Fair point on his improvement. However just felt the Alli, Eriksen, Kane group lacks genuine pace. When they break at opposition high line,they aren't as deadly as Man C, Liverpool, Man U front 3. We play tight short passes to get into stationary shooting positions. Very limiting strategy against top teams. And if the main group gets injured, the bench can't work as effective as such inter-play requires high quality. Honestly feel getting Mahrez and/or Barkley in to apply pressure to the group or as option is so important if we want to remain top 4. Mahrez and Barkley because they are quality and available.
-
The Fighting Cock is a forum for fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. Here you can discuss Spurs latest matches, our squad, tactics and any transfer news surrounding the club. Registration gives you access to all our forums (including 'Off Topic' discussion) and removes most of the adverts (you can remove them all via an account upgrade). You're here now, you might as well...
Latest Spurs videos from Sky Sports
Agree with your opening statements. Imo, Mahrez and Barkley are similar to Eriksen. Creative players that don't have the pace to make them the world's best. So I'm not entirely sure what else they bring besides depth for Eriksen.
Mahrez would bring a left footed option with the class and ability to back it up. I wish we saw his potential three seasons ago and got him, 19 gls and 17 assists in 15/16 is outstanding.
Would you have us swap our striker and AM's with the 3 teams players you mention so they can run faster but not create and score as many as our players? Your logic is puzzling me.
Mahrez is very agile and can beat players, none of the others can on a consistent basis
Kane aside, Alli and Eriksen may be a little over rated. Good players they are, but their lack of great pace make them more predictable than say Hazard, Sane, Mane, Rashford. I will not swap mainly because of their age and loyalty. Talent wise, too close call.
Poch is happy with his first eleven but wants to bring in quality to push them. Mahrez and Barkley to certainly push Alli and Eriksen.
Kane aside, Alli and Eriksen might be a little over rated. Good players they are, but there are better ones around. As a group, they lack a bit of pace to break fast. Hazard, Sane, Mane, Rashford brings that ability to counter fast. Then again I will not swap the group mainly due to their age and loyalty. Talent wise, they are all very close...
Wtf is going on in here?! That's 34 goals and 36 assists in one season you're talking about there...
:vertna:
You said they "weren't as deadly", when in fact our lot have scored an assisted more than them, by that very definition we are more deadly, there is no other way to look at it.
"Eriksen over-rated" you are having a laugh, he's one on the very best creative midfielders in Europe now, he is hardly ever talked about in these terms, this is because he plays for Tottenham, not Utd. or Woolwich or Liverpool (I will not include City in that group as I feel Citeh players are criminally under rated e.g. Silva, Auguero have never been nominated for POTY).
Leg speed is the most overrated attribute in a footballer. I'm not saying it doesn't have it's uses, but it should be well down the list of considerations when contemplating the abilities of a footballer, particularly for our system where every team we play bar a few sit deep and restrict the space to run into. Speed of though, technique and vision are all far more important and the Kane, Alli, Eriksen triumvirate have that in bucket loads.
In any case, Son offers speed and agility in behind when playing teams playing a bit higher. He compares favourably to all of Rasford, Sane, Mane etc
In any case, Son offers speed and agility in behind when playing teams playing a bit higher. He compares favourably to all of Rasford, Sane, Mane etc
Fair point. Stats never lie. Alli and Eriksen are very good players no doubt. Being over or under rated depends on expectations. If we are talking about going for the title, I think our group is a little short. Against top teams we will struggle. FA Cup semi final against Chelsea is an example. I do feel we just missed that bit of pace without Walker and Rose in that game. Son will help by not playing out of position. Both teams went high to press and Chelsea edged with Hazard, Willian, Moses's pace. Indeed pace can be overrated if it is just pace. Those players are pacy and skilful. Alli and Eriksen often check and pass. Only Kane runs and shoot. Against Man C, U , we felt that heat against Sane, Martial too. As I said I will not swap our front 3 for any other players. Like I will never swap King for Terry, despite me rating Terry marginally higher. But if I am being neutral, Alli and Eriksen are not the best in EPL, yet. But Kane is arguably the best now. Adding Mahrez though will greatly improve our chance against top teams.
Agree. I do have high expectations of Son, a player I like alot. This is probably our only high quality impact player option against top teams. Not Nkoudou or the other youth players, as they are not ready yet. Not Sissoko too, despite bagful of pace.
I tried to explain that in another post brother. I will try here again.Wtf is going on in here?! That's 34 goals and 36 assists in one season you're talking about there...
Alli and Eriksen have been amazing in last two seasons. Some would feel they are irreplacible. But against top teams they could lack that bit of impact to the finishing line. If we are talking about winning the title with this combo, I think we are still a little short,even more so with the other top teams strengthened
We didn't struggle in the semi-final, we outplayed Chelsea. They didn't press us high. They scored from a pen (which was a dive), x2 set pieces (free kick and corner which resulted in a deflected shot) and a once in a lifetime shot from 40yrds from outside the box (4 goals from 5 shots = 500-1 chance of that happening) we were not undone by pace. Our attack didn't lack pace and it was 2-2 with Son on the pitch, we brought Walker on score ended 4-2. So, sorry fella no that game is not an example at all.
"Against top teams we struggle" only Liverpool & Chelsea took more points than us against each other in the top 7 (we finished 10 points above one of them the other went on to win the league with a record equalling run of wins). We had 4 games where we struggled (Liverpool x2 & Citeh away & Utd away), loosing just two of those games. Games where we didn't match the pace of the oppo were Utd at home (Martial vs Trippier) & Liverpool (Mane vs Davies), against Utd away we were just crap, it happens in a season nothing to do with pace, at home we were all over them, whereas against Liverpool we struggled, against Citeh it wasn't their pace that caused issues they were better all-over the park. So, let's see that makes it one game, out of 38 that where we were truly done for pace, if we had signed Marhez, how would that have changed what happened against Liverpool away (Davies vs Mane) or even Matial vs Trippier?
I'm not saying we shouldn't sign players without pace, but I fail to acknowledge how signing Marhez would have changed the games that we were pushed hard in, when if our weakness was a defensive one not an attacking one. (That's an overly simplistic quote as I'd say we should have played a different game tactically against Liverpool more than anything else, but that's a whole different debate).
Last edited:
Understand what you are saying. I suppose you felt that Chelsea win was a little serendipitous. I just felt that the game as a whole, Chelsea responded with more options than us during difficult periods. We lacked that bit of option with pace in attack.
We lost games due to our lack of pace in defence, no doubt. But my point in discussion is more on the Alli, Eriksen combo, compared with the groups other top teams have. What we had achieved last season (as mentioned in your well written paragraph on how we performed against top teams) has been nothing short of remarkable. But if we are to be critical (which we have to be if we are talking about challenging for the title)I am in the opinion that Alli and Eriksen are not without weaknesses and still not the best compared to others.
It is easy to say we lost to Chelsea (both the title and FA cup) due to our defence. However we can also say we didn't score enough when matters. You can can we had scored so many thru out the season, but we conceded little too. My point as I said, is more about Alli and Eriksen compared to others, not about our entire team.
I am glad you agreed we should sign players with pace. As you might disagree, I am also in the opinion that had we have Mahrez last season, we might be better off. He could have offered something different to Alli and Eriksen, when things get a little predictable.
Ledley King was twice the player Terry is and was and if he'd had two good knees he would have been four times the player. You should pop that into the unpopular opinions thread.