Holtby for me! Woo! Woo!
-
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
I don't particularly agree with this.
Yes, we should aspire to a left back that doesn't particularly need a lot of hand holding, but if the other team overlaps on their right wing and overloads our left flank, then our left back can only mark so many players at once!
Like it or not, more players are necessary in defense than just our back four. There's room for one or two players to stay a bit more forward and be an outlet for passes to start a counterattack (ie, Eriksen and Ade), but even if they're not particularly defensively oriented, a wide midfielder or even winger should be tracking back if all else fails. The partnership between a fullback and their winger should go both ways; it shouldn't be completely one-sided. There's a reason that people talk about defending with two banks of four, instead of just one.
And yes, even Walker requires protection from time to time. Thankfully, less so last season than the one before.
Last edited:
I think I,d start him more often than not in a MF 4, including Either Mousa or Bentaleb. Eriksen and Lamala. Let him put his usual 100% shift in for 65 minutes then introduce Paulie!
That is a reasonable assessment of a hypothetical situation. And in my opinion, an overtly defensive set up. I've noticed in other posts that you seem to favour a 4-4-2. which would allow for the 'slightly' defensive set up that you advocate. In an 11 man game, where you have to give up something, and cannot possibly cover all bases, I would prefer to push forwards with an an attacking philosophy.
Oh no, I'm very far from a proponent of 4-4-2.
Much more a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 man myself, as I thought I've made perfectly clear through my time here. I simply maintain that formations fluidly change depending on who is on the front foot; there's a reason why people can post an average position map of a game and there are three or four different opinions as to what formation we're playing. I just take this one step further and maintain that there's a difference between offensive and defensive shape; defending with just 4 men against heavy pressure simply doesn't cut it. In the modern game that "hypothetical situation" is one that happens quite frequently. Even when he wasn't lighting it up in attack, Chadli did track back well and covered up some terrible mistakes by Rose. When Sherwood took over and put Eriksen on the left we had an extra man in attack that helped out, but Rose was thrown to a pack of wolves and couldn't manage the situation.
I just think we should play to what we've got before standing on principle and putting out a squad that's incompatible with the playing philosophy. If one thing is apparent to me it's that AVB's failure was for sticking with a formation that had too many jack of all trades central midfielders and un-creative pacy wingers to work with his high-line; that just left us pinning opponents back but lacking the ability to put them to the sword. In turn, Sherwood exposed our greatest weakness by placing Eriksen on the left and leaving Rose open to assault.
If we get a new left back that can handle it, great. Otherwise, that's just the reality that we're facing, and we shouldn't stand on principle to say that Rose shouldn't need assistance in defense in the first place, so we're not going to give it to him.
Last edited:
Voted Siggy for shits and giggles - in my mind they don't compete for the same spot anyway
However - I'm was shocked to see the results - Holtby has proven very little so far bar 1-2 decent games, a single goal and some bullshit videos for Spurs TV. If people are voting on future potential - fair enough, but the notion of new toys are always better is a strange one for me.
However - I'm was shocked to see the results - Holtby has proven very little so far bar 1-2 decent games, a single goal and some bullshit videos for Spurs TV. If people are voting on future potential - fair enough, but the notion of new toys are always better is a strange one for me.
Holtby long term, thing is with Siggy is he doesnt do a whole lot, but score..
He brings nothing else (not much else) to the game, hes just a good finisher, hes scored some crucial goals for us and some nice ones too. Maybe we could use him instead of Soldado
:gylfi::soldadowtf:
Everyone likes Holtby because hes just too likeable
He brings nothing else (not much else) to the game, hes just a good finisher, hes scored some crucial goals for us and some nice ones too. Maybe we could use him instead of Soldado
:gylfi::soldadowtf:
Everyone likes Holtby because hes just too likeable
Holtby needs to learn to conserve his energy. He's just too wasteful. His passing skills are next level though.
Holtby for me. Puts himself about the pitch a whole lot more than Siggy. While Siggy has got an outrageous shot and decent ball skills, Holtby exceeds him in his passing abilities and ability to spot runs. His loan spell to Fulham showcased a lot of his potential. He was their creative spark and absolutely ran himself into the ground for them. Definitely think he is of more value to the team than Siggy.
I also think Holtby is going to fit Poch's system a lot better. Siggy is quite slow and immobile and won't be suited to the high pressing game. We all know about Holtby's work rate and I think that is going to make him one of Poch's go-to players this season.
I also think Holtby is going to fit Poch's system a lot better. Siggy is quite slow and immobile and won't be suited to the high pressing game. We all know about Holtby's work rate and I think that is going to make him one of Poch's go-to players this season.
Siggy Stardust has been awful since he has arrived and in most games played he has been anonymous. A
perfect mid table player.
Hotlby our scouse schnitzel has looked rather ponderous with the ball but shows great effort with
little end product. Hence his career going backwards since his arrival . To be fair you could say
that for about 80% of the team. There does seem a lot more to him but if we ever will see
it is another matter.
perfect mid table player.
Hotlby our scouse schnitzel has looked rather ponderous with the ball but shows great effort with
little end product. Hence his career going backwards since his arrival . To be fair you could say
that for about 80% of the team. There does seem a lot more to him but if we ever will see
it is another matter.
Last edited:
Its more about his all round game, Holtby is quick, aggressive and can spot a good pass, he like Bentaleb just needs to get rid of the rough edges. My issue with siggy is that other than the fact he has a good shot he doesn't do much else, he get bullied all the time, disappears from most games he plays in, just not strong or mobile enough IMO.
Fidel Castro
L2Quote.
But I think the criticism is a bit OTT here, he's probably not good enough for Spurs if we are planning on progressing sure but, I'm not sure how Holtby has shown he's such a great step up so far? (I like Holtby btw, just trying to look at this objectively, as opposed to saying I like Holtby therefore he's better.)
L2Quote.
But I think the criticism is a bit OTT here, he's probably not good enough for Spurs if we are planning on progressing sure but, I'm not sure how Holtby has shown he's such a great step up so far? (I like Holtby btw, just trying to look at this objectively, as opposed to saying I like Holtby therefore he's better.)
You'r right, both are not much cop and if we were serious of progressing , challenging for
top 4 then they should never have been signed.
And damn straight, how dare anyone say there are positions in football!
Holtby, but only just. I just think he has a higher ceiling and more of the ingredients our soupy attack misses.
However, we need both. Squad players of Siggy and Holtby's calibre are must haves for any serious top 4/title contender. We just to have improve our rotation a bit.
However, we need both. Squad players of Siggy and Holtby's calibre are must haves for any serious top 4/title contender. We just to have improve our rotation a bit.
Box to box, yes. No denying that, but he's always got his head up and has shown much more willingness to attempt through balls and forward passes than any of our other deep midfielders.
Case in point:
Yeah, he's been very hit or miss, but he's also not had any sustained run in the squad as a starter to really establish himself. I account for his hot and cold nature as mostly being a more ambitious passer than Dembele, for example.
Jesus wept those passes are surreal. Reminder of his potential and most valued abilities
This got our goal of the season right?