Spur of the moment
Frederic Kanoute
Excellent comments. The dive was outrageous but we all make mistakes and it takes guts to own up to them publicly. Exactly the reaction you'd hope for from a lifelong Spurs fan.
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Andros Townsend
- Thread starter Jordinho
- Start date
Excellent comments. The dive was outrageous but we all make mistakes and it takes guts to own up to them publicly. Exactly the reaction you'd hope for from a lifelong Spurs fan.
thfcsteff
George Hunt
Agreed. On a sidenote, happy to see the boy continuing to prove me wrong...hope his game continues to improve and he holds his place. Still think a fit Azza is our man BUT how nice that Andros has severely challenged that theory!
Well done for owning up. I suspect AVB has had a word and pointed to the example of Bale's dives costing the team penalties/points.
Though I didn't like the bit where he goes on to say that any contact means no dive. I think Ashley Young has conclusively proved that that's not the case.
Though I didn't like the bit where he goes on to say that any contact means no dive. I think Ashley Young has conclusively proved that that's not the case.
Danishfurniturelover
the prettiest spice girl
Do not like diving but is good he admits to it and says he wont do again, needs to improve on decesion making but will only do that by getting game time. Pleased avb is giving him time.
parklane1
Tony Galvin
That is a good point, i said a couple of seasons back that if Bale kept hitting the deck everytime he got tackled he would get a reputation as a diver ( got ****ged off for saying it as well ). That is what happened and he paid for it in the end, lets hope AVB has stopped it right away.
africanspurs
Justin Edinburgh
maybe townsend just owned up on his own accord. maybe his back ground , his family, his upbringing and his character made him own up to something that was evident on television. or maybe he learned from the mistakes others have made in that department.
i would give the boy serious credit, he has shown and proven good and STRONG mentality and character since the days that bankrupt was covering him in the youth system and much more heralded and talent youths were being out performed by his sheer will and determination. farmed out on loans multiple times and performed well in each one...played in the reserves and did a decent job there (actually wait ,did he?). Got in trouble with the betting and dealt with the consequences
i just dont like the idea of having him portrayed as a problem that needed someone else to fix him. like he is someone likely to be guilty of misdoings alot then is on a bad path to destruction. I think he is a much better person / character than that. though much like the idea AVB showed him the error of his ways, i cant prove it either
give the boy credit, his entire career seems to be made of the kind of stuff that breeds strong and reliable contributors and he in constantly proving doubters wrong despite no basis of evidence that he couldnt make the grade
i like townsend and i hope he is with us for a very long time. though i doubt he will be
i would give the boy serious credit, he has shown and proven good and STRONG mentality and character since the days that bankrupt was covering him in the youth system and much more heralded and talent youths were being out performed by his sheer will and determination. farmed out on loans multiple times and performed well in each one...played in the reserves and did a decent job there (actually wait ,did he?). Got in trouble with the betting and dealt with the consequences
i just dont like the idea of having him portrayed as a problem that needed someone else to fix him. like he is someone likely to be guilty of misdoings alot then is on a bad path to destruction. I think he is a much better person / character than that. though much like the idea AVB showed him the error of his ways, i cant prove it either
give the boy credit, his entire career seems to be made of the kind of stuff that breeds strong and reliable contributors and he in constantly proving doubters wrong despite no basis of evidence that he couldnt make the grade
i like townsend and i hope he is with us for a very long time. though i doubt he will be
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braineclipse
Steve Sedgley
Good quote from the lad, although it will put even more pressure on him if he ever dives again...
I really liked his performance against Chelsea. He was a real threat and he wasn't quite as trigger happy as games earlier in the season. Good to see him perform against a top team too.
I really liked his performance against Chelsea. He was a real threat and he wasn't quite as trigger happy as games earlier in the season. Good to see him perform against a top team too.
superfaisty
Nico Claesen
I've got to say I've liked how he has performed for us, and that he is a home grown talent, and that he is finally getting his break following the years of being out on loan.
That said he is still young and pretty inexperienced at the top level (one season on loan in a QPR team fighting relegation while good experience isn't going to help him when he's playing Anji on a cold thursday night). What I really like about him is his directness - reminds me of Lennon at his best. What I really hope we don't do is beat that directness out of him - its a potent weapon for putting teams on the back foot.
