What is Winks best postion? Is he an 8 or a 6?
Spurs 2018/19
- Thread starter Adisa
- Start date
He's not a 6, he's definitely positive minded and likes to get his foot on the ball and bring it forward. He's quite a balanced player and keeps things ticking over, his performance against Madrid in the CL group stage was a good example of his ability to be calm under pressure.
I'd say he's the right balance between our more defensively minded midfielders, and the likes of Eriksen. Which is what we need, a player to sit there and link up the play and keep things ticking over in the way, a player like a Modric, although these are exceptionally hard to find and everybody wants one. Winks is obviously nowhere near that but you get the idea.
Oh ok - yeah I remember his CL performance against Madrid he was very impressive. I like that he always passes the ball forward, none of this sideways and backwards nonsense.
This is interesting. Is the general consensus among Spurs fans that Spurs "missed a trick" in not signing anyone? Do you think Poch wanted someone, but reluctantly stayed quiet knowing it wasn't going to happen?
Yes pretty much everybody couldn't believe that we didn't sign anybody - the consensus amongst most Spurs fans was that we would actually spend big in the summer as a statement with the new stadium opening. Poch I'm fairly sure wanted a player or two in (who wouldn't) and credit to him for not totally having a meltdown over it however this could still change if we get some injuries, poor performances, etc. as the season goes on. I can't believe he would be happy about the situation - though he does seem happy to bring youth players through (which I really love) but will it be enough? I've no idea.
Most of our fans wanted some investment, and nearly all I know think we should at least have gone in for a midfielder. Absolutely I think Pochettino wanted somebody, there's no way he's looking at this squad and saying 'Nah, can't improve', just absolutely no way. The man wants to compete, but he's not going to come out and rip the team up in the media, it isn't his style. I'd be shocked if he was content with the way our summer went.
do you therefore think this could make him more likely to move on, especially if he thinks his ambitions are not aligned with the Spurs Board?
Yep. I think next summer (depending on our league finish) he will look to leave if a 'top' job becomes available. I don't think he'll just leave without having something lined up, but I certainly don't think he will be denying big opportunities to stay with us when he isn't being backed, why would he? There's only so much he can do at the moment.
Potentially he will have crunch talks at the end of this season. If we get top four I think he'll demand the funds to push on and if Levy/the board refuse to give him those funds, I do think he will look to move on.
I'm bringing my dad over to London to (hopefully) watch Spurs - Liverpool on the 15th, as well as Watford - United. Where do I fetch tickets these days? Doesn't look like I can get them via Ticketmaster/Spurs site, so must be another solution of some kind. Input highly appreciated, sorry if this kind of thing should be posted in another thread.
I've had luck with StubHub in the past - maybe check there?
I think its a simple case of there is no one else to put on the bench for Spurs. Well there is Sissoko but that is pretty much the same as no one.
Pretty much - who is our super fantastic midfield option who can change the game and bring energy and drive? We have nobody, because we signed nobody. We're going to be super reliant on Dembele this season who is so plainly no longer able to play entire games in the PL and it's unbelievable really.
Not signing a CM was just negligence IMO. With the ridiculous competition for top four these days, just completely ignoring a very weak spot in your team is self sabotage at its finest, even Arsenal finally brought in a proper ball winning midfielder. I dunno why some of our fans on here were so tolerant of it, the market is hard so we just ignore glaring weaknesses? It's so frustrating.
You are not the only one. Arsenal have no pure winger in the squad (and still Xhaka and Mustafi starting every game
). City did not sign a Fernandinho replacement after they missed out on Jorginho. Utd don‘t have any right winger in the squad and no CB on champions league level.Other teams at least strengthened elsewhere though. Arsenal have loads of weaknesses but at least they brought in some cover in positions, a BWM in Torreira, a new CB etc. There was at least an attempt to fix their issues. City made a serious attempt at Jorginho and narrowly missed out, and Fernandinho is still in a better state than Dembele by far.You are not the only one. Arsenal have no pure winger in the squad (and still Xhaka and Mustafi starting every game
United fans I think can have genuine complaints about their transfer window, but they did bring in a bonafide star in Sanchez last January and have spent serious money overall. We're the only ones to have done nothing in the window to address any of our weaknesses, whilst also maintaining a seriously low net spend for a while now.
I get it, new stadium payments .. but one signing in a very weak area is not going to ruin our finances, but could be hugely detrimental to our season, especially if Dembele gets a bad injury at any point which is very possible.
No he put Dembele as a holding mid and when Watford kicked on did noting and just left the midfield to get over ran. Its not the first time Poch has bee slow to react.
I know you have been banging the "no signing" bus since the season started but leaving Dier and Victor on the bench all game when Dembele was fecked was just stupid. What is making 3 substitutes in the last 10 minutes going to do? Poch has his good points but his in game management is shite.
And this is where you could go the way of Arsenal - new stadium costs does long-term damage to the ability of the squad to improve, resulting in a gradual falling behind of the pack. All teams, barring Spurs, strengthened last window; some more successful than others. If Poch feels Spurs Board are not supporting his ambitions then he know's he's in demand. Perhaps that's the Man Utd Boards strategy - keep with Mourinho this season, and look to get Poch for the beginning of the next season. Not outside the realms of possibility I would think, especially if Levy doesn't promise Poch some serious backing, even in the winter transfer window.
