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Townsend and Lamela playing together....viable option?

Nigeyman

Nigeyman

Chris Armstrong
A post in the lamela thread from mumorn got me thinking and I wonder what others opinions are with Townsend left and Lamela right.

Obviously we are struggling to create chances this season and these two seem to be the two most likely players in our squad to beat a man or two and thus create the space we are looking for against uber defensive teams or against any team really.

Having both in the same side could make us very dangerous...Lamela could keep the opposition full back guessing but is more likely to cut-in and Townsend on the left could use his directness to whip in crosses from the left...and give Solly/defoe the service that's been lacking.

The only issue with this that I can see is that we would then have 3 no10's fighting it out for a spot Eriksen,Holtby,Siggy.

so as Mumorn posted:

Lamela---Eriksen---Townsend

Soldado

could this be us at our attacking best?
Do people think that playing Townsend and Lamela together could/will work?

Lennon doesn't seem to be to willing to beat a man these days and I think Chadli is behind Lamela and Townsend also....

thoughts please........just posting this makes me realise what amazing squad depth we have....if anything we could be slightly overloaded.
great to see the potential of Lamela tonight ....proper twinkletoes performance.
 
I only suggested it due to the fact that Townsend at the moment is pretty undroppable, to have someone in the team with the pace and the way he beats a man is valuable. I just think on the left he could be superb, he has a good cross on him and there isnt too much better sights in world football than a winger attacking a full back constantly.

I mean when everyones fit, I would have either Chadli or Sigurdsson on the left with Lamela on the right so we can have Rose overlapping Siggy or Chadli and Walker overlapping Lamela.
 
Nigeyman said:
A post in the lamela thread from mumorn got me thinking and I wonder what others opinions are with Townsend left and Lamela right.

Obviously we are struggling to create chances this season and these two seem to be the two most likely players in our squad to beat a man or two and thus create the space we are looking for against uber defensive teams or against any team really.

Having both in the same side could make us very dangerous...Lamela could keep the opposition full back guessing but is more likely to cut-in and Townsend on the left could use his directness to whip in crosses from the left...and give Solly/defoe the service that's been lacking.

The only issue with this that I can see is that we would then have 3 no10's fighting it out for a spot Eriksen,Holtby,Siggy.

so as Mumorn posted:

Lamela---Eriksen---Townsend

Soldado

could this be us at our attacking best?
Do people think that playing Townsend and Lamela together could/will work?

Lennon doesn't seem to be to willing to beat a man these days and I think Chadli is behind Lamela and Townsend also....

thoughts please........just posting this makes me realise what amazing squad depth we have....if anything we could be slightly overloaded.
great to see the potential of Lamela tonight ....proper twinkletoes performance.
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Lamela plus one. Lennon, Sigi Townsend Chadli in that order.

In reality none of the other 4 are good enough or ever will be. No different to last season, when we had Bale but no one else.

Lamela is not at Bale's level [ yet ] Lennon is the same player as last year, maybe not as good, Townsend is ultimately the same player who went out on loan and Chadlli is a Pienaar.

Willian was supposed to be on the other side.
 
Lamela was so quiet tonight in the period where is was sent out to the left wing. He did have that blocked shot but compared to what he did when cutting in from the right or starting from the centre, it really shows that that is where he is best placed. The best part though was the number of times he stayed wide and hugged the sideline whilst we built possession from the back, something which was a big problem with Siggy on the opposite flank. It would be interesting to see how Andros did on the other side, as I think his delivery would cause a lot of problems.

On the subject of Sig. I think he is best in the middle. It's where he naturally ends up most the time and his instinct seems to be to move into that area and shoot. Watching the shooting warmup tonight he was the most accurate (yeah I realise it's a drill) and I still think against teams like Sheriff we could get away with playing him and Eriksen/Holtby. Did I read somewhere that he plays more centrally for Iceland in a midfield 4?? Anyways, I think given the players skillsets our team would be more balanced with a more specialised wing forward in that position than Siggy.
 
colin fishwick said:
Lamela plus one. Lennon, Sigi Townsend Chadli in that order.

In reality none of the other 4 are good enough or ever will be. No different to last season, when we had Bale but no one else.

Lamela is not at Bale's level [ yet ] Lennon is the same player as last year, maybe not as good, Townsend is ultimately the same player who went out on loan and Chadlli is a Pienaar.

Willian was supposed to be on the other side.
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who out of the 4 though do you think is most likely to take a man on and beat him thus creating space?
I do find the 'not good enough comment' strange though.....Lennon we know about but the others surely have much more to show....though its obvious you don't rate Townsend.....which is your opinion so there is no room for movement there from yourself.....personally I think he will keep progressing into a better player.

agree with the Willian statement though with AVB's intentions.
 
I put it in the Sheriff OMT after some discussion on the effectiveness of Townsend in general, I think Andros could use a spell on the bench and learn a lot from watching Lamela..

If Townsend's not providing goals, which he doesn't do enough for a winger then he should be doing the role of a wide forward, which involves scoring goals, again something he hasn't done enough for us.

He's impressive because he runs really fast at and often past defenders, but too regularly he wastes opportunities to put balls in the box in exchange for shooting hopefully.. It can be highly frustrating.

