Dembele and Paulinho are great box-to-box midfielders but precise defence splitting though balls don't appear to be their forte... Capoue and Sandro are immense defensive shields but don't think either are quite as creative in their passing as Alonso, Pirlo, Modric or Carrick.... Definitely could do with a Mata / Coutinho / Cazorla / Silva to thread those through balls into the area for Soldado imo...
Twitter / SpursStatMan: Spurs' passing map from today's game clearly shows we're missing that creative spark in the final third -
Wow, that map really paints a picture doesn't it?! Though I guess that kind of pattern might be the norm - would be interesting to compare it to the likes of Chelsea, City and Arsenal when playing against defensive teams.
Also I agree with your comments on Dembele and Paulinho, which is why I don't think they should both be playing in games where we're likely to dominate possession. To use your language we should have a midfield trio made up of 1 defensive shield, 1 box-to-box and 1 passer, as well as a more attacking player like Mata / Coutinho / Cazorla / Silva playing on one of the flanks.
The exception to this would be when we can sit back and hit teams on the break, in which case being a great passer is less important, and having the drive of Dembele and Paulinho together (not to mention their defensive abilities) would be a more useful thing.
I think it's fair to say that Ettiene Capoue is now our deep-lying Modric/Alonso type, no?
I think so.
Not as good at the deep playmaking as Modric and Alonso, but clearly superior at defending than those two. Overall a very good player and very good for that holding role.
for me a completely different kind of player to modric and to a significant degree..alonso as well
A different kind of player yes (for me that went without saying - literally), but that doesn't mean they can't play similar roles and have similar responsibilities in the team. There are significant differences between Modric and Alonso too.
they can have similar roles if one can do what the other can do. i dont think capoue can do what modric did for us
modric completely controlled our midfield ..and he did so almost everywhere.....i'm yet to see any reason why capoue is able to do this. and i mean control that midfield all over..from picking it up from the back and being involved all the way to supplying the pass to the winger or overlapping fullback who puts in the glory balls.
for a start like i keep trying to tell people...capoue is playing where sandro played last season, being the primary holder...and releasing other players from there.......modric would frequently start at the base but then be all over the place. i dont see this as capour responsibility...it seemed to be evenly shared between the three dependent on where they were
Do you agree that Luka Modric fulfilled the role of deep playmaker for us? Ignoring for now that he also did other things.
Do you think Michael Carrick plays the role of the deep playmaker?
yes on both counts
yes on both counts
Don't think anyone meant to say that Capoue can play exactly the same role as Modric. Just that he can do a bit of the 'controlling the game from deep' bit, at least moreso than Sandro, Dembele or Paulinho.
On a separate note, what do the light blue arrows on those graphs mean?
I think it's fair to say that Ettiene Capoue is now our deep-lying Modric/Alonso type, no?
He doesn't have the vision to spot passes like a proper playmaker. Just because he plays a few long passes steven-gerrard-style doesn't make him a playmaker.