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'Believe the hype and you will fade away'
The young Tottenham forward Andros Townsend has impressed with England but still has work to do to seal his World Cup place
Jonathan Northcroft Published: 17 November 2013
Townsend is determined to make the most of his England opportunity (Nick Potts)
AT THE same age Wayne Rooney made his England debut, Danny Welbeck was being tipped for the 2010 World Cup and Daniel Sturridge was viewed as Europe’s hottest youth striker, Andros Townsend was on loan at Yeovil, going home to a humble hotel where he cooked pasta on an electric stove smuggled into his room.
But team building is about chemistry, not history. On the pitch, against Montenegro and Poland last month, the quartet of Townsend, Rooney, Sturridge and Welbeck fizzed and bubbled with common adventure and complementary attacking ideas. On Friday, against Chile, it was disbanded and with Rooney back to toiling as a lone striker, England were much reduced.
Chemistry: there is Welbeck, the great off-the-ball mover; Townsend, the dribbler; Sturridge, always looking for the box; and Rooney, who finds his best spaces outside it and who loves having options with a sure touch, who move at pace to hit. Back fours and midfield pairings are staples of our football thinking but forwards — often seen more as individuals — should also be considered for how they combine as units.
Putting Rooney/Sturridge/Welbeck/Townsend together was an experiment enforced by injuries but Roy Hodgson stumbled on something. Perhaps not since Terry Venables had Darren Anderton and Steve McManaman flanking Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer have England truly fashioned an attacking line that functioned as a grouping. Maybe, here’s another chance.
Merely “maybe” because Townsend has started just two internationals and 10 Premier League games for Tottenham. He was no game-changer when he came on against Chile, so whether the man of the moment is the man for the long term is too early to call. When fit again, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott will also press persuasive claims to that spot on England’s right.
Yet the compound Townsend brings — carrying possession past opponents at speed, then coming inside to shoot or link with others — seemed to work so catalytically when mixed with Rooney and the rest. “It was easier for myself because they’re world- class players but it was like I had been there for years and we had been playing together, we picked up each other’s games so easily,” Townsend said. “It helped my debut and made my second game so much easier because I knew their runs and what they would do.”
Hodgson asked — and will continue asking — him to play naturally. “He said to go out and do what I’d been doing for Tottenham, and QPR last season, to take people on and get crosses in the box, have some shots. That is basically what every manager has said to me,” Townsend said. His ability is something that no coach could miss — yet he is 22 and only now being consistently trusted at top level, which shows some have doubted other aspects.
Townsend nods at the label one gave him: “single-minded” and “obsessive” even.
“Yeah, I think sometimes it got me into a bit of trouble,” he said. “When I was in the youth team me and a few others would hide footballs behind the cupboards and sneak out in the afternoons and work on our weaker foot, all sorts of things. I got into trouble various times for that — sports scientists and physios are so much into knowing your body and didn’t want me pushing myself too far at such a young age.”
He so wants to excel, to catch the eye. That may have led to impatience during some of his nine loan spells, starting at Yeovil when he was 17, and he has had more shots per game in the Premier League this season than any other player bar Luis Suarez — but scored only once.
There’s a sense that his game is settling down but surely talents who crave making an impact are what the FA Commission will conclude the English game needs. At the start of 2013-14 Townsend laid it on the line for himself: he’d impressed Andre Villas-Boas, the Spurs manager, while on loan at QPR, but £40m of wide attackers in Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli had arrived at White Hart Lane. “I thought that it was the last chance saloon for me,” said Townsend. “After QPR, I’d proved myself in the Premier League so it was either now or never to see if I’m good enough for a top-four, top-five club. You see [Tottenham] spending money on different wingers so I knew when I got the chance I’d have to take it and, thankfully, I did.”
The way he sees it, at club level: “I know that when everyone’s playing I’m only one game away from getting dropped. I’ve just taken the attitude that this could be my last game so I’m going to try and make the most of it.”
