Townsend or no Townsend?

[chetil]

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.

There is no way Lamela would have only one goal from 45 shots. Simples.

 

[jamesc0le]

i would play townsend at leftback, especially at the moment with no proper left back and rose the prospect out injured. in an ironic reverse of the gareth bale situation where we had to move him from the left back position to avoid a slight stall in his progress, we could use townsend's excellent pace at fullback where he could also iron out the weaknesses in his game, make him an all round better player, get him used to timing runs without the ball and there will be no doubling up on him, we will be the ones overloading the left hand side. nice. then when the time is right we re-release the real Gareth Bale mk2 as an attacking mid, outright.

 

[Yid121]

How did he play for England btw?

 

[double0]

Every body is supporting Townsend, but because hes from the youth academy doesnt mean hes exempt from criticism when deserved.
Hes will be a fantastic talent for us and will play with the squad and learn from them.

I find it funny though the same people that are quick to slate Townsend with stats are not questioning Soldado imo poor input. You hear his not getting service etc etc yet when you watch the areas Townsend gets the ball one could say aswell his receiving poor service too.

Anyway lets support the team.

 

[chinaman]

i would play townsend at leftback, especially at the moment with no proper left back and rose the prospect out injured. in an ironic reverse of the gareth bale situation where we had to move him from the left back position to avoid a slight stall in his progress, we could use townsend's excellent pace at fullback where he could also iron out the weaknesses in his game, make him an all round better player, get him used to timing runs without the ball and there will be no doubling up on him, we will be the ones overloading the left hand side. nice. then when the time is right we re-release the real Gareth Bale mk2 as an attacking mid, outright.

Not a bad idea and is worth a try seeing that we really have not done anything worthy of notice with all the permutations we've tried.

 

[EllenAlex]

http://i.imgur.com/lj3q1b0.png
This pic for me sums up exactly my thoughts on why Andros should at the very least be moved to the left if not benched for a game or two. His confidence is obviously high, which is a good thing, but it results in this sort of thing being a common occurrence. All he had to do is whip in a low cross for Soldado who is completely free in the middle but instead he tries to shoot from a supper tight angle with his week foot. For me he hasn't shown enough intelegance or maturity to play on the right for us and would be much more effective on the left as a more atypical left winger. I would personally like to see Chadli, Eriksen and Lamela get a run of games but I doubt Townsend will get dropped to the bench, I also doubt he will get moved to the left so I don't know what that means for Lamela or our attack in general.

Traditional wingers...Bale out left, Lennon out right...dem were the days! We have the players to replicate that.

 

[YiddoInPoland]

I find it funny though the same people that are quick to slate Townsend with stats are not questioning Soldado imo poor input. You hear his not getting service etc etc yet when you watch the areas Townsend gets the ball one could say aswell his receiving poor service too.

Anyway lets support the team.

Soldado has been getting it in the neck too but he has been involved in 6 of our 9 goals, take away the penalties and he was still involved in 3 of 6, so his lack of open play goals doesn't tell the whole picture of what has offered the team, but i grant you he needs to improve aswell as does the whole team.

Our whole lack of effectiveness cannot all be put at Townsend feet but he does add to it by consistently making a poor choice, hopefully that will improve with experience but that needs to be worked on by him if he wants to cement a place.

 

[sim0n]

maybe with eriksen out Spurs could look like this up front?

Lennon Holtby Lamela
GOLdado

who knows? Townsend either keeps shooting onsight, but comes in off the bench.... or learns to bring his team mates into play and keeps his starting spot...

 

[edgey]

I'm loving how far Townsend has come, from a minow who would barely get a sniff in Europa League games just 2 seasons ago to a strong attacking winger who has his own Thread on SC! He's come a long way but still has a way to go. My only criticism is simply to echo what everyone else is saying... He shoots far too much imo. It's not necessarily a bad thing if the shots were being converted of course, but they are not. I know he's being played out of possition and probably finds it natural to cut in on his left foot, but then that leaves him little option for supplying balls into the box.

I would love to see him on the left, Lennon right and Lamela behind Soldado but can't see it happening as AVB seems to like inverted wingers.

So for me if Townsend can start to distinguish when to shoot and when to cross he'll go far. If not tho he'll find himself slip down the pecking order I think

 

[EllenAlex]

I'm loving how far Townsend has come, from a minow who would barely get a sniff in Europa League games just 2 seasons ago to a strong attacking winger who has his own Thread on SC! He's come a long way but still has a way to go. My only criticism is simply to echo what everyone else is saying... He shoots far too much imo. It's not necessarily a bad thing if the shots were being converted of course, but they are not. I know he's being played out of possition and probably finds it natural to cut in on his left foot, but then that leaves him little option for supplying balls into the box.

I would love to see him on the left, Lennon right and Lamela behind Soldado but can't see it happening as AVB seems to like inverted wingers.

So for me if Townsend can start to distinguish when to shoot and when to cross he'll go far. If not tho he'll find himself slip down the pecking order I think

Thing is, for England he loves showing off his crossing ability, which is wicked, from either foot. Put him in The Lilywhite and he is gets all Cornholio! Frustrates me to bits.

His selfishness on the right is borne from the shooting angle the position generates for a left footer. Put him on the left and he pretty much has to cross; with shots only limited to occassions.