never easy with spurs
New Member
- Dec 6, 2006
- 11
- 0
Hi all,
As a first time writer on this glorious website I'd just like to give my opinion on where our beloved team is going wrong. And I promise not to include throw-away, ill-conceived phrases like 'he's shit' or 'sack Ramos', because as an avid watcher of football (not just 'the greatest league in the world ever ever') I think I have a solution…
Many of the comments I've read on here over the last few weeks have focussed solely on the striker issue. The fact that we have 2 Premier League rookies and 1 over-priced player who rarely featured last season (but still scored a few, mind you). Yes, Berbatov and Keane are huge losses. Not just because they scored most of our goals and are excellent players, but because they have been the creative fulcrum of the team for the last 2 seasons. Every attack went through those two, which is quite strange.
Nearly all of the top European and International sides play through the midfield, with the help of the full-backs to create chances for the strikers. Spurs relied on Berbatov and/or Keane to drop deep in order to make things tick, and that would seriously hinder our ability to attack as a potent force because the balance of the side would be uneven.
Their replacements, Pavlyuchenko and Campbell, as well as Bent, are not creative forwards. They're goalscorers. If the ball goes into the box, they will attack it, that's when they come alive. They just don't have the finesse or skill of Berbatov or Keane so we can’t expect them to play good football outside of the penalty box.
So without those two we've had to adapt to a new system. A system, which I'm all in favour of, where we are essentially being forced to let the midfielders be the creative players in the team, and leave the strikers to do their job when the ball arrives in and around the penalty area. The problem is that we don't have the midfielders who are up for the job. Bentley on the right is perfect for the system. Lennon/Bale or Giovani on the left can play in the system. They will be dangerous and provide untold crosses for Bent/Pavlyuchenko and Campbell to attack. As we saw in Euro 2008, Pavlyuchenko can head a ball. Bent can head a ball. Campbell looks like a poacher.
So it should all be good, right? Why aren't we scoring goals? It's because our central midfield has not assumed the mantle of being the 'bosses' on the pitch. The 2 centre mids need to be at the heart of everything. If the defenders have the ball, they need to demand the ball of the defenders, whether it's a full back or a centre back. If the wingers have the ball, they need to be available in space close to the action. They need to be where the ball is. If we have a throw-in, they need to collect the ball or be close to the action, wherever it is on the pitch.
Far too often last night (and all season) I have seen Jenas/Zokora or Huddlestone shy away from taking control of the game. For all Zokora's endeavour, he doesn't have the best passing range or positional sense. Jenas has the ability to pass, shoot, and tackle to a decent standard. But he doesn’t do it often enough. He is so unbelievably lazy that it's impossible to play him in the middle. The simple answer is that he does not have a 'football brain'. His positional play is terrible, and it always takes him about 4 seconds to decide which pass to make. If you play in centre midfield you need to be sharp. 1 and 2 touch. Quick passing. I think Modric when he comes back can be the answer. He's a playmaker and that's what we've been missing the last 2 games. He just needs a partner in the middle to compliment him.
I seriously believe we are almost there. If we stop playing long, hopeless balls up to Bent (who to his credit flicked it on, but to no-one), and focus on passing the ball through the spine of the team and out to the wingers and full backs to cross the ball, we'll be fine. The reason we had to resort to playing the long ball game last night was because our midfielders were not taking the ball off our defenders and taking control. Zokora was nowhere to be seen and Jenas played just behind the strikers, whilst being marked by 2 Polish defenders
Ramos needs to address the balance of the midfield and tell the team to start closing down as a unit. We sit off teams far too often and give them so much space to play their way round us. It's embarrasing. Play as a unit, play as a team, pass the ball through the midfield. Get crosses in from wide position. Don’t play the long ball. And give jermaine jenas a hard kick up the backside, because if he puts the effort in he could be a good player for us
Believe in the team, cos we are almost there
Bring on Sunday!
As a first time writer on this glorious website I'd just like to give my opinion on where our beloved team is going wrong. And I promise not to include throw-away, ill-conceived phrases like 'he's shit' or 'sack Ramos', because as an avid watcher of football (not just 'the greatest league in the world ever ever') I think I have a solution…
Many of the comments I've read on here over the last few weeks have focussed solely on the striker issue. The fact that we have 2 Premier League rookies and 1 over-priced player who rarely featured last season (but still scored a few, mind you). Yes, Berbatov and Keane are huge losses. Not just because they scored most of our goals and are excellent players, but because they have been the creative fulcrum of the team for the last 2 seasons. Every attack went through those two, which is quite strange.
Nearly all of the top European and International sides play through the midfield, with the help of the full-backs to create chances for the strikers. Spurs relied on Berbatov and/or Keane to drop deep in order to make things tick, and that would seriously hinder our ability to attack as a potent force because the balance of the side would be uneven.
Their replacements, Pavlyuchenko and Campbell, as well as Bent, are not creative forwards. They're goalscorers. If the ball goes into the box, they will attack it, that's when they come alive. They just don't have the finesse or skill of Berbatov or Keane so we can’t expect them to play good football outside of the penalty box.
So without those two we've had to adapt to a new system. A system, which I'm all in favour of, where we are essentially being forced to let the midfielders be the creative players in the team, and leave the strikers to do their job when the ball arrives in and around the penalty area. The problem is that we don't have the midfielders who are up for the job. Bentley on the right is perfect for the system. Lennon/Bale or Giovani on the left can play in the system. They will be dangerous and provide untold crosses for Bent/Pavlyuchenko and Campbell to attack. As we saw in Euro 2008, Pavlyuchenko can head a ball. Bent can head a ball. Campbell looks like a poacher.
So it should all be good, right? Why aren't we scoring goals? It's because our central midfield has not assumed the mantle of being the 'bosses' on the pitch. The 2 centre mids need to be at the heart of everything. If the defenders have the ball, they need to demand the ball of the defenders, whether it's a full back or a centre back. If the wingers have the ball, they need to be available in space close to the action. They need to be where the ball is. If we have a throw-in, they need to collect the ball or be close to the action, wherever it is on the pitch.
Far too often last night (and all season) I have seen Jenas/Zokora or Huddlestone shy away from taking control of the game. For all Zokora's endeavour, he doesn't have the best passing range or positional sense. Jenas has the ability to pass, shoot, and tackle to a decent standard. But he doesn’t do it often enough. He is so unbelievably lazy that it's impossible to play him in the middle. The simple answer is that he does not have a 'football brain'. His positional play is terrible, and it always takes him about 4 seconds to decide which pass to make. If you play in centre midfield you need to be sharp. 1 and 2 touch. Quick passing. I think Modric when he comes back can be the answer. He's a playmaker and that's what we've been missing the last 2 games. He just needs a partner in the middle to compliment him.
I seriously believe we are almost there. If we stop playing long, hopeless balls up to Bent (who to his credit flicked it on, but to no-one), and focus on passing the ball through the spine of the team and out to the wingers and full backs to cross the ball, we'll be fine. The reason we had to resort to playing the long ball game last night was because our midfielders were not taking the ball off our defenders and taking control. Zokora was nowhere to be seen and Jenas played just behind the strikers, whilst being marked by 2 Polish defenders
Ramos needs to address the balance of the midfield and tell the team to start closing down as a unit. We sit off teams far too often and give them so much space to play their way round us. It's embarrasing. Play as a unit, play as a team, pass the ball through the midfield. Get crosses in from wide position. Don’t play the long ball. And give jermaine jenas a hard kick up the backside, because if he puts the effort in he could be a good player for us
Believe in the team, cos we are almost there
Bring on Sunday!