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Even late last fall I still didn't get the feeling that he was a creative deep player. As Sammy said it was more "run around a bit" and a decent amount of misplaced passing.
In all fairness, he had to run about a bit to get on the end of some of the squad's passes...with Nabil sending him laser guided sideways ballistics he should be given more time and ability to spray his own through balls to the feet of Harry Kane.
Modric type, no. But I do think he can grow into a useful deep midfield role.
The fact that I thought he was brought in as a Modric type doesn't help. I didn't expect him to be spraying 90% accuracy through balls from day one, or have Messi-esque ball retention but he's barely showing any signs of it. He looks more like a box to box midfielder running around the field (which we don't need more of) than a creative deep player.
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.
Two gifs can't tell the whole story, but I have to admit that watching those two gifs gets me all hot and bothered.
At least it shows that he's looking for the pass, which I don't think is something that could be said for all of our deep midfielders.
At least it shows that he's looking for the pass, which I don't think is something that could be said for all of our deep midfielders.
Siggurdsson seems to have a better awareness and moves off the ball well, he's got a thunderous shot on him and is a goal threat - one thing I've always thought thats let him down is the physical side of his game, he's weak in the tackle and has no pace to beat a man.
Holtby is physically more suited to challenging for a ball and will press opponents all day long but does seem to go a bit mad at times, meaning he could be out of position from chasing all over the place, one thing I noticed about him when he joined was his one touch passing which was superb - nobody else in that central role really had the same one touch pass as him I thought, he can also be quite creative.
I like them both but can possibly see more of a long term Spurs future for Holtby.
Either way neither of them are as good as Hazard, Coutinho, Mata, Wilian, Oscar, Cazorla, Ozil Silva etc etc - which kind of points to why we are where we are and where we will continue to be.
Holtby is physically more suited to challenging for a ball and will press opponents all day long but does seem to go a bit mad at times, meaning he could be out of position from chasing all over the place, one thing I noticed about him when he joined was his one touch passing which was superb - nobody else in that central role really had the same one touch pass as him I thought, he can also be quite creative.
I like them both but can possibly see more of a long term Spurs future for Holtby.
Either way neither of them are as good as Hazard, Coutinho, Mata, Wilian, Oscar, Cazorla, Ozil Silva etc etc - which kind of points to why we are where we are and where we will continue to be.
Think a better poll would be Siggy vs Chadli
That is one of the reasons I'd take him ahead of Dembele and Paulinho.
Tbf to Holtby as well, he was trying through passes to the likes of Lennon who seems to have forgotten how to make runs behind the defence.
I wonder if AVB told players not to make any runs behind defenders, because that was the laziest "offense" i've ever seen.
That's a good poll.
Chadli by a hair for me, mostly because Sig has had more time at a fair shake, and because Chadli likes to work back and help his left back. Sig counts as home-grown, so that's a feather in his cap.
Siggies first touch imo is excellent. He has great close control and can dig the ball out quick.
My problem with him are all off the ball. No imagination and makes plodding predictable runs and can get marked out of games.
His ability to get himself into the danger zone or keep defenders guessing is his weakness.
If Eriksen is ever out I'd venture to try Holtby and Paulinho ahead of Sandro, for Holtby's forward passes and Paulinho's desire to latch on to such passes as a late-arriver in the box. Both need some form, though.
This is what exasperated me under AVB and Tim. I don't think that a high line is compatible with prototypical English wingers that like to run down the line and swing in crosses. They've got to have an eye for working the channels and either working on the edge of the box or getting in behind the opposing line for a shot on goal, and we were at a real loss for players like that last season. Eriksen did the donkey work, but even then Adebayor isn't the best finisher of the ball, and he wasn't getting much help in the goal-scoring department. Besides the gag reel of Soldado and Paulinho's missed shots, there was a lot of Lennon and Dembele getting in possession and looking like "uhhhhhh, what am I supposed to do now?" or, early in the season, Townsend grabbing the ball and thinking "GOTTA SHOOT THE FUCKER!!! !AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! damn..."
Combine high line and speedy wingers that aren't finishers or naturally creative and it's no fucking wonder that we were knocking on the door last season but couldn't break in. If we're already in possession and the opponent is pinned back or sitting deep in their box then it makes sense that pace often doesn't help much.
This news would be a shock to Tim Sherwood...
Agreed. If he could regularly make himself available he'd have a lot to offer. Has good technical ability on the ball but it's no use if he can't get into position to receive it.
But that makes Chadli neither one thing or the other, as has been shown. Get a LB that can look after himself. No one is saying Walker needs protection - the same should apply to the LB position.