He needs to improve his shooting and needs to improve on choosing when to shoot and when it's better to lay it off, but that will come in time as he gets used to playing in the team.
He's got a difficult task ahead of him but is taking his chance while Lennon is out and while Lamela takes time to settle - he won't get a better opportunity than now to get a good run in the team. As long as he keeps playing well AVB will give him his chance.
That said he is still young and pretty inexperienced at the top level (one season on loan in a QPR team fighting relegation while good experience isn't going to help him when he's playing Anji on a cold thursday night). What I really like about him is his directness - reminds me of Lennon at his best. What I really hope we don't do is beat that directness out of him - its a potent weapon for putting teams on the back foot.
He needs to improve his shooting and needs to improve on choosing when to shoot and when it's better to lay it off, but that will come in time as he gets used to playing in the team.
He's got a difficult task ahead of him but is taking his chance while Lennon is out and while Lamela takes time to settle - he won't get a better opportunity than now to get a good run in the team. As long as he keeps playing well AVB will give him his chance.
Absolutely fantastic England debut tonight, i do like it when when of our academy players goes on and plays for the full england team and does well. He's been threating to score for Spurs like he did tonight so hopefully he goes and bangs a load more in for us this season, i think he could get 10 goals this season. It's a tough one for AVB when Lennon is fully fit but i'd keep Andros in there while he's on form.
One thing really stood out for me tonight. He played wide right in a 4-4-2 and had so much more room and was able to get at the full back all night, the wembley pitch looked so much bigger than when he plays in a narrow 4-3-3 at WHL. I think AVB seriously needs to consider 4-4-2 at home sometimes. This game was a little similar to the Hammers game in that Montenegro came and parked the bus but we kept going and after the first goal we were pretty comfortbale. When we play 4-3-3 it's too narrow and unless someone like holtby plays and is constantly keeping things ticking over more teams will come and sit in against demeble and paulinho who for me are far to slow with the way they play the game so it needs to be an option.
On saturday i felt AVB probably should have gone 4-4-2 at half time, we'd created maybe 2 chances in that first half. Soldado should have come on and played as a 2 with Defoe, dropped Eriksen into centre mid with dembele and then i'm sure we would have won. AVB needs to be more adventuous and sometimes go for it.
One thing really stood out for me tonight. He played wide right in a 4-4-2 and had so much more room and was able to get at the full back all night, the wembley pitch looked so much bigger than when he plays in a narrow 4-3-3 at WHL. I think AVB seriously needs to consider 4-4-2 at home sometimes. This game was a little similar to the Hammers game in that Montenegro came and parked the bus but we kept going and after the first goal we were pretty comfortbale. When we play 4-3-3 it's too narrow and unless someone like holtby plays and is constantly keeping things ticking over more teams will come and sit in against demeble and paulinho who for me are far to slow with the way they play the game so it needs to be an option.
On saturday i felt AVB probably should have gone 4-4-2 at half time, we'd created maybe 2 chances in that first half. Soldado should have come on and played as a 2 with Defoe, dropped Eriksen into centre mid with dembele and then i'm sure we would have won. AVB needs to be more adventuous and sometimes go for it.
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Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
Can't really say that game showed me we should see more of a 4-4-2..
A central midfield of Gerard and Lampard were largely untroubled by the opposition. Such a midfield two would fall apart in the premier league.
Rooney played more like an am than a striker in my view, wasn't really a 4-4-2 IMO.
A central midfield of Gerard and Lampard were largely untroubled by the opposition. Such a midfield two would fall apart in the premier league.
Rooney played more like an am than a striker in my view, wasn't really a 4-4-2 IMO.
Danishfurniturelover
the prettiest spice girl
Funny the first i was going to say was 4-4-2 and the original post and second one both have the same thing.
Think we would get a lot more out of a lot of our players if we played 4-4-2
Think we would get a lot more out of a lot of our players if we played 4-4-2
Danishfurniturelover
the prettiest spice girl
Spursalot
Jimmy McCormick
Of course.
This is the England football manager, I think learning from previous mistakes is forbidden.
Papercut
Jermaine Jenas
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...ey-stage-how-confidence-can-work-wonders.html
The unlikely rise of Andros Townsend is best summed up by the fact that, during four years as a professional at Tottenham Hotspur, he has actually been loaned out to more clubs than he has made Premier League starts.
