Walker makes a huge difference!
- Thread starter lukespurs7
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Flobadob
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- Jul 22, 2014
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Have to agree, i found this a little bit patronising at first tbh. Not an issue though, as i can see it's just a figure of speech/habit from @thinktank
thinktank
Hmmm...
- Sep 28, 2004
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I can't take any of this seriously when you then say you want Vlad there instead. All of the issues you listed apply to Vlad in a worse way. Walker has only just come back from injury and our play has been better for it, even if he isn't playing well right now at all. He was awful against Sunderland going forward, but his energy makes a huge difference and he gives us an outlet on so many occasions out wide. His positioning isn't good, i agree, but it doesn't matter because like i say, he recovers 9 times out of 10 during counter attacks anyway, you can't deny that. I also agree that it's quite telling that Vlad's crossing ability, as a CB by trade, is better than Walkers and that's really what my post was about tbh. He needs to spend hours and hours on that final ball, because he so often gets into excellent positions. If he had a good final ball he would be such a threat. He's unorthadox as a defender and does lack some key attributes (he will improve under Poch's coaching IMO) like you say, but for me he gets the job done the vast majority of the time defensively anyway.
I'm happy as larry with our options at fullback and i cannot for the life of me understand why you refuse to rate Rose after he's performed excellently in quite a few matches this season and turned in far more consistent performances. He was awesome at the start of last season and i feel he's getting close to that level right now and you are letting his bad performances from the second half of the season last year cloud your judgement of him as a player for me. Give him a chance. I can see why you rate Davies, because he's good on the ball, positions himself well, doesn't dive in and instead jockeys players and he has a decent final ball, but he doesn't have the same affect on our shape and attacking play as Rose does and i can list just as many good attributes that Rose posseses. I prefer Rose for the majority of games, because we need to attack and keep a good shape and width in most games, but i'd prefer Davies to play when we have to defend and keep a better defensive shape. As i've said before, it's a horses for courses situation in my mind.
I'd love Clyne as well, but you can't always have what you want unfortunately. There aren't many fullbacks like him that are attainable for us IMO and i believe with some good coaching Walker has the raw materials to become a very good full back. He's still young and players develop at different stages, i still have hope for him. Regarding Yedlin, i guess we'll see with him. He looks a very exciting prospect to me, but i believe it's probably a little too much for him to come from the MLS to the PL and make an impact straight away. It's definitely a possibility that he could overtake Walker in time though, because his final ball already looks in a different league to me, it's just defensively that i'd have some question marks over him, but he's never been coached by someone of the level of Poch before on a consistent basis (don't particularly rate Klinsman tbh) and some players take to it like a duck to water, so hopefully that's the case
Yeah...nah.
And wanting vlad there at the moment lets you know just how desperate I feel the situation is. I can't believe it myself! Vlad! lol Who'd have thought he'd be more effective than Walker going forward and not much worse, in his batshittery, at the back! Football ay.
Watched kyle so closely for so long now, I'm convinced it's not going to happen. We all have our threshold though, I suppose. If poch can do something with him, then fantastic as his speed is great to have. I really can't picture it though.
Rose isn't a defender either, he really isn't. He's had some good moments and he has improved his game somewhat, but he is a ropey defender. What we need is a pacey Lwf to play in front of davies so he can overlap properly knowing his back is covered...which he doesn't have at the moment.
My ideal scenario is to upgrade on Walker, when possible, have the new RB wrestle for starts with Yedlin (and also use yedlin as a RW/LW utility eventually as well). Upgrade on Rose and bring in someone like davies with pace to fight for LB.
One can dream.
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Kendall
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- Feb 8, 2007
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The great and the awful with Walker in one Saturday afternoon for me.
He is powerful, gets up to support the attacks, atretches teams, gets isolated with a defender, but his delivery consistently lets him/us down. It is a massive issue and it badly affects the effectiveness of our style of play/system.
He is powerful, gets up to support the attacks, atretches teams, gets isolated with a defender, but his delivery consistently lets him/us down. It is a massive issue and it badly affects the effectiveness of our style of play/system.
mattie g
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- Jun 27, 2007
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So you're saying that he lacks crossing ability as well as positional awareness. I think it would be tough to be the best modern RB in the world without fixing those two weaknesses. He won't be getting any quicker, so in the next few years his pace won't be able to get him out of those jams so easily. I'd also say that he makes poor decisions with the ball at his feet more often than a top player should.
Don't get me wrong...he's very good for us, has improved greatly in the last two years, and makes a difference to how we've played since he came back, but he has glaring weaknesses to his game that preclude him from being at the very top level.
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ultimateloner
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- Jan 25, 2004
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I think he is fine for us at RB. The technical side may come through eventually.
Actually the defence is fine as it is now. We need to improve moving the ball around.
Actually the defence is fine as it is now. We need to improve moving the ball around.
thinktank
Hmmm...
- Sep 28, 2004
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thinktank
Hmmm...
- Sep 28, 2004
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Again, it's not at all imo. We've gained more consistency there thankfully but we still have issues: Verts is wobbly and can be totally powder puff when up against an aggressive and/or powerful CF and is prone to losing his head/composure and incorporating pulling down shorts and arguing with linesmen into his defensive repertoire. He has his good spells but he isn't a top top CB. Just isn't. Faz is dominant in the air and decent positionally but he's slow and also can be very rash.
Will give faz a bit of slack though as he's came into a pretty unstable situation at the back and had to - and still has to - settle properly.
Davies I commend as he's gotten up to speed pretty quickly and I still think he'll improve further.
We should build the defense around Dier imo. I think he's going to be fantastic for us.
