We're building our team around the wrong player!

[nightgoat]

This is another option I'd rather see, than our best player out of position.

I agree with the Walker comment though, his control needs to be worked on, was shocking at times today. 3 times with time to take a touch and cross, the ball ended up at head height.

Yeah, the last player we should be moving out of position to accommodate absentees is Modric... Friedel excluded, obviously...

 

[Maske2g]

You gotta love it. A 'mere point' against a resurgent Chelsea (having lost Lennon and Defoe before kick off and VDV at half time) and rage babies come to the fore.

Can think of all manner of expletives with which to answer your original post but am gonna restrain myself.

We're all Spurs fans after all.

The OP is this. Do you think our best player, should be taken out of his best position, where he dominates games, to instead play a midfield that has looked mediocre in several games, not just this one?

Hardly resurgent, should have gone 2 - down to a ten man city at home, and drew with Wigan.

They've looked shit in every other game.

 

[theShiznit]

without the intensity he showed in the first 4-5 games he offers very little.

where is the inspiration we saw early on that inspired those around him... That's Sandro at present.

Parker has been flacid for 3-4 games now, and coming into Christmas that is not good. There have been plenty of occassions where he could've missed the last 25 minutes which would have served the dual purpose of getting Sandro valuable game time too.

 

[hans]

it wouldve been more beneficial to sub vdv for livermore and play him on the right than putting pav on

 

[double0]

Scott Parker should not be the first name on the sheet....

LUKA MODRIC

CENTRE MIDFIELD

It's no coincidence that our poorest performances, which have lacked any rhythm, have been with Luka out of the side, or shunted all around the midfield except for the centre.

So please, Harry, stop this 2 defensive midfielders bollocks, and put our Luka where he needs to be.

No issue with Sandro, but it's one or the other, and to be frank, whilst he is a destroyer in the tackle, he doesn't bring enough all round game to our midfield at the moment.

Harry is really showing that without his first 11, he has no idea what to do with the side, and the organisation of Chelsea's midfield, whilst pedestrian, won them a point and should have won them the game.

Totally agree with this, Luka Modric should be played centrally and the team should be built around him.

 

[onthetwo]

Im no manager but against the top teams that generally play 3 across the middle, we need to do the same, and id always go Parker and Sandro behind Luka like we did away against Milan last year (when Wilson did the Parker role if i remember rightly). The only problem that i see with that is that Luka comes too deep to get the ball and Rafa sometimes does the same which i find a bit pointless as i think Sandro and Parker are fine playing simple passes out from the back and in the process you leave the front man (Ade) isolated. So for me, in order to make the 3-man midfield work you need to get Luka on the ball MUCH further up the pitch so that he can either pass or SHOOT more often, and the same for whoever is supporting Ade (Bale, Lennon, Rafa etc).

 

[nailsy]

If we buy some decent cover for Lennon we don't have this problem. Hoilett please.

 

[StartingPrice]

If we buy some decent cover for Lennon we don't have this problem. Hoilett please.

But the problem, then, is that we would not be able to play Sandro and Parker. Legitimate question: if we played 4-4-2 last night, would Modric and one of Sandro/Parker have coped with their midfield? Because I did think, at one stage, he would have been better moving Bale to the right and playing Townsend (or Krankjar or Pienaar)...but I jsut don't know if a midfield two would have coped.

 

[nailsy]

But the problem, then, is that we would not be able to play Sandro and Parker. Legitimate question: if we played 4-4-2 last night, would Modric and one of Sandro/Parker have coped with their midfield? Because I did think, at one stage, he would have been better moving Bale to the right and playing Townsend (or Krankjar or Pienaar)...but I jsut don't know if a midfield two would have coped.

VDV would need to drop deeper into midfield to help out. Chelsea could hardly cope with Bale. If Lennon had played as well, they would have been in huge trouble.

 

[StartingPrice]

VDV would need to drop deeper into midfield to help out. Chelsea could hardly cope with Bale. If Lennon had played as well, they would have been in huge trouble.

VDV is a great player...but a loose canon. We could easily have lost such a midfield battle.
We are talking only on the premiss that Lennon was out (as he was) :wink:

 

[jonathanhotspur]

I think VDV has a tendency to drop deep because Modric is not doing what he is supposed to be doing.

 

[StartingPrice]

I think VDV has a tendency to drop deep because Modric is not doing what he is supposed to be doing.

I think that Modric and VDV both like to rove acoss the width of the pitch and as such clearly get in one another's way sometimes. Sorry to upset anyone because they are both great players, but I've been noticing it for a while, now.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

I think that Modric and VDV both like to rove acoss the width of the pitch and as such clearly get in one another's way sometimes. Sorry to upset anyone because they are both great players, but I've been noticing it for a while, now.

