everyone else became a supporting player to them. I absolutely never understand the love in from fans or "pundits" alike.


It really isn't that difficult, though Defoe is a different class to Bent - scoring goals is difficutl and you set sides up around that. To say Defoe didn't make things for himself is a ridiculous statement he scored all types of goals remember the goal against Arsenal - his first for Spurs against Portsmouth the overhead kick against United and there are many more.Of course a majority of a goalscorers goals will be what we regard as tap ins and they will all miss chances thats the nature of their games. Defoe makes defenders defend he never was a workhorse or target man but there are plenty of those who never got near his goal record but he affects games by scoring.goals he might do nothing else but score but that is still the most important and difficult thing in football

Others have said great scorers get 1 in 2 and Defoe only gets 1 iin 3 and thats why he never signed for a top club (Spurs apart) but doesn't that make his record all the better?
 

Spurzinho

Well-Known Member
Jan 24, 2016
2,513
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It really isn't that difficult, though Defoe is a different class to Bent - scoring goals is difficutl and you set sides up around that. To say Defoe didn't make things for himself is a ridiculous statement he scored all types of goals remember the goal against Arsenal - his first for Spurs against Portsmouth the overhead kick against United and there are many more.Of course a majority of a goalscorers goals will be what we regard as tap ins and they will all miss chances thats the nature of their games. Defoe makes defenders defend he never was a workhorse or target man but there are plenty of those who never got near his goal record but he affects games by scoring.goals he might do nothing else but score but that is still the most important and difficult thing in football

Others have said great scorers get 1 in 2 and Defoe only gets 1 iin 3 and thats why he never signed for a top club (Spurs apart) but doesn't that make his record all the better?

You can't score goals if you're too easy to play against. Defoe makes his sides too easy to play against. Its okay if you're a struggling side, to an extent, because you probably only have one strategy anyway, which is to sit deep, soak up pressure and hit teams on the break. Defoe's all round play was nowhere near good enough to play another way and he certainly couldn't be relied upon to create his own goals. The odd example of him scoring a wonder goal does not negate the point that in general his ability to create chances for himself was very poor. He wasn't routinely dropped after November for no reason. Even one of his biggest fans, in Redknapp, lost patience with him don't forget. Defoe was a flat track bully, one dimensional, overrated in front of goal and as poor positionally at 36 as he was at 16. His inability to time a run and remain onside was a constant gripe of many fans, myself included.
 
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