End of the flying winger

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Jenny Talia

Jenny Talia

In the past, the talk about the Tottenham way of playing has included a speed merchant out wide. Width and pace has been a trademark of Spurs, from a club legend like Cliff Jones (out on the wing with chalk on his boots) to Aaron Lennon (winning the race against the full back for a ball played in behind) and all points in between ... Peter Taylor, Galvin, Waddle, Anderton, Ginola, Bale.
Even the Primark versions won a small place in our hearts ... Chiedozie, Fox, Etherington.
It is pretty clear that this kind of player is not going to be welcome at Spurs any more. The width is going to come from the full backs and from a central striker pulling out wide, as Adebayor likes to do.
End of an era.
 
Yep.

We had the second best winger in the world and still could not finish above the scum.

Wingers can work but we've been cursed with ones that can't cross for over a decade.
 
Speed alone isn't enough anymore.

gM2tyFJ.gif
 
Jenny Talia said:
In the past, the talk about the Tottenham way of playing has included a speed merchant out wide. Width and pace has been a trademark of Spurs, from a club legend like Cliff Jones (out on the wing with chalk on his boots) to Aaron Lennon (winning the race against the full back for a ball played in behind) and all points in between ... Peter Taylor, Galvin, Waddle, Anderton, Ginola, Bale.
Even the Primark versions won a small place in our hearts ... Chiedozie, Fox, Etherington.
It is pretty clear that this kind of player is not going to be welcome at Spurs any more. The width is going to come from the full backs and from a central striker pulling out wide, as Adebayor likes to do.
End of an era.
Click to expand...

Wingers still have a big place in football but not for us. Wingers work in redknapp style counter attacking football were there is a lot of space behind the back line and were you don't need to be the best crosser to get the ball in the box as the defence is not set.

We play pressing style which means no space around the back and even if you do get behind because the defence is set the cross has to be great which Lennon cannot do.

Our system requires technical players who can operate between the lines and under pressure, basically not Townsend or Lennon.
 
TOMO said:
Wingers still have a big place in football but not for us. Wingers work in redknapp style counter attacking football were there is a lot of space behind the back line and were you don't need to be the best crosser to get the ball in the box as the defence is not set.

We play pressing style which means no space around the back and even if you do get behind because the defence is set the cross has to be great which Lennon cannot do.

Our system requires technical players who can operate between the lines and under pressure, basically not Townsend or Lennon.
Click to expand...

Kane and Chadli both scored yesterday from crosses that came in from the touchline. Kane scored a classic centre forward goal, Chadli ghosted in between defenders in a Martin Peters style. I miss our flying wingers.
 
gibbs131 said:
Yep.

We had the second best winger in the world and still could not finish above the scum.

Wingers can work but we've been cursed with ones that can't cross for over a decade.
Click to expand...
Are you kidding? At one point we had Rose, Bale, Lennon and even sometimes Walker fizzing balls across goal and the only thing missing was a striker who would actually get on the end of it. I think we actually gave up hitting the byline because our strikers were so bloody poor at gambling on the low ball.
 
WookieD said:
Are you kidding? At one point we had Rose, Bale, Lennon and even sometimes Walker fizzing balls across goal and the only thing missing was a striker who would actually get on the end of it. I think we actually gave up hitting the byline because our strikers were so bloody poor at gambling on the low ball.
Click to expand...

No I'm not kidding. Add up all of thier crosses that resulted in goals. Remember that was by far our best combo, and if that is our best, why were our strikers and midfield often struggling with that service?

They literally fizzed in 1000s of crosses combined and they didn't add to much.

We have had plenty of strikers who came here with great scoring records that were starved by our wingers.

Bale was the best player IMO in Spurs history. But I'm not going to pretend he helped our strikers as much as he could from the wing. He was pretty greedy (and rightly so because unlike Townsend, Lennon, Walker, Rose etc he could finish).

Ade and Defoe had thier worst droughts in thier history playing together when you claimed Lennon, Walker and Bale were fizzing in crosses. Bale became uber Bale because he would shoot on sight. I think Defoe scored 1 prem goal in a calendar year and at the same period, Ade didn't score much more. You can argue that Townsend and Lennons crossing to a lone Soldafo last season ruined his career.

