Townsend or no Townsend?

[THFCSPURS19]

What is evident is that we are not making enough chances and therefore, many are suggesting that Holtby, Eriksen and Lamela all play. This means that Townsend will be left out.

I felt that today Townsend was very selfish like the first couple games of the season and not making the right decisions.

You could argue that he has been our main player the last couple of games after the England matches and he had been playing very well with his pace, stamina and exceptional dribbling ability.

So, I am going to pose these questions: Should he be starting? Was his good form only temporary? Has he been grossly overhyped by us and the media?

I am really in both camps, at the start of the season, I said Chadli and Lamela should be our main wingers, I then swapped Chadli for Townsend and now I am just confused as we need more creativity which means that no fewer than 3 wingers could miss out.

What do we all think?

 

[jonathanhotspur]

Going by his performance today, it looked as though he'd had a bang on the head and put the bandage on his wrist by mistake. Bench him.

 

[TheGreenLily]

10 games and one lucky goal. Very poor decision making... BENCH HIM FUCKING STAT.

 

[Damian99]

Give Lamela a run of games it's just what the boy needs.

 

[idontgetit]

I'd start Lamela and bring Townsend on to run at a tired full back. I never used to rate Townsend but he's shown time on time that he learns and improves with game time and I think a few seasons down the road he will be a very talented all round player. He was much more effective for England because they actually get players in the box. Rooney, Sturridge, Gerrard, Lampard and Welbeck attacking the box is extremely different to Holtby, Paulinho, Soldado and Lennon. Also at the moment Townsend is a bit of a flat track bully and England's opponents have been relatively average compared to the usual premier defences

 

[Mr Pink]

I'd bring Lamela into the side now and have Andros on the bench.

He can be explosive, and he's obviously very direct but end product is concerning. His performance against Chelsea was very good, his best by a distance IMO - needs to be playing like that to make the position his own but perhaps its an opportunity to take the pressure off him a little and bed in Lamela.

 

[TH1239]

Townsend has 1 (inadvertent) goal and 0 assists on 40 shots in 9 games this season. He has 1 (inadvertent) goal and 0 assists in his last 1300+ minutes of league football. That's a pretty large sample size of game time and it can't be that he's just perpetually unlucky. His end product needs serious work. Lennon, too has been very ineffective as far as goals and assists go in this calendar year.

With that said, I would love to see Townsend come off the bench while his arm is injured, and be allowed to influence games like today when the opposing team may tire late on.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

Stats don't tell the whole story, but only one goal this season is pretty shocking, especially with all of the shots he takes. It does cost us possession and chances. Someone needs to tell the boy that he is shit at shooting from outside the box and never should.

 

[only1waddle]

Once the silly notion of being the next Bale is knocked out of him then he could be a good player, i like Townsend but he is running down too many blind alleys, becoming a one trick pony, this is where AVB needs to earn his corn and guide Andros, at this point i would now favour Lamela as we need more intelligent options around the box.

 

[Blake Griffin]

i feel a bit sorry for him, when he cuts inside there's still very little movement or options ahead of him, it's not like he's ignoring them and just letting fly.

 

[Dembele'Disciple]

How can you bench the only attacker that's shown a semblence of form this season? Pathetic stuff. He's whipped in plenty of good crosses with his weeker foot this season only for our strikers not to be good enough in the air to take advantage.

Who do you lads suggest we play instead? Lamela? He's done absolutely nothing since coming here. Forget the fact that towsends shots aren't ending up in goals, lamela can't even generate the space to take a shot.

 

[mario antoniou]

Problem is we need 2 play with 2 strikers Soldaldo up front does not work
Alone
Kane Soldaldo or even adiybayour soldaldo
Lennon on the left does not work
Townsend still best option on the right
Signerson form at present on the left start with him
Midfield dembely paulinio
Loris walker Dawson kirikirsh vertongon

 

[Andre_Serrano]

I could never understand why starting Townsend and Lamela should be mutual excluding.


We don't have have enough talent in attacking line, not too many. Except Soldado who is a proacher only Lamela and Townsend are top class. One has potential to become a top attacking midfield and the other is currently one of best winger in EPL. Surely there must be enough places from 42"3"1 for both of them. 3 places, 2 players. And Lamela's natural position is AMC, so what's the problem?

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Problem is we need 2 play with 2 strikers Soldaldo up front does not work
Alone
Kane Soldaldo or even adiybayour soldaldo
Lennon on the left does not work
Townsend still best option on the right
Signerson form at present on the left start with him
Midfield dembely paulinio
Loris walker Dawson kirikirsh vertongon

I don't know what to say...

k

 

[yojambo]

It doesn't matter who we play it will be the same problems.
Its the system not the players.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Once the silly notion of being the next Bale is knocked out of him then he could be a good player, i like Townsend but he is running down too many blind alleys, becoming a one trick pony, this is where AVB needs to earn his corn and guide Andros, at this point i would now favour Lamela as we need more intelligent options around the box.

As I said, he has been very overhyped by the media. I hate to say it but Bale was 1 million times the player Townsend is at the same age...
Doesn't mean he cannot be incredible in the future, just can't see him getting near to the ability of Bale

Sorry Andros

 

[mario antoniou]

It doesn't matter who we play it will be the same problems.
Its the system not the players.

 

[fatpiranha]

Townsend has beaten his marker more than any other player in the premiership and only Eden Hazard has created more chances per game http://thinkfootball.co.uk/archives/12566. Lamela has yet to show he can beat an egg. Townsend has outperformed Lamela this season on just about every stat imaginable.

I'm not knocking Lamela. I hope he comes good but I don't get why some of our players get so much criticism while others seem immune from it. Paulinho was dismal today as was Lennon yet Townsend (who I admit didn't have his best game) gets the thread questioning his inclusion .

Paulinho - 32 passes 23 successful 0 chances created 1 shot (1 blocked)
Holtby - 48 passes 36 successful 2 chances created 2 shots (1 on target, 1 blocked)
Lennon - 23 passes 20 successful 1 chance created 0 shots
Townsend - 31 passes 29 successful 3 chances created 5 shots (2 on target, 1 off target, 2 blocked)

Townsend is not the problem.

 

[felmani26]

Townsend has given us impetus in games and is definitely one of the better performers but I do think we need a change of tact going forward and we can't just continue to overlook Eriksen, Lamela et al.

Andros will undoubtedly be a key cog in our machine this year but a bench role in the next few games won't do him any harm.

 

[Spurs1960]

No end product yet again.

Looks good, produces nothing. No assists, no balls across the 6 yard box for Soldado and no goals from shots in 9 games.

Beat all the men you like but if you don't create anything you need replacing by someone who can.