Harry Redknapp might have likened Townsend to Arjen Robben earlier this week but he could scarcely have had those thoughts while farming him out to Yeovil, Leyton Orient, MK Dons, Ipswich, Watford, Millwall, Leeds United and Birmingham during his time as Tottenham manager.
The great irony, of course, is that it was then Redknapp who brought Townsend to the ninth loan club of his career at QPR and oversaw a four-month spell last season that was his making.
Townsend returned to Tottenham a different player and, even had Theo Walcott been fit on Thursday night, there would still have been an argument for his inclusion as the outstanding right winger just now in the Premier League.
Tottenham broke their transfer record three times this summer, culminating in the £30 million signing of Erik Lamela, but he has been largely confined to the bench so far this season in place of Townsend.
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A similar fate surely now awaits Aaron Lennon. Townsend’s qualities are clear for all to see.
He has pace, he can dribble and, as he showed inside three minutes when he released Daniel Sturridge with a precise reverse pass, he has vision. It can be assumed those attributes existed long before last season, so the wider question is just what has changed over the past 10 months.
The answer is something that the Football Association’s commission into the England team should surely reflect upon.
At the age of 22, Townsend did not suddenly develop into an international player. What changed was the opportunity to play regularly in the Premier League.
From that, and only from that, he has developed the most priceless attribute for any top sportsman. Confidence.
That confidence has been evident in everything Townsend has done this season at Tottenham and, under the most intense scrutiny of his career, was still obvious here.
He was always looking for the ball, always running into space and, most refreshing of all, was never afraid to be positive when in possession.
He was England’s most threatening player during the first-half and it was his run and shot that created the chance from which Wayne Rooney shot against the post.
Townsend then ran the length of the pitch in the 48th minute to create the chance from which England scored their first goal.
The best was still to come. With England wobbling at 2-1, Townsend collected the ball, brilliantly shifted it inside Simon Vukcevic and then smashed a curling shot that rattled off the inside of the post and into the goal. His ecstatic reaction was a mixture of shock and sheer joy. It was the defining moment of the game and arguably even England’s entire qualifying campaign.
Statistics can be misleading but the numbers men at Opta reveal a telling point when they report that Townsend had attempted (50) and completed (33) more dribbles than any other player in the Premier League.
The presence of someone who will constantly run at opposition defences can be priceless for an England team that is sometimes still so inhibited by the fear of failure.
Townsend himself has admitted that his improvement has been more mental than technical.
“Going to QPR was almost make or break,” he said. “I have confidence in my own ability, but until you show people you can play in the Premier League that counts for nothing.”
The international stage is similarly unforgiving and there was still some surprise in Roy Hodgson’s decision to start him.
James Milner, his Mr Reliable across any of the midfield positions, was the safe option. A crunch World Cup qualifier, Hodgson might have reasoned, was not the time for debutants but it was something he had clearly thought long and hard about.
Before the game, he had talked about what he called “the balance” of the team and the delicate act of complimenting experience with youth.
The inconsistent form of Jack Wheelchair meant Frank Lampard coming into the England midfield and that was also an indirect factor in Townsend’s inclusion.
Above all, though, it was a nod in the direction of form.
Townsend’s training ground performances had further backed that up and there is also the sense that, after an FA fine earlier this year for contravening betting regulations, of a maturing character.
While in his hotel room at St George’s Park this week, Townsend took a photograph of the iconic picture on the wall of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters with the 1966 World Cup.
After one cap, it would clearly be ridiculous to forecast a future when he will join these giants of the national game.
But, on the evidence of this season, Townsend does at least have a chance.
The unlikely rise of Andros Townsend is best summed up by the fact that, during four years as a professional at Tottenham Hotspur, he has actually been loaned out to more clubs than he has made Premier League starts.
Harry Redknapp might have likened Townsend to Arjen Robben earlier this week but he could scarcely have had those thoughts while farming him out to Yeovil, Leyton Orient, MK Dons, Ipswich, Watford, Millwall, Leeds United and Birmingham during his time as Tottenham manager.
The great irony, of course, is that it was then Redknapp who brought Townsend to the ninth loan club of his career at QPR and oversaw a four-month spell last season that was his making.
Townsend returned to Tottenham a different player and, even had Theo Walcott been fit on Thursday night, there would still have been an argument for his inclusion as the outstanding right winger just now in the Premier League.