So even when we had the best winger in the prem, our creativity for the rest of the team was next to nothing.

I'm obviously not bashing Bale: I'm just saying that I agree with the end of the flying winger when it comes to Spurs current lineups and team play. If anything wingplay restricted Bale and he only became mega Bale when given a free role with us. Him cutting in front the right was epic.

Wingplay can be excellent. But you have to have European or world class quality on each side for it to be really effective IMO. We were always lopsided with Bale, and wingplay had been nothing short of a disaster since he left. So why persist?
 
Yesterday I made a joke about one of my dogs being like Vedran Corluka which got me thinking. Since Charlie got dislodged from the team we've always played far quicker, more attacking full backs, which had led to Lennon playing more with a more restricted style.
 
Jenny Talia said:
Kane and Chadli both scored yesterday from crosses that came in from the touchline. Kane scored a classic centre forward goal, Chadli ghosted in between defenders in a Martin Peters style. I miss our flying wingers.
Click to expand...

Are you calling Townsends hospital ball wing based buildup? It was a miracle Bentaleb dug that hospital ball out from under his feet with 2 players directly on him.

That was 100% a midfield battling generated goal. Watch it again, if anything Townsend threw Bentaleb under the bus. Luckily Bentaleb is a beast.

Btw regarding Lamela, Eriksen and Chadli: They are not being played as wingers. They are pretty much attacking midfielders who are interchanging.

We are a nailed on 4-2-3-1.
 
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You use the tools you have at the time. Currently, we don't have those "classic" style wingers. I'm sure we'll pick up someone in the future that plays that style. Football is cyclical.
 
gibbs131 said:
Are you calling Townsends hospital ball wing based buildup? It was a miracle Bentaleb dug that hospital ball out from under his feet with 2 players directly on him.

That was 100% a midfield battling generated goal. Watch it again, if anything Townsend threw Bentaleb under the bus. Luckily Bentaleb is a beast.

Btw regarding Lamela, Eriksen and Chadli: They are not being played as wingers. They are pretty much attacking midfielders who are interchanging. It can be argued Chadli is a forward.
Click to expand...
Kane scored for the U21s and Chadli scored for Belgium.

Not sure what it has to do with Townsend or Bentaleb to be honest.
 
WookieD said:
Are you kidding? At one point we had Rose, Bale, Lennon and even sometimes Walker fizzing balls across goal and the only thing missing was a striker who would actually get on the end of it. I think we actually gave up hitting the byline because our strikers were so bloody poor at gambling on the low ball.
Click to expand...
It's a very low % style of play, so it's not surprising that we gave up on something proving wasteful.
 
Jenny Talia said:
Kane scored for the U21s and Chadli scored for Belgium.

Not sure what it has to do with Townsend or Bentaleb to be honest.
Click to expand...

haha. Sorry, by bad. I missed the "yesterday" aspect. I thought you put this Kane goal down to wingplay:

f4.gif


Where Townsend gave Bentaleb a hospital pass with two players closing him down.

Speaking of Internationals, Davies put a peach of a cross onto Bale's head a few weeks back.

gareth-bale-header-wales-andorra.gif


IMO this is how far forward our wingbacks should come. Anything further forward is asking for trouble when you have only Eriksen, Lamela, Townsend or Lennon covering.

I think Davies should be starting, but as a left back. He's pretty damn good at linking up.
 
The flying winger has just been usurped by the flying fullback. Modern attacking fullbacks do what wingers used to do.
 
TOMO said:
Wingers still have a big place in football but not for us. Wingers work in redknapp style counter attacking football were there is a lot of space behind the back line and were you don't need to be the best crosser to get the ball in the box as the defence is not set.

We play pressing style which means no space around the back and even if you do get behind because the defence is set the cross has to be great which Lennon cannot do.

Our system requires technical players who can operate between the lines and under pressure, basically not Townsend or Lennon.
Click to expand...


Agree , 4231 is all about 3 clever No 10's not touchline huggers who have nothing else to their game.
 
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