An audience with Alex Pritchard

This weekend I did a double header of live football. I was at the Lane on Sunday for the West Ham game but before that, on Saturday I went to Brentford-Bournemouth.

For those who haven’t been to Griffin Park, I’d recommend it. It’s often trotted out that there’s a pub on every corner of the ground, the punters are pretty friendly and the atmosphere is helped by the terracing of the Ealing Road end.

However, what made this trip interesting was the opportunity to watch Alex Pritchard in the flesh for the first time. Like many others I’d seen his (increasingly impressive) Youtube compilations and caught him every now and again when I had the willpower to stay up for the Football League show. But this was all new to me. Little Alex Pritchard, with his Hazard-like build (Micky, not those Francophone imposters), of whom his manager (the impressive, and soon to be out the door, Mark Warburton) has said “will be playing for Tottenham next season”.

The short story is that he scored a 30 yard free-kick and set up two goals in a 3-1 win over one of the division’s form sides. Pretty eye catching by anyone’s standards. Across 90 minutes, he started on the left of a 4 man midfield, then moved behind the striker and ended up playing in the centre of midfield for a bit as well.

[linequote]He had the confidence to carry it, kept an option open to his left and right, and then played a wonderfully weighted ball out to the right winger[/linequote]

Wherever he was playing, his teammates looked for him in possession and he took responsibility with the ball. After 10 minutes, he jinked his way free on the right and found Jonathan Douglas just inside the box. With a lovely turn, Douglas freed himself and slotted it in.

Just before halftime, with Bournemouth having equalised (not entirely deservedly), he hit a free-kick that moved in the air and flew in. Bit churlish to say it, but the keeper should have saved it – but then, having the confidence to have a go from that distance and hitting the target are both to be commended. His delivery from the setpieces he took was also impressive – I can only remember one occasion where the keeper was able to easily come and claim the ball.

He really comes alive on the counter. At 2-1 up with about 10 minutes to go Brentford broke, and he received the ball in the middle of the pitch. He had the confidence to carry it, kept an option open to his left and right, and then played a wonderfully weighted ball out to the right winger who really should have scored one on one. Moments later, he released a team mate in the box facing away from goal with a wonderfully disguised backheel. He then could have had one himself one on one, forcing a decent save from the keeper.

Shortly after that, playing from the right he put in the perfect cross – low, in between the defence and keeper, and Chris Long found the back of the net from a few yards out. Although impressive throughout, the amount he was producing in the closing minutes as legs tired reminded me of Christian Eriksen. There’s more I’m leaving out.

He’s a clever player with tricks to spare and great balance – wasting time towards the end in the corner, he beat two players in a tight area with any number of drag backs and nutmegs and had the crowd smiling. Nothing seems forced or showy, every flick or drag back had a purpose. The way he lets the ball run across his body is a joy to watch and again reminiscent of Eriksen.

The crowd there seem to love him, although the bloke stood next to me thought there was no way Spurs would let him go in the summer – he could see him slotting into the way Spurs want to play and felt that he’d get more space. From talking to people around me, I didn’t get the impression this was a performance out of the ordinary.

[fullquote]Nothing seems forced or showy, every flick or drag back had a purpose[/fullquote]

He completed 90 minutes and, although he never looked puffed and put in an industrious performance, I do get the impression he’d need to adjust to the way Pochettino wants Spurs to play. He certainly stuck close to his man off the ball, but the pressing lacked the intensity or the hunting in packs mentality that we’ve displayed at our best this season.

Everything in the division above just happens that little bit faster and that little bit more forcibly – he, like Eriksen can do, appeared to have a tendency to get close to his man and not make the challenge with the required strength. But he was clearly leagues ahead of everyone else on that pitch, including an ex-Barcelona current Woolwich loanee, and that will stand him in good stead for a hopeful return next season.

I was of the opinion at the start of this season that the likes of Kane, Bentaleb, Mason and Tom Carroll (perhaps traditionally seen by those with a surface interest in our youth teams as our brightest prospect) were good enough to plug gaps in our squad. I’d say the same for Pritchard.

Given in the months since Ryan Mason has established himself in the side, Nabil Bentaleb has gone a step further – made himself near indispensable and (a small part of me still thinks quite annoyingly) proven that Tim Sherwood was absolutely right to place so much emphasis on him last year – and Harry Kane has become some sort of footballing Frankenstein’s monster (bit of Teddy mixed with Shearer, spliced with bits of the dribbling of the less greasy Ronaldo), perhaps Pritchard can also do more than just plug gaps. Ultimately I want him to become good enough for West Ham fans to dig out pictures of him in their kit before he’d taken his GCSEs as if it wins some kind of argument.

[linequote]He was clearly leagues ahead of everyone else on that pitch, including an ex-Barcelona current Woolwich loanee[/linequote]

For so long it seemed as if our youth system worked as some sort of revenue-generating asset – the likes of Caulker, Livermore, O’Hara, Marney et al playing a handful of games for the first team before being shipped out for decent money. Having invested in some of these players to see it not pay off on the pitch was a bit draining, you began to doubt whether we’d every produce a player worth his salt – one who was maybe fit to clean Ledley’s boots. Perhaps that explains some of the initial uncertainty about Kane and co.

But, finally, there seems to have been a paradigm shift (and I’ll leave the giving of credit to those who know enough about how we’re structured to actually give credit to the correct people). These lads aren’t here to simply make up the numbers, to clean the boots of higher paid internationals, they’re here to become vital members of the first team. A cursory glance at other clubs who’ve produced genuinely top class homegrown players, be it the freakish batch that came through at United, the few at Liverpool or that one unsavoury character at Chelsea (as if there’s just one!!), gives the impression that these players are more likely to stay than their erstwhile globe-trotting colleagues. And that’s something to be celebrated.