Tottenham broke their transfer record three times this summer, culminating in the £30 million signing of Erik Lamela, but he has been largely confined to the bench so far this season in place of Townsend.
Related Articles
Townsend the shining light for Hodgson
11 Oct 2013
England v Montenegro: as it happened
11 Oct 2013
England v Montenegro ratings
11 Oct 2013
England v Montenegro: in pictures
11 Oct 2013
A similar fate surely now awaits Aaron Lennon. Townsend’s qualities are clear for all to see.
He has pace, he can dribble and, as he showed inside three minutes when he released Daniel Sturridge with a precise reverse pass, he has vision. It can be assumed those attributes existed long before last season, so the wider question is just what has changed over the past 10 months.
The answer is something that the Football Association’s commission into the England team should surely reflect upon.
At the age of 22, Townsend did not suddenly develop into an international player. What changed was the opportunity to play regularly in the Premier League.
From that, and only from that, he has developed the most priceless attribute for any top sportsman. Confidence.
That confidence has been evident in everything Townsend has done this season at Tottenham and, under the most intense scrutiny of his career, was still obvious here.
He was always looking for the ball, always running into space and, most refreshing of all, was never afraid to be positive when in possession.
He was England’s most threatening player during the first-half and it was his run and shot that created the chance from which Wayne Rooney shot against the post.
Townsend then ran the length of the pitch in the 48th minute to create the chance from which England scored their first goal.
The best was still to come. With England wobbling at 2-1, Townsend collected the ball, brilliantly shifted it inside Simon Vukcevic and then smashed a curling shot that rattled off the inside of the post and into the goal. His ecstatic reaction was a mixture of shock and sheer joy. It was the defining moment of the game and arguably even England’s entire qualifying campaign.
Statistics can be misleading but the numbers men at Opta reveal a telling point when they report that Townsend had attempted (50) and completed (33) more dribbles than any other player in the Premier League.
The presence of someone who will constantly run at opposition defences can be priceless for an England team that is sometimes still so inhibited by the fear of failure.
Townsend himself has admitted that his improvement has been more mental than technical.
“Going to QPR was almost make or break,” he said. “I have confidence in my own ability, but until you show people you can play in the Premier League that counts for nothing.”
The international stage is similarly unforgiving and there was still some surprise in Roy Hodgson’s decision to start him.
James Milner, his Mr Reliable across any of the midfield positions, was the safe option. A crunch World Cup qualifier, Hodgson might have reasoned, was not the time for debutants but it was something he had clearly thought long and hard about.
Before the game, he had talked about what he called “the balance” of the team and the delicate act of complimenting experience with youth.
The inconsistent form of Jack Wheelchair meant Frank Lampard coming into the England midfield and that was also an indirect factor in Townsend’s inclusion.
Above all, though, it was a nod in the direction of form.
Townsend’s training ground performances had further backed that up and there is also the sense that, after an FA fine earlier this year for contravening betting regulations, of a maturing character.
While in his hotel room at St George’s Park this week, Townsend took a photograph of the iconic picture on the wall of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters with the 1966 World Cup.
After one cap, it would clearly be ridiculous to forecast a future when he will join these giants of the national game.
But, on the evidence of this season, Townsend does at least have a chance.
Jurgen the German
Willie Hall
+1
If you had 5 world class strikers (not saying Lampard and Gerrard are world class) you wouldn't play all of them, you would play the best one/two. Do people really think those two could cope against Spain, Germany's, Argentina's or even Italy's midfield?
I can't see why any rational, sane football fan would think those two could play together.
Too subtle?
The Moonlit Knight
Banned
What's really made Townsend for me is the switch to the right flank. He seems far more at home there than the left, and his goal today and crossing recently for us proves he is very two footed too.
Pirate55
The Last Man Standing 17/18
You just beat me to it. Fantastic performance by Townsend tonight for England. Virtually won the game single-handedly and thoroughly deserved his MoM award. Really pleased for him.
Really hope AVB gives him a chance to develop a right wing partnership with Walker. Keep a man in form in possession of the shirt.
I also agree with you on the need to be flexible on tactics. Two DMs against teams that park the bus against us at home is too negative. We need to adopt a more adventurous and progressive approach against teams only interested in defending. We need to use pace and get in behind teams. We are too plodding and predictable against these type of teams. Hopefully, Andros can continue to provide the spark out wide.