For England, he knows the Chile friendly and Tuesday’s showpiece against Germany will be evaluated by Roy Hodgson when the World Cup squad are picked. “Now I have got my foot through the door with my first caps I can taste it and I am not going to let that opportunity slip, to think back in 10 years, ‘Oh, what could have been, if only I had played well against Chile and Germany?’” Townsend said.
Tottenham reacted to the breakthrough against Montenegro and Poland by giving him a new four-year contract. Opponents reacted, too. “As soon as I came back from international duty, the first game at Aston Villa in the first half, I noticed that I had no space at all. They were doubling up, tripling up on me as soon as I got the ball. But fortunately in that game we got the early goal, which meant Villa had to attack — and I’m at my best on the counter. Ever since, it’s been difficult but if I want to be a top player it’s something I need to deal with.”
Villas-Boas has encouraged him to vary his game, to come infield and let Kyle Walker overlap or even switch flanks like Gareth Bale did. “That is definitely something I need to work on, to not only be a touchline winger but a player who plays inside and gets goals from the inside.”
He’s recognised out and about now, and sponsors and media outlets want him. “You go from nothing to all of a sudden everyone wanting to speak to you. Obviously it’s nice but if you start believing your own hype that’s when you start fading away.”
Beyond a mildly spoken veneer is a strong-minded character: questions about the “space monkey” controversy and his 2012 suspension for breaking betting rules are shot down swiftly. “I think that I’ve said all that’s needed to say on the subject. I don’t want to give it any more news time,” was the response to SpaceMonkeyGate.
You go back to when he was that kid at Yeovil: 17, on loan in League One, his father, Troy, making the three-hour journey from London for every game and sometimes being blunt in his post-match assessment if his lad hadn’t excelled. “I’m pretty hard on myself,” Townsend said. “Not only my dad, but my mum was influential and tough when I had a bad game.”
He watched England’s game against Germany at the 2010 World Cup in the country of his maternal family, Cyprus. “I’m not the only Englishman who was shouting at the TV when [Frank Lampard’s] goal was not given,” he sighed.
If Townsend can be at next year’s tournament, England may at least have the attacking formula to thrive.
The young Tottenham forward Andros Townsend has impressed with England but still has work to do to seal his World Cup place
Jonathan Northcroft Published: 17 November 2013
AT THE same age Wayne Rooney made his England debut, Danny Welbeck was being tipped for the 2010 World Cup and Daniel Sturridge was viewed as Europe’s hottest youth striker, Andros Townsend was on loan at Yeovil, going home to a humble hotel where he cooked pasta on an electric stove smuggled into his room.
But team building is about chemistry, not history. On the pitch, against Montenegro and Poland last month, the quartet of Townsend, Rooney, Sturridge and Welbeck fizzed and bubbled with common adventure and complementary attacking ideas. On Friday, against Chile, it was disbanded and with Rooney back to toiling as a lone striker, England were much reduced.
Chemistry: there is Welbeck, the great off-the-ball mover; Townsend, the dribbler; Sturridge, always looking for the box; and Rooney, who finds his best spaces outside it and who loves having options with a sure touch, who move at pace to hit. Back fours and midfield pairings are staples of our football thinking but forwards — often seen more as individuals — should also be considered for how they combine as units.
Putting Rooney/Sturridge/Welbeck/Townsend together was an experiment enforced by injuries but Roy Hodgson stumbled on something. Perhaps not since Terry Venables had Darren Anderton and Steve McManaman flanking Teddy Sheringham and Alan Shearer have England truly fashioned an attacking line that functioned as a grouping. Maybe, here’s another chance.
Merely “maybe” because Townsend has started just two internationals and 10 Premier League games for Tottenham. He was no game-changer when he came on against Chile, so whether the man of the moment is the man for the long term is too early to call. When fit again, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott will also press persuasive claims to that spot on England’s right.
Yet the compound Townsend brings — carrying possession past opponents at speed, then coming inside to shoot or link with others — seemed to work so catalytically when mixed with Rooney and the rest. “It was easier for myself because they’re world- class players but it was like I had been there for years and we had been playing together, we picked up each other’s games so easily,” Townsend said. “It helped my debut and made my second game so much easier because I knew their runs and what they would do.”
