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Aaron Lennon

Lennon is like a number of English players at Spurs over hte last 5-10 years in that he hasnt fulfilled his potential. Defoe, Thudd, Jenas, Lennon, Bentley...all had the potential to be better than they've acheived if you ask me. Maybe it was partly due to the large english core of the squad that made them feel too comfortable and didnt push them? Maybe now that Lennon has some proper competition though it'll help him push on (or perhaps he's too old to improve much now?)

I dont see Townsend as getting to Lennon's level though arguably neither will be in our first choice team when everyone is fit (Siggy, Eriksen and Lemela playing behind Soldado?). Will be interesting to see whether Lennon decides to stick around if he's no longer a first choice
 
Lennon for me is still our starting right winger. but in an inverted system he doesnt make the grade against others that play with their strong foot on the opposite flank

if we want to stretch the opposition and penetrate them regularly down the flank then lennon is our guy

to be honest i am not even sure why we seem to be adverse to having one flank man and one inverted wide playmaker / wing forward.....aka playing a wonky again

AVB's / mourinho's system doesn't encourage players like lennon but thats not to say that its the only system they are willing to play

whats erikson like in a deeper role?
 
africanspurs said:
Lennon for me is still our starting right winger. but in an inverted system he doesnt make the grade against others that play with their strong foot on the opposite flank

if we want to stretch the opposition and penetrate them regularly down the flank then lennon is our guy

to be honest i am not even sure why we seem to be adverse to having one flank man and one inverted wide playmaker / wing forward.....aka playing a wonky again
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Africa I think you may need to consider the double wonky, the inverted wonky and the wonk-wonk as follows:

With inverted widemen, the full backs provide the width, right?

But recently we've had Naughton playing, who didn't provide width on either the left against Cardiff nor the right against Tromso. He is not a wideman/winger/attacking fullback on either flank.

So you might play one flying full back like Walker with one inverted wideman like Lamela.

And then a non-flying full back like Naughton with a traditional winger (like Lennon on the right wing or Townsend on the left wing) so they can STAY wide and give some width.

When we had a non-flying full back PLUS a non-wideman we had no width.

Wonk that.
 
Well wonked!

That is why Murmon and I both wanted Townsend switched at half time and Lamela introduced on the right against Cardiff. It would have meant a natural left footed winger (Townsend) in front of a static left back (Naughton) and an inverted right winger (Lamela) in front of a flying right back (Walker). Hey presto, natural balance.
 
I always thought a perfect role for Lennon would be coming on as a second half sub and running at tired defenders. For me he just doesn't do enough to justify starting over past few seasons. I am happy with what Townsend has brought us he is a constant attacking threat and think it will pay off with goals sooner rather than later
 
Bullet said:
Africa I think you may need to consider the double wonky, the inverted wonky and the wonk-wonk as follows:

With inverted widemen, the full backs provide the width, right?

But recently we've had Naughton playing, who didn't provide width on either the left against Cardiff nor the right against Tromso. He is not a wideman/winger/attacking fullback on either flank.

So you might play one flying full back like Walker with one inverted wideman like Lamela.

And then a non-flying full back like Naughton with a traditional winger (like Lennon on the right wing or Townsend on the left wing) so they can STAY wide and give some width.

When we had a non-flying full back PLUS a non-wideman we had no width.

Wonk that.
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yep, thats pretty much wonk i was wonking about.

its why i am curious to know if erikson can play like say ramsey, arteta, rosicky,......attacking playmakers that can start from the base but could press without the ball to counter their lack of defensive proficiencies (if erikson even has that)

lennon is best served playing with someone that wont crowd him out ala naughton...

but lennon is not that good on the left, having said that i've seen chadli have solid games on the left without actually offering a definitive end result, lennon can do that and from a cosmetic perspective he could look threatening and terrify the opposition into a defensive posture.

Only thing is that at some point you want those inverted wingers in a 4231 to contribute with a significant combination total of goals and assists...which i dont know if lennon can be relied on to provide consistently

this is why lennon would have to start on the right but with a RB like walker lennon wont be as effective a wide man in his natural element. thing is though i want to see lennon get a run of games with these new guys from the right side

in order to accomodate the above.....lamela would have to come central....which would imagine shift erikson to the base of the 3 right next to whoever is there

its too much shifting around from AVB's desired system which is why i think lennon is toast.
 
Pirate55 said:
Well wonked!

