Andros Townsend

[braineclipse]

townsend is an inside forward???!!!!

Question of definition of course.

If you look at Bale and Ronaldo at Real Madrid as examples of top level inside forwards I think that's pretty close to the role Townsend would ideally like to play. I also think he played a role somewhat close to that under AVB early in the season.

You can't write anyone off. I can even see Aaron Lennon being given a new lease of life. Its very hard to predict which players just take a new manager's ideas on board and start blossoming and which players just can't hack it under a new regime.

I remember when we signed Postiga, Kanoute and Zamora. Kanoute was the one I was 'meh' about and I was excited about the other two. Kanoute turned out to be an absolute beast and the other two were 'meh'. Similarly, look how Jordan Henderson is now developing under Rodgers this season at Liverpool. Few are laughing at that £20m investment now, but its taken them a few years to start realising it. Proper coaching isn't done very often in this country unfortunately, the pressures of the Premier League have meant that for managers constantly under pressure, they sign players and only keep the ones that just happen to hit the ground running by luck. They don't bother to coach the ones struggling.

Luckily there are a few managers now that are bucking the trend and have the confidence to persevere in the face of pressure. Luckily, we have just recruited one of them.

Agree fully.

Townsend has a lot of very good raw ingredients, pace, dribbling skills, can strike a ball really well with both feet. His decision making is poor, I think that's something Poch can work on. His first touch lets him down a bit too often, that's perhaps harder to fix, but still possible to improve. Sometimes I think he's very poor defensively, for that I think he will either respond very well to Poch and his system or not at all. If it's the former we could have a real player on our hands, if it's the latter he will be out the door I think.

 

[Rorschach]

Question of definition of course.

If you look at Bale and Ronaldo at Real Madrid as examples of top level inside forwards I think that's pretty close to the role Townsend would ideally like to play. I also think he played a role somewhat close to that under AVB early in the season.



Agree fully.

Townsend has a lot of very good raw ingredients, pace, dribbling skills, can strike a ball really well with both feet. His decision making is poor, I think that's something Poch can work on. His first touch lets him down a bit too often, that's perhaps harder to fix, but still possible to improve. Sometimes I think he's very poor defensively, for that I think he will either respond very well to Poch and his system or not at all. If it's the former we could have a real player on our hands, if it's the latter he will be out the door I think.

I can imagine that there will be a few attendees of that class.

I firmly believe that decision making can be improved with proper coaching. As my old mucker used to say, it's too late to decide what you doing with the ball when you have it. Coaching a faster tempo with more one/two touch passing and movement will help players improve in this regards. That style forces players to be more aware of what's around them. There are seconds to be found all over the pitch if you play smart and I hope Poch is the man to turn the head-down merchants like Townsend and Dembele into more rounded players.

Edit: I agree with you on Townsend incidentally. He has a natural talent that should be nurtured. He could go onto to be an amazing player if he can just improve in some areas.
Same for Dembele really. IMO he also has a natural talent that sets him aside from other players but his footballing intelligence needs to be better.

 

[braineclipse]

I can imagine that there will be a few attendees of that class.

I firmly believe that decision making can be improved with proper coaching. As my old mucker used to say, it's too late to decide what you doing with the ball when you have it. Coaching a faster tempo with more one/two touch passing and movement will help players improve in this regards. That style forces players to be more aware of what's around them. There are seconds to be found all over the pitch if you play smart and I hope Poch is the man to turn the head-down merchants like Townsend and Dembele into more rounded players.

Edit: I agree with you on Townsend incidentally. He has a natural talent that should be nurtured. He could go onto to be an amazing player if he can just improve in some areas.
Same for Dembele really. IMO he also has a natural talent that sets him aside from other players but his footballing intelligence needs to be better.

Agree fully!

 

[Lilywhite]

I'd keep Andros around the squad cos its important to keep some local homegrown players in the ranks. I wouldn't begrudge him a move away though, he's not good enough for a top six team and probably never will be, but as a squad player I'd be happy for him to stay if he's happy to. I expect like Caulker he'll get tired of being a backup and move to a bottom half team.

 

[thfcsteff]

You can't write anyone off. I can even see Aaron Lennon being given a new lease of life. Its very hard to predict which players just take a new manager's ideas on board and start blossoming and which players just can't hack it under a new regime.

I remember when we signed Postiga, Kanoute and Zamora. Kanoute was the one I was 'meh' about and I was excited about the other two. Kanoute turned out to be an absolute beast and the other two were 'meh'. Similarly, look how Jordan Henderson is now developing under Rodgers this season at Liverpool. Few are laughing at that £20m investment now, but its taken them a few years to start realising it. Proper coaching isn't done very often in this country unfortunately, the pressures of the Premier League have meant that for managers constantly under pressure, they sign players and only keep the ones that just happen to hit the ground running by luck. They don't bother to coach the ones struggling.

Luckily there are a few managers now that are bucking the trend and have the confidence to persevere in the face of pressure. Luckily, we have just recruited one of them.

I agree with this...

 

[AdamB]

Wouldnt sell him - give him a couple years under a decent coach and then make a decision. at the moment, he runs down a lot of blind alleys and seems to think that he's the next Bale

 

[Gutter Boy]

I think this summer we need to make a decision and keep one of Townsend and Lennon (along with Lamela to make up our right-side options).

I find this a pretty tough call, but might just go with keeping Townsend because of his versatility (2 footed + different systems).

