Mate Tripps has been fucking shite this season, he has been raped numerous games and his thread has lite up like a beacon when it's happened. He was utter shite yesterday, truly the worst more player on the pitch, unable to pass the ball. But..........this is about Winks, not Tripps. Everything I've ever said about Tripps I stand by, go to his thread it's all there, I refuse to be drawn any more on him as I've written it a hundred times and in great detail. Don't turn me into the plebs on here who only type the same shit over and over again. He's a championship level player always has been, nothing more to say.At least I back up what I say about Sissoko with evidence. Your constant diatribes against Trippier get disproven and still repeat them. Every week Trippier's a catastrophe. He's had some iffy moments, who hasn't this season and last, but he's also doing a lot more constructively - remit for remit - than Sissoko. We could literally put any number of academy kids out there to do the basic level stuff Sissoko does. I'm not saying Sissoko is a catastrophe every week, but even on a good week what he's doing lacks any real gift other than an athletic one.
My point wasn't that you said Winks was responsible for Wolves, it was that what you said happened didn't. What dropped off was the pressing completely, they were allowed to play through us because Son, Alli, Sissoko and Eriksen just trundled around like turtles in a fucking windsock. Eriksen showed up for the ball a lot less second half. Winks on the other hand actually took up some of Eriksen's slack and got on it a bit more. Kid was ragged.
Agree, and have said every time I've seen it that a Winks Sissoko midfield 2 is tactically not good at all. Don't know what Poch is thinking when he does it. On the other hand, what we've played a lot is more of a CM3 which is actually a 1 (Winks) +2 (Eriksen and Sissoko) and this I like a lot (would like it a lot more with a better footballer there than Sissoko) because it's a much more proactive formula that gives us better control of the ball, and with Eriksen in that hybrid role we have some vision coming from midfield, and also should provide some lateral cover for the full backs in a back four format. It doesn't always work that way because Sissoko isn't bright and Eriksen isn't always tenacious, but it's better than the CM2 version which leaves big gaps when one CM moves forward.
I don't think Winks is necessarily going to ever be outstanding, even as an 8, he might be, I am just not convinced, but it speaks volumes that he's trusted more in that deep holding role than Sissoko, a player who's got about 300 games experience on him and is far more physically robust.
Our press is a very hap hazard thing these days and hard for any of us to see real cohesive, consistent methodology. But I don't really understand what you say about not pressing high but forcing the Oppo into long balls and hurried balls. If you don't think we are pressing high at all, how do you think we are we hurrying them into long balls etc?
Same with Sissoko, he has won numerous MOTM awards (whilst I vehemently disagree with many of these awards as they are always dished out the goalscorer, in the cases Sissoko's have been merited and whilst I might not have given it to him personally on occasions, I can't argue with the fact that he was debated as one of the contenders, THIS is the difference between Sissoko and Tripps. Tripps has been woeful and calamitous on numerous occasions, whilst Sissoko has contributed massively in numerous games. I'm not a fan of either player but any imbecile can acknowledge Sissoko's contribution this season, except you it seems).
Back to Winks and the Wolves game, yes our press dropped off from our front 3/4 and yes that has an effect on us and Winks but what Wolves did well was press us, they matched us up with 1v1's all over the pitch and pressed us into mistakes, hence we gave the ball away and misplaced passes. So it was a more aggressive Wolves rather than a more passive Spurs although the result was the same (they were aggressive and we were passive as we didn't give anything back). Specifically with Winks his role that he enjoyed without them pressing in the first half was the opposite in the 2nd we had zero control of midfield, he is the anchor, the player that should be the pressure release valve, the payer to receive the ball and move it on, evade the press, be that going long or short his availability to receive the ball and then pass to a player in space is what we have to rely on, he didn't provide this, he may well have passed to a teammate but we weren't able to pass out of their press, yes it's a collective but great players are able to find that man in space, break the oppo press (others too but this is his main role, this is what he's in the team for, NOT Sissoko). AGAIN, it's not all on him, Eriksen is also the player that provides this for us and he does this often dropping deep as he searches for the space, maybe it was a tactical instruction against Wolves for him not to drop, whatever the effect was Eriksen had a poor game, he also was unable to break their press. To be clear when I am saying braking their press I'm not just being simplistic about completing a pass, it's about a sequence of passes that are required, I'm not expecting Winks to be Dembele or Wanyama and dribble past a player, with Winks I'm expecting him to pass and move and receive the ball back again until he's picked the lock.
As for our general press this year, we've gone from Kane and Dele, for example, sprinting aggressively into a press to try and win the ball back by engaging the oppo, to running (not sprinting) to the oppo player with the ball at an angle cutting off a square ball and forcing a pass to go long (high) so that we win the 2nd ball in the middle of the park (as opposed to winning the ball in their defensive third). So we are still pressing from the front but not in 3's and 4's but 1's and 2's. Our aggressive press, where we are looking to engage and win the ball is a mid-block, in midfield and we increase the percentages of winning this battleground if the ball played into it is hurried or passed out long from the back (it's more of a 50/50 ball) and aginst lesser oppoistion we have numerical suppremissy in this area which is why it's working for us over all.