Oh Ledley...we miss you, master.
Spurs_Bear
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- Jan 7, 2009
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He's made a huge difference without actually being any good himself, which is something in the extreme. It's a toss up, I think he's a better defender (certainly 1v1) than originally credited for, but he has been pretty shocking going forward. Hoping it's rust but fearful it's because he has too much time and space.
Kudos to @thinktank though, Yedlin as a RW/LW was a good one.
Kudos to @thinktank though, Yedlin as a RW/LW was a good one.
thinktank
Hmmm...
- Sep 28, 2004
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Bobbins
SC's 14th Sexiest Male 2008
- May 5, 2005
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TT's next suggestion is to upgrade on Lloris by putting Yedlin in goal (his pace will mean he can also play LWF at the same time)...
thinktank
Hmmm...
- Sep 28, 2004
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TT's next suggestion is to upgrade on Lloris but putting Yedlin in goal (his pace will mean he can also play LWF at the same time)...
Flobadob
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- Jul 22, 2014
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Yes, he is out of position quite often, but i also said that he recovers despite this 9 times out of 10 anyway? You can't just pick out a few words i've said in a post and make a whole argument based on countering them without also taking into account the fact i also said i believe it's kind of irrelevant seeing as i feel he recovers anyway most of the time despite this lack of positioning (mainly due to him busting a gut to give us an attacking outlet in the first place). I felt he improved last season before his injury under a far inferior coach and i have hope he will improve further under Poch, especially going forward where he has a proven track record of vastly improving young players (Shaw, Rodriguez, Lallana, JWP at Southampton and now Rose, Bentaleb, Mason, Eriksen, Chadli and Kane here).
On a side note and this isn't aimed at you at all, i don't like this idea that Walker has no potential to improve because 'he has no brain'. Wtf is this based on? Him looking like a dopey **** is the only answer i can come to right now. Yes, his decision making isn't good right now in the final third and he makes some mistakes, but a lot of young players are exactly the same. Naughton makes just as many dumb mistakes defensively as Walker, if not more, yet you never hear people saying 'he has no brain' etc. It's out of order IMO and a completely personal insult towards one of our players. So many people come out with this shit that it's very unlikely that he isn't aware that people are saying this about him and i imagine it's extremely disheartening. People need to stop saying it and find a better way to express their opinion than insulting him
Spurs_Bear
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- Jan 7, 2009
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Cheers, and when it happens you can shine by bollocks for me. I've got polish.
It wont. Hope you've got the long life stuff.
As a disclaimer this must happen (Yedlin LW/RW) in 3 consecutive matches to constitute a win.
thinktank
Hmmm...
- Sep 28, 2004
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lmao
THFCSPURS19
The Speaker of the Transfer Rumours Forum
- Jan 6, 2013
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I'm sorry TT, but this is the worst post I've ever seen from you. It's just so wrong in multiple aspects. I know you and @Bus-Conductor (especially BC) won't listen, so I won't waste your (or my) time eitherThe guy can't defend, pal. His positioning is horrible, his reading of the game is horrible, he makes bonkers decisions all the time and really just doesn't know what's going on most games.
I was looking forward to him coming back as we were desperate for his pace and hoped he would have had time to reflect on his game and come back more mature and composed but he's even worse.
Maybe poch can work on his game, but I can see that taking forever to bear fruit with kyle. He just doesn't have the right make-up to be a top defender imo.
I still fancy vlad there instead of him atm - that says it all!
The only decent FB we have is Davies tbf (hoping yedlin comes in swinging and pushes Walker to get his head right, but I don't have much hope of that at all...walker getting his head right, I mean).
I really would sell walker in the summer and have us try and find a Clyne type. Watched kyle very closely for years now and hoped he'd develop, but it's the end of the road with him for me, personally.
Speed is nothing without a brain for the game.
mattie g
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- Jun 27, 2007
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I wasn't picking apart your argument. I was using what you said to enhance mine.
I agree with you that his pace gets him out of trouble that his poor positioning causes him, but over time that won't get him out of jams because he's going to lose some pace as he gets older. If he doesn't improve that aspect of his game - and there's nothing that suggests to me that he's figuring it out quickly - then I don't believe he can be one of the best right backs in the world.
He's 25 and has been in the league for a long time. He has some room to improve, but time is running out quickly. I'm already on record as saying that I think Walker is very good - certainly a better player than Naughton - and he has the tools to be that much better than he already is. Therefore, I think it's fair to point out his weaknesses because it can be frustrating to watch a player with so much natural ability not take full advantage of it (for whatever reason).
I don't like when people say that players have no brain, etc. because it can certainly be stated more eloquently while still getting the same point across. Some players don't have the mental aptitude that others do, and it's that lack of in-game smarts that keeps them from being able to develop into top players. Unfortunately, for me, Walker isn't showing that he has that ability to read the game, and while I think he's plenty good enough to be our RB, he's not irreplaceable.
Borks
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- Jun 22, 2014
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I think that Walker gets more credit than he should purely because he's our only attacking RB. I personally think that Naughton was better defensively even if he offered little other than a few decent crosses going forward, however, Spurs fans love attacking football and that's why Walker is loved by a lot of fans. The truth however, is that he isn't great defensively nor is his final ball very good, but this gets overlooked because of the pace he adds to the team. If you put a top PL RB in the Spurs team in place of Walker, I think the difference in quality would be a lot clearer.
Despite all of that, I don't think it's a weak area, I just don't think he's top quality so to speak.
Despite all of that, I don't think it's a weak area, I just don't think he's top quality so to speak.
mattie g
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- Jun 27, 2007
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Well stated.