Hodgson asked — and will continue asking — him to play naturally. “He said to go out and do what I’d been doing for Tottenham, and QPR last season, to take people on and get crosses in the box, have some shots. That is basically what every manager has said to me,” Townsend said. His ability is something that no coach could miss — yet he is 22 and only now being consistently trusted at top level, which shows some have doubted other aspects.
Townsend nods at the label one gave him: “single-minded” and “obsessive” even.
“Yeah, I think sometimes it got me into a bit of trouble,” he said. “When I was in the youth team me and a few others would hide footballs behind the cupboards and sneak out in the afternoons and work on our weaker foot, all sorts of things. I got into trouble various times for that — sports scientists and physios are so much into knowing your body and didn’t want me pushing myself too far at such a young age.”
He so wants to excel, to catch the eye. That may have led to impatience during some of his nine loan spells, starting at Yeovil when he was 17, and he has had more shots per game in the Premier League this season than any other player bar Luis Suarez — but scored only once.
There’s a sense that his game is settling down but surely talents who crave making an impact are what the FA Commission will conclude the English game needs. At the start of 2013-14 Townsend laid it on the line for himself: he’d impressed Andre Villas-Boas, the Spurs manager, while on loan at QPR, but £40m of wide attackers in Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli had arrived at White Hart Lane. “I thought that it was the last chance saloon for me,” said Townsend. “After QPR, I’d proved myself in the Premier League so it was either now or never to see if I’m good enough for a top-four, top-five club. You see [Tottenham] spending money on different wingers so I knew when I got the chance I’d have to take it and, thankfully, I did.”
The way he sees it, at club level: “I know that when everyone’s playing I’m only one game away from getting dropped. I’ve just taken the attitude that this could be my last game so I’m going to try and make the most of it.”
For England, he knows the Chile friendly and Tuesday’s showpiece against Germany will be evaluated by Roy Hodgson when the World Cup squad are picked. “Now I have got my foot through the door with my first caps I can taste it and I am not going to let that opportunity slip, to think back in 10 years, ‘Oh, what could have been, if only I had played well against Chile and Germany?’” Townsend said.
Tottenham reacted to the breakthrough against Montenegro and Poland by giving him a new four-year contract. Opponents reacted, too. “As soon as I came back from international duty, the first game at Aston Villa in the first half, I noticed that I had no space at all. They were doubling up, tripling up on me as soon as I got the ball. But fortunately in that game we got the early goal, which meant Villa had to attack — and I’m at my best on the counter. Ever since, it’s been difficult but if I want to be a top player it’s something I need to deal with.”
Villas-Boas has encouraged him to vary his game, to come infield and let Kyle Walker overlap or even switch flanks like Gareth Bale did. “That is definitely something I need to work on, to not only be a touchline winger but a player who plays inside and gets goals from the inside.”
He’s recognised out and about now, and sponsors and media outlets want him. “You go from nothing to all of a sudden everyone wanting to speak to you. Obviously it’s nice but if you start believing your own hype that’s when you start fading away.”
Beyond a mildly spoken veneer is a strong-minded character: questions about the “space monkey” controversy and his 2012 suspension for breaking betting rules are shot down swiftly. “I think that I’ve said all that’s needed to say on the subject. I don’t want to give it any more news time,” was the response to SpaceMonkeyGate.
You go back to when he was that kid at Yeovil: 17, on loan in League One, his father, Troy, making the three-hour journey from London for every game and sometimes being blunt in his post-match assessment if his lad hadn’t excelled. “I’m pretty hard on myself,” Townsend said. “Not only my dad, but my mum was influential and tough when I had a bad game.”
He watched England’s game against Germany at the 2010 World Cup in the country of his maternal family, Cyprus. “I’m not the only Englishman who was shouting at the TV when [Frank Lampard’s] goal was not given,” he sighed.
If Townsend can be at next year’s tournament, England may at least have the attacking formula to thrive.