I don't doubt that he is a fantastic athlete and a decent prospect, that is not open for debate, but much like his England compatriot Kyle Walker I really do question his mental strength and decision making ability at times.

That is something he needs to develop, but it's a trait one Erik Lamela already has in spades, intelligence is tough to teach.. I would love to see either Lamela on the left and Lennon on the right or Lamela on the right and Sigurdsson on the left as combinations.
 
Only viable option is Townsend at left back with both of them in the same team.
Townsend doesn't have the creative passing ability to help us unlock those massed defences. He said himself after the villa game that he isn't suited to it and plays much better on the counter attack.
Yes he could do a boring run down the left and cross the ball into an area but that's not gonna cut it with either Soldado or Defoe upfront.
He could do the same job from left back especially against some team sitting back.
 
JEESUS the man played one good game and you are all drooling over him like he is pamela anderson at the age of 20. And against a bunch of guys from Moldova. He has been weak all season, did nothing when he started, did nothing when he came off the bench and out of 8 spurs players to take a penalty he was the single one that missed. Not to mention some of you already are talking about 60 mil pounds transfer,comparison to Messi and stuff like that, GET SOME GRIP PEOPLE FFS. Townsend has been impressive all season but now, after a game against the Moldavians we barely won 2-1, it's LAMELA and the other guy... I am not saying Lamela will not be a great player for the club, but you guys want so bad him to make because if not Spurs just got a 30 million flop. Have some balance, yes he did good tonight, excellent at times, but the other 10 matches he played in were extremely poor, worst player on the pitch for most of them. I have not judged him because he is in the bedding period, but giving him the same treatment here when he did good, not making him the one that sent his son on earth to save man kind...
 
Cochise said:
Lamela was so quiet tonight in the period where is was sent out to the left wing. He did have that blocked shot but compared to what he did when cutting in from the right or starting from the centre, it really shows that that is where he is best placed. The best part though was the number of times he stayed wide and hugged the sideline whilst we built possession from the back, something which was a big problem with Siggy on the opposite flank. It would be interesting to see how Andros did on the other side, as I think his delivery would cause a lot of problems.

On the subject of Sig. I think he is best in the middle. It's where he naturally ends up most the time and his instinct seems to be to move into that area and shoot. Watching the shooting warmup tonight he was the most accurate (yeah I realise it's a drill) and I still think against teams like Sheriff we could get away with playing him and Eriksen/Holtby. Did I read somewhere that he plays more centrally for Iceland in a midfield 4?? Anyways, I think given the players skillsets our team would be more balanced with a more specialised wing forward in that position than Siggy.
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What it seems to me is that because Walker is more of a threat on the right and actually positions himself pretty well most times, it allows the right winger a bit more space to receive the ball and move it. He simply gives better support than Naughton (who himself is not playing at his preferred RB position). I think that's at least part of the reason why we as a team seem to favor our right more than left. I don't have any heat maps to prove this, and as quoted, Sig does tend to drift inward.
Would still like to see him play on the left, and rotating Townsend and Lamela on the wings feels pretty natural to me.
 
Townsend has had a few good games and a load where he created f all, ran into blind alleys and selfishly shot at goal.

At a time when we are struggling to create of course fans who never witnessed Lamela in full flight are going to get excited about what they see as a real Spurs player.
 
IulianSteaua said:
JEESUS the man played one good game and you are all drooling over him like he is pamela anderson at the age of 20. And against a bunch of guys from Moldova. He has been weak all season, did nothing when he started, did nothing when he came off the bench and out of 8 spurs players to take a penalty he was the single one that missed. Not to mention some of you already are talking about 60 mil pounds transfer,comparison to Messi and stuff like that, GET SOME GRIP PEOPLE FFS. Townsend has been impressive all season but now, after a game against the Moldavians we barely won 2-1, it's LAMELA and the other guy... I am not saying Lamela will not be a great player for the club, but you guys want so bad him to make because if not Spurs just got a 30 million flop. Have some balance, yes he did good tonight, excellent at times, but the other 10 matches he played in were extremely poor, worst player on the pitch for most of them. I have not judged him because he is in the bedding period, but giving him the same treatment here when he did good, not making him the one that sent his son on earth to save man kind...
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only wanted my initial questions answered;)

not trying to wax lyrical or put pressure on lamela just wanted opinions of the two playing together.......
 
Modric THFC said:
Only viable option is Townsend at left back with both of them in the same team.
Townsend doesn't have the creative passing ability to help us unlock those massed defences. He said himself after the villa game that he isn't suited to it and plays much better on the counter attack.
Yes he could do a boring run down the left and cross the ball into an area but that's not gonna cut it with either Soldado or Defoe upfront.
He could do the same job from left back especially against some team sitting back.
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What I have seen from AVB this season tells me that there is absolutely no way he will ever play Townsend LB, except for maybe a plague affecting all of the other players and then he would have no choice. The other thing I have seen is AVB will not change the formation it's 4-2-3-1 till he dies, or a run of 5-6 defeats or again a plague. And finally the 2 guys in CM will be picked from Sandro,Dembele,Paulