I hope so - I'd rather eat my words and have a good player on our hands.
I just don't see it though - none of the raw attributes (apart from pace) seem to be there for me.
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Memphis Depay
- Thread starter veron23
- Start date
I hope so - I'd rather eat my words and have a good player on our hands.
I just don't see it though - none of the raw attributes (apart from pace) seem to be there for me.
Rossi22
Pedro Mendes
I think he showed to have all the raw attributes needed during the first few months of last season, unfortunately they seemed to have deserted him since getting injured. I don't see how anyone who watched his performances for England or our games against Chelsea, West Ham, Villa to name a few can say all he has is pace.
jeez you can be harsh......i think Townsend could look world class in the Eredivisie too. Im not saying that Depay isnt a good player, just that the PL is a big step up from where he has made his name so far. Chadli used to tear it up on the left side in Holland too
There's a lot of good players that come from that league too. The trick is pulling out the ones that can step up, obviously.
Don't get me wrong, Depay is far from the finished article - we'd be buying potential. I just think his next sale could be a big money one.
Townsend, whilst it was harsh to describe him as someone who can't play football, just doesn't seem to understand how much of the modern game is in a player's head. It's not just his end product where his decision-making is bad, it's all over. I hope Poch can get that into him, it would be far cheaper than buying someone in. If he was 18 or 19 I'd say that could happen, but I'd be very surprised if he can learn the game now.
Let's do a comparison. Fairest comparison is probably to Chadli - plays in the same team, same managers, etc.
Now let's bear in mind that most of this forum considers Chadli to be unarguable dogsh1t (I don't, but that's another argument).
What makes Townsend good but Chadli only bin-worthy?
Kingdawson
Banned
Ah yes..good old pointless stats to prove a point (please help me GHod).
What's pointless about passes, goals and assists per 90? I want a player in their position to produce - that's a measure of production.
Townsend can run past people, get to the byline and blast it into row z all day long, but it doesn't do the team any good.
Rossi22
Pedro Mendes
Yeah I don't know what Chadli has to do with this, I'm talking about Townsend. I thought we were discussing raw attributes rather than actual tangible output, from sep-dec I saw a quick, ruthlessly direct, proficient dribbler who could go both ways and strike a ball cleanly ... for me if you have those tools to work with then it doesn't matter if they haven't all come together yet, despite being 22-23 at the time he only has the experience of any other 18-19yr old breaking into the first team. He'd gone from being a loan drifter to having everything go through him at international level in the space of a couple of months, you don't get to that point just by running fast in a straight line. His most rounded performance for us was at home to Chelsea, he played every right pass, created several openings whilst still being that direct threat. Like I said though, since the injury I've been very unimpressed, I've seen little of those attributes and I don't know where he'll go from here but I wouldn't be giving up on him just yet.
Chadli has some nice qualities but he's just so meek, I want him to take the game by the scruff of the neck a little more. Depay I have no idea about, maybe he's the new Robben but he could just as likely be the next Babel or Elia for all I know.
Chadli has some nice qualities but he's just so meek, I want him to take the game by the scruff of the neck a little more. Depay I have no idea about, maybe he's the new Robben but he could just as likely be the next Babel or Elia for all I know.
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Bullet
Colin Calderwood
First let's just try Townsend as LWF in Poch's 4231
Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
Townsend has a few attributes that cannot really be taught..... Pace, balance and two good feet. If our coach is as good as he is being given credit for then he should be able to Townsend add the right movement, positional sense and awareness to his game. I think he is worth persevering with for at least this coming season.
In pre-season it has looked as though Pochettino has Lennon playing primarily in the centre of the 3 attacking midfielders (but with all of them having license to roam). From what I have seen Lennon has looked pretty comfortable there and is using his burst of pace and quick feet to make things happen. I can remember Jol stating that he felt Lennon could become a really good player in that sort of position - and perhaps Pochettino is helping him to fulfill that promise.
Chelsea at home last season?
His completion % was up that match, although that was probably down to the tiny sample size of 17 passes. He had no shots and created no chances - fortunately he didn't try to cross the ball. No defensive actions either - even Ade usually has at least one.
Lots of dribbling with no effect - like a fast version of Dembele without the defensive capability.
IIRC Lennon played what was probably his best match for us under Jol in that position. Was it against Chelsea? Can't remember now.
Kingdawson
Banned
He was clearly our best player by a mile..the stats can tell us whatever they want....my eyes showed me he was the best player on the field in the first half and Chelski couldn't contain him.
Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
Not just pace, control, two good feet, balance, dribbling ability, bravery, confidence and a willingness to take players on (which I guess is the same thing?) He also seems to relish the big occasion (again probably due to his confidence). I take the oppposite point of view to yours in that he has lots of raw attributes and what he lacks are the skills that good coaching should be able to address.
Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
Weren't you the person who wouldn't accept Sherwood's stats as showing that he had done a decent job due to a stats not proving anything / a small sample size? (delete as applicable).
Kingdawson
Banned
exactlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
I agree with you, but as always your stats will be pointless as people on here only claim such stats are worthwhile if it supports their argument....
Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
I was at that game and he was excellent in that first half (so perhaps it does show that stats don't really prove anything?) He gave Ashley Cole a torrid time. When you say that he created no chances - wasn't Townsend the player who put Paulinho in one on one with Cech? I also remember Townsend tracking back to help out Walker on numerous occasions. I remember this specifically because I can remember turning to my friends and fellow ST holders beside me and saying that I wanted him subbed in the second half when it looked like he had run out of steam and was starting to fail to track back.
Finney Is Back
Andy Thompson
Yes - Chelsea in the Cup.... Lennon played behind Berbatov. Both players were absolutely destroying Chelsea and we were 3-1 up. Chelsea then overloaded us with attacking players and instead of keeping those players on and us winning about 6-2, Jol took them off and we were pegged back to 3-3 and then lost the replay!
*edit*.... That was the sad day that I realised that Jol wasn't going to be the manager to take us where we wanted to be
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No, my point then was that regression to mean generally takes place after a small handful of really good performances. And it did to some extent - the season ended and fortunately the dinotard was sacked before we could see what would happen past that.
Small sample sizes on their own aren't much use, but in that many minutes of football I'd expect to see some showing of ability.
Oh, and I definitely wouldn't have ever described stats as useless - I believe that's where the advantage is to be found in modern football. Most people are pretty terrible at interpreting them though.
Have a look for yourself - lots of dribbling past his man but with no end product:
http://epl.squawka.com/tottenham-ho...-2013/english-barclays-premier-league/matches