 

[milo]

I think this summer we need to make a decision and keep one of Townsend and Lennon (along with Lamela to make up our right-side options).

I find this a pretty tough call, but might just go with keeping Townsend because of his versatility (2 footed + different systems).

I think that if it is one of either Townsend or Lennon, I think that most managers would choose the latter. I know that he is not everyone's favourite on here but he is established and has been first choice of all of our managers since he arrived. Townsend would present much more of a risk when he has only ever had a couple of good months for us and disappointed when he came back from injury. If we are looking for back up for Lamela (another player that has failed to establish himself), I think that Townsend presents too much of a risk.

 

[AdamB]

I think that if it is one of either Townsend or Lennon, I think that most managers would choose the latter. I know that he is not everyone's favourite on here but he is established and has been first choice of all of our managers since he arrived. Townsend would present much more of a risk when he has only ever had a couple of good months for us and disappointed when he came back from injury. If we are looking for back up for Lamela (another player that has failed to establish himself), I think that Townsend presents too much of a risk.

I like Lennon but problem with him is that if you're not going to play with orthodox wingers then he's a lot less useful. He cant shoot with any power and isnt creative. So it depends on what Poch wants out of the wide players in the 4-2-3-1 - if they're not going to hug the touchline then I think we'd be better of cashing in on lennon now rather than his sit on the bench for a year and his value fall

 

[milo]

I like Lennon but problem with him is that if you're not going to play with orthodox wingers then he's a lot less useful. He cant shoot with any power and isnt creative. So it depends on what Poch wants out of the wide players in the 4-2-3-1 - if they're not going to hug the touchline then I think we'd be better of cashing in on lennon now rather than his sit on the bench for a year and his value fall

We haven't really played with orthodox wingers for a while. Lennon played well in AVB's 4-2-3-1 in the first half of last season and spent plenty of that interchanging with Bale. He did the same with VDV and Bale under Redknapp. If Poch wants the team to close down from the front, the only right sided player that we have who has shown that he is comfortable doing that is Lennon.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Re: Official - Townsend

For some strange reason Townsend gets a lot of stick on this forum and it seems many people on here want us to sell him. Personally I don.t get it, I rate him highly and I am glad Poch said he will not be sold. Although he did not score when he came on I thought he was a constant threat.

 

[DHSF]

Re: Official - Townsend

For some strange reason Townsend gets a lot of stick on this forum and it seems many people on here want us to sell him. Personally I don.t get it, I rate him highly and I am glad Poch said he will not be sold. Although he did not score when he came on I thought he was a constant threat.

I think he was excellent when he came on - very fresh. Ill be honest he is slightly diff from Lamela but Townsend plays with a purpose and I love that in a player. He has been less selfish today too which was good to see but he does have a relatively dangerous shot on him.

 

[Spursalot]

Re: Official - Townsend

For some strange reason Townsend gets a lot of stick on this forum and it seems many people on here want us to sell him. Personally I don.t get it, I rate him highly and I am glad Poch said he will not be sold. Although he did not score when he came on I thought he was a constant threat.

It's all about using him properly. He's not going to look great against teams that are sat back defending in their own box. He looks great when the game is more open, when there's space to run into and opportunities to get in behind the defence.

Unfortunately for Townsend, i'd wager we'll face more teams that sit back, then we will teams that open up and try to go toe to toe with us.

 

[charlietheyid]

Re: Official - Townsend

Amazing talent.

If only Lennon was half as good..

 

[scaramanga]

Re: Official - Townsend

For some strange reason Townsend gets a lot of stick on this forum and it seems many people on here want us to sell him. Personally I don.t get it, I rate him highly and I am glad Poch said he will not be sold. Although he did not score when he came on I thought he was a constant threat.

That's precisely my issue with him - he's always a threat without ever actually assisting or scoring.

As I've said in another thread, if Poch can jumpstart his brain then there's a good player in there. I hope he can, but I suspect it's too late.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Re: Official - Townsend

Although less disciplined than Lennon, he's probably worth starting over Lennon now. He takes the game to the opposition. Is always up for it and can make something happen from nothing. His shooting needs a little work, but he's 70% there. If he can improve his shot placement we might well have a player.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Re: Official - Townsend

That's precisely my issue with him - he's always a threat without ever actually assisting or scoring.

As I've said in another thread, if Poch can jumpstart his brain then there's a good player in there. I hope he can, but I suspect it's too late.

He may not have scored but at least he worked the keeper. You sound as if you have written him off already

 

[Modric THFC]

Re: Official - Townsend

That's precisely my issue with him - he's always a threat without ever actually assisting or scoring.

As I've said in another thread, if Poch can jumpstart his brain then there's a good player in there. I hope he can, but I suspect it's too late.

That because he's the most predictable player ever in football. As soon as he moves to make space for himself to shoot the keeper knows exactly whats coming.

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Re: Official - Townsend

Although less disciplined than Lennon, he's probably worth starting over Lennon now. He takes the game to the opposition. Is always up for it and can make something happen from nothing. He shooting needs a little work, but he's 70% there. If he can improve his shot placement we might well have a player.

And importantly, Poch has a history of improving players, just look at what he inherited at Southampton and how he made ordinary players better, and I think Townsend is much better than Ordinary, he obviously has the talent

 

[NaijaSpurs]

Re: Official - Townsend

That because he's the most predictable player ever in football. As soon as he moves to make space for himself to shoot the keeper knows exactly whats coming.

So along with Sacra you are another hater, well I knew there were a large number on this forum