That is why Murmon and I both wanted Townsend switched at half time and Lamela introduced on the right against Cardiff. It would have meant a natural left footed winger (Townsend) in front of a static left back (Naughton) and an inverted right winger (Lamela) in front of a flying right back (Walker). Hey presto, natural balance.
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...and then you have the problem of Lamela and Walker not having played together enough to cover and switch...Walker not knowing when to stay or push, Lamela not knowing when to cover, of course they'd work it out quickly but by the time they had it might've been one costly mistake in a tight away match. There hasn't been much time to bed in new players since the end of August. Between Europa League and internationals plus 3 games a week, I'd say the coaches are frustrated they cannot spend more dedicated time on the training pitch...not to mention Naughton and Townshend would be a disaster waiting to happen away from home, as Andros doesn't have the defensive/covering nous of (say) Lennon. No, at least with Townsend and Walker on the same side you know that their speed will allow for recovery/coverage...I think once they've had real time to work with the players we will see them try things like that...
 
Shropshire Yid said:
I can remember some great goals Lennon has scored from the left, Fulham away, Birmingham home, Saudi Sportswashing Machine away i think are 3 examples!

This is where I see him playing!

Also remember the cup game under Jol at Chelsea when he played behind Berba in the hole, was a great performance!

Lennon is a very good player to have and I'd like to think he would be about mr hit and hope townsend!
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Agreed, I think he's quite good on the left and would get better with practice. I think he has the short passing game to play Rose in too.
 
AdamB said:
he offers more than Sigurdsson in my view!
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but goals and assists is all that matters really.

end of the day siggy is a finisher and a make shift playmaker...primarily he is a lampard in the making as long as you dont make him go out there and control games. coming infield from the left is perfect for him...at which point it then comes down to finishing or assisting

eriksen may provide more than siggy overall...i personally dont know....but the question is still there to ask ....

..is eriksen more of a goal threat and seasoned finisher than siggy? is he able to assist more? or provide more in total (goals and assists) than siggy?

then there is the other key ingredient to the above question......is lamela as good a playmaker NOW as eriksen is said to be? cause if he isnt then having eriksen out there on the left working his way infield might not be as efficient as having eriksen in the middle behind the front man feeding the front three
 
Re Lennon's role on the right, even Walker can't be so thick he can't be coached to hold his runs and not crowd the winger when Lennon is in front of him, or am I giving him too much credit?
 
Walker made a couple of Corluka-esque passes behind the full back to Lennon at the start of the season, usually he overhits them and they go out of play, perhaps something he/they've worked on.
 
AdamB said:
Lennon is like a number of English players at Spurs over hte last 5-10 years in that he hasnt fulfilled his potential. Defoe, Thudd, Jenas, Lennon, Bentley...all had the potential to be better than they've acheived if you ask me. Maybe it was partly due to the large english core of the squad that made them feel too comfortable and didnt push them? Maybe now that Lennon has some proper competition though it'll help him push on (or perhaps he's too old to improve much now?)

I dont see Townsend as getting to Lennon's level though arguably neither will be in our first choice team when everyone is fit (Siggy, Eriksen and Lemela playing behind Soldado?). Will be interesting to see whether Lennon decides to stick around if he's no longer a first choice
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I think they did fulfil their potential. They never had the potential to be world class or even top class players, and some of them at least were regulars in a side that was finishing top six and challenging top four. Which in my opinion is about the ability level that the likes of Defoe, Lennon, Robbie Keane, Huddlestone and, even my favourite Michael Dawson, can reach.

One, maybe two, of them could feature in a side at the same time that is higher up the league and not embarrass themselves in the same manner as a Park or O'Shea but they wouldn't be key players in those teams.

The problem often is when a player breaks through young people think that as they get older they'll be a massive improvement as they get older. At the top level that rarely happens, which is why the players that go on to be truly world class are usually better players at 19 than most top flight pros in their position are at the peak of their career! They're extra special. Usually the only time you see a massive improvement from a player is when they haven't been utilised correctly initially or they are placed in a new role later in their career where they excel. Even Bale's first few games for us were sensational under Jol, but it was when he moved further up the pitch to left wing and then the free role that Redknapp gave him that he truly started to excel. Had he always stayed at left back I seriously doubt people would be talking him up as world class.

Townsend could be an interesting example of the above. I always felt at left wing in a four man midfield he looked OK, but nothing more. Probably Routledge standard. But since he has started playing on the right and further forward, I think he looks like a really good player. Townsend's biggest problem is that I bet AVB is itching to play Lamela there and so it's only a matter of time before Townsend does get relegated to the bench. One poor game and that will be it. A similar situation to Friedel/Lloris last season. But like Friedel last season, Townsend is performing superbly and AVB is very good at letting players keep their place if they are performing.....even if long term he doesn't see Townsend as his first choice right inside forward.
 
Asides from Bentley you are right - we bought those players hoping they'd improve to a level whereby we could establish ourselves as the main contender to the top 4 places - which we are. Our targets now exceed that hence our new signings supposedly having a higher potential
 
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