I'm only upset about the result, SP. I think VDV gets pissed off when he is not receiving the ball in the final third and he goes looking for it. Highly likely to happen when we are not moving the ball quickly enough.

 

[nailsy]

VDV is a great player...but a loose canon. We could easily have lost such a midfield battle.
We are talking only on the premiss that Lennon was out (as he was) :wink:

That's why I said we need someone like Hoilett as cover for Lennon :wink:

Like you I was thinking before the game that we could pay Bale on the right and throw Rose/Townsend in on the left.

There's no way of knowing how VDV would have coped now, but I just prefer when we play to our strengths.....Modric in the middle and pace on the wings.

 

[spudtrader]

But the problem, then, is that we would not be able to play Sandro and Parker. Legitimate question: if we played 4-4-2 last night, would Modric and one of Sandro/Parker have coped with their midfield?

But surely the problem was redknapp felt he had to move modric out wide, because lennon and vdv were both unavailable. So if we had Hoilett on the bench last night, he would have replaced vdv at half time. Thus keeping our shape/formation, and most importantly, modric in the middle.

I agree that modric and parker/sandro would have struggled on their own last night but i dont think he was suggesting we did that.

I strongly agree that parker should not be relied on for 90 mins every match, now that sandro has had a few games.

Why was pienaar not on the bench btw?

 

[nailsy]

Pienaar had a fever.

 

[spudtrader]

IMO if a team are gonna come at us playing 4 4 2, then we match that formation as we have been doing all season, no question.

If a good team comes at us 4 5 1 / 4 3 3 (chelsea) we should seriously think about dropping vdv to the bench. Allowing us to have the desired 2 interceptors and the creator in the middle.

If a shite team lines up 4 5 1, then we can let vdv start wide right, because he is good at finding space and we wont have to rely on his defensive tracking and concentration.

 

[lenny7]

i would have played sandro on the right! but then i am a genius..

The boy can cross...

 

[dbspurs]

But the problem, then, is that we would not be able to play Sandro and Parker. Legitimate question: if we played 4-4-2 last night, would Modric and one of Sandro/Parker have coped with their midfield? Because I did think, at one stage, he would have been better moving Bale to the right and playing Townsend (or Krankjar or Pienaar)...but I jsut don't know if a midfield two would have coped.

or bench VDV. [braces himself for abuse]

 

[StartingPrice]

I'm only upset about the result, SP. I think VDV gets pissed off when he is not receiving the ball in the final third and he goes looking for it. Highly likely to happen when we are not moving the ball quickly enough.

Didn't mean I thought I was upsetting you by saying it (though we all know you are volatile enough to be upset by the sound of leaves falling in the Autumn :razz - I meant generically, by suggesting that Modric and VDV take one another's space quite often, and therefore, maybe, we should consider other options.

I think VDV is a great player, but a bit of a loose canon - as I said above. He may go looking for the ball, but he does it even when Modric is moving the ball quickly enough (and, generally, having a good game), and sometimes they get in one another's way.

That's why I said we need someone like Hoilett as cover for Lennon :wink:

Like you I was thinking before the game that we could pay Bale on the right and throw Rose/Townsend in on the left.

There's no way of knowing how VDV would have coped now, but I just prefer when we play to our strengths.....Modric in the middle and pace on the wings.

Yeah, but you said if Lennon has played...blah, blah, blah - and didn't mention Hoilett. I referencing that sentence :wink:

I agree, we should play to our strengths - and usually that means having Modric in the middle, orchestrating, and Lennon and Bale on the wings.

But surely the problem was redknapp felt he had to move modric out wide, because lennon and vdv were both unavailable. So if we had Hoilett on the bench last night, he would have replaced vdv at half time. Thus keeping our shape/formation, and most importantly, modric in the middle.

I agree that modric and parker/sandro would have struggled on their own last night but i dont think he was suggesting we did that.

I strongly agree that parker should not be relied on for 90 mins every match, now that sandro has had a few games.

Why was pienaar not on the bench btw?

Que? We did have VDV available :grin:
Okay, I know what you mean, (I think ). It would be nice if we had Hoilett, but we don't. I don't eant to go into the whole slagging Redknapp territory thang, because I don't mean to, but I would have preferred playing one of Pienaar/Kranjar/Townsend on the left and Bale on the right, and keeping our shape, or, doing this at half time (hypothetically - I know that Pienaar was out). Hell, I would like him to try Krankjar in the VDV role, as I think he is tailor made for it - but he never does.