One of Dier or Wanyama should have come on when we led, I agree. Our midfield was too open, Pochettino does make mistakes. His subs were terrible, I can't understand why he stuck with the system for so long either.
But once Watford scored and started taking control? We need someone to bring in to add actual quality from midfield, not just somebody to shore it up. Pochettino simply doesn't have that option. We need to bring in a long term Dembele replacement and to do so we're going to have to spend some real money, we're not the plucky little side anymore we can't rely on bargain basement signings every other season. Dip in to the market and bring in a genuine quality CM, every other team in the league has star quality in this area. If we don't games like Watford where we have tons of possession but can't do anything with it because we have very little creativity from the centre of the park, are going to become more and more common. We're far too reliant on Eriksen.
No they don't.
Sorry, I meant all of our competitors .. which they do. Dembele used to be our man who could compete with the best CM's, he isn't any longer, at least not reliably.
Everybody else aiming for top four has aimed to bring in quality central midfielders. Liverpool brought in Fabinho & Keita, City went for Jorginho but still have Gundogan, De Bruyne and Fernandinho, United have Pogba, Chelsea have Kovacic, Kante, Jorginho .. etc.
Like I said, even Arsenal went in and paid good money for a highly rated player in Torreira.
I hoped we would get a top central midfielder in the summer and still can't understand why we didn't however I do really like Winks and if he can get back to full fitness he could be the man.
I like Winks, but I think he's going to need time to develop. I would prefer we had phased out Dembele this season and brought in another midfielder, whilst Winks could continue to play understudy whilst getting plenty of game time in cups, off the bench, as a rotation option etc. I think that would have been perfectly good considering he's just coming back from an injury and is only 22.
We're putting a lot of pressure on Dembele staying fit and being an option (not looking likely right now) and Winks really stepping up, and it's a dangerous game to be playing.
Yeah I agree - it scares the bejeebus out of me.
Would you still be happy with a point?
It wouldn't be the worst result. They bettered us over both games last season and that 4-1 defeat was probably our worst result of the season.
Considering what they did at OT, a point would be fine.
Boy I sure am glad we brought in some players to cover for these injuries. Phew.
Your concerns at the time were right x
You can still put out a decent line up without Alli and Lloris though right? I think you'll go 4-3-3 and try to match us. Son only just got back from Asia so no idea if he'll start.
Yeah in fairness I was only kidding, Alli is no huge loss and honestly is one of our most frustrating players. Lloris is a miss though, he's not very highly rated on here but he's far better than Vorm, very proactive and despite the odd error can still pull off some incredible saves.
If Son was back and fully fit, honestly I'd drop Alli from the lineup anyway. Put Son/Kane up top and Lucas behind them.
They were the one team that truly outclassed us over both games last season and for me that second half at anfield where they completely outplayed us was galling. And personally a draw was never gonna do it for me. If you consider that City beat them home and away last season and thats the benchmark to compete for the title, I really think a point would be a dissapointment.
I personally dont think they are as good as they were last season, no evidence of this yet, just a feeling but there is a fine line between continuity and stagnation. I reckon they might fall at the wrong end of that line.
What teams do at OT is not really the best way of judging them these days.
Alli is no huge loss? He has been our stand out player so far this season with Moura imo. He is a big loss, more than Lloris who has an able deputy. Nobody else in our squad gives us what Alli does.
For what it's worth I hope Lamela is fit to start instead of Alli.
Spurs have looked a little flat and havnt really hit their stride yet when I have seen them, I think Liverpool will do them. Liverpool have been flying high and have a lot of momentum coming into this match.
Alli has been good in the matches I have watched, a much different role to say last season. His contribution against us was 5 tackles and 4 interceptions, was a real workhorse/engine. Spurs will definitely miss him, Im assuming this means Dier, Dembele midfield which I think is less mobile than having Alli in there.
Alli has been good in the matches I have watched, a much different role to say last season. His contribution against us was 5 tackles and 4 interceptions, was a real workhorse/engine. Spurs will definitely miss him, Im assuming this means Dier, Dembele midfield which I think is less mobile than having Alli in there.
So do we want Spurs to win this one? or at least pool not to win right?
Honestly I have watched Liverpool's matches so far and they really have not been playing great - they still look like a work in progress - they have been given a lot of praise but if you actually look at the performances they have yet to really justify that praise. My Liverpool supporting mates all agree with me.
Liverpool beat a decent Leicester team, granted Hammers are terrible. Spurs, not sure, they have some passages of great play then just go into cruise mode. Threw away a lead at Watford, didnt seem to fancy the physical battle. Surprised they didnt start Dier for that match, he brings a lot of physicality to the midfield, I guess at the expense of mobility and creativity.
yeah, i'd agree with this. We will have a full strength squad though, and plenty on the bench. It could be down to how effective the substitutions are being the difference between 0,1 & 3 points.
You think so? Honestly, Alli frustrates me more often than not. He loses the ball far too often and last season went missing far too often. I remember him having a good game against Newcastle this season but that is it.
God Bless Tottenham Hotspurs.