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Toby Alderweireld

Modric THFC said:
Won 5 in a row before he got injured. Drawn 3 and lost 2 without him.

He does way more than organise the defence. He starts off move after move. We struggle to play the ball out of defence without him. He passes the ball much better than the central midfielders playing in front of him.
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Fully agree. He is somebody like Luiz in Chelsea's recent games.
 
DubaiSpur said:
Dunno. He's already had one setback that's delayed his return, and might yet have another.

We do need him, though. We're nothing without him, absolutely nothing - our team is a hollow shambles when he isn't around, as we're discovering to our dismay. :(
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I've noticed this too :(

It's not just his instructions, his confidence, his ability to read the game better than anyone on the pitch, his heading, tackling etc etc that we miss, but also how he calmly plays it out of defence.

Either way we look a shambles and have done since his injury.
 
spurs' magna carter said:
I've noticed this too :(

It's not just his instructions, his confidence, his ability to read the game better than anyone on the pitch, his heading, tackling etc etc that we miss, but also how he calmly plays it out of defence.

Either way we look a shambles and have done since his injury.
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The entire side knits together when he's around. He instructs the defense, and they all grow brains because he's on the pitch. Lloris doesn't need to be as risky with his passing, and we keep possession more.The defensive midfielders can get a bit further forward, because he's at the back sorting things. That means the attacking midfielders can push further up, confident that they're free to create and press as high as possible. And the strikers can feed off the pinpoint long balls he plays, so they make those runs more than they otherwise would.

The team as a whole grows into a different, actually capable beast when he plays. Without him, the pack of cards collapses with alarming regularity. :( We used to be similarly reliant on Ledley, back in the day.
 
DubaiSpur said:
The entire side knits together when he's around. He instructs the defense, and they all grow brains because he's on the pitch. Lloris doesn't need to be as risky with his passing, and we keep possession more.The defensive midfielders can get a bit further forward, because he's at the back sorting things. That means the attacking midfielders can push further up, confident that they're free to create and press as high as possible. And the strikers can feed off the pinpoint long balls he plays, so they make those runs more than they otherwise would.

The team as a whole grows into a different, actually capable beast when he plays. Without him, the pack of cards collapses with alarming regularity. :( We used to be similarly reliant on Ledley, back in the day.
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I agree, but I think we have keep in mind that tonight we had 1 out 4 of our normal back line playing. That's going hurt.
 
glasgowspur said:
I agree, but I think we have keep in mind that tonight we had 1 out 4 of our normal back line playing. That's going hurt.
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Against Spam, we had three, and still looked enormously shaky.

I guess you're right in that, if we do get back into this competition, we need to seriously up the quality of the backups if we want to look even reasonably stable without Toby. Either quickly develop Dier, CCV and co. to that standard or dump Trippier and Davies (harsh, but hey, they did come from Burnley and Swansea, respectively) in favor of players that can actually be rotated in and out *even in Toby's absence* (which is key here - it's no good looking good only when Toby plays and then holding that up to be the standard of our backups, as we perhaps have done with Wimmer, Trippier and Davies).

DaveYid said:
Poch has said he won't be back for Saturday.
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fudge. Guess we're going to be brainless in defense again.
 
I'd settle for him being back for the xmas period. These cryptic updates about him being back "soon" are impossible to interpret. Could be tomorrow or 3 months from now for all we know, but definitely "soon". "He's close, but not ready yet".
 
Jurgen the German said:
I'd settle for him being back for the xmas period. These cryptic updates about him being back "soon" are impossible to interpret. Could be tomorrow or 3 months from now for all we know, but definitely "soon". "He's close, but not ready yet".
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I think he keeps getting close to returning but then has a breakdown and Poch is trying not to rush him back.
Wouldn't surprise me if it's boxing day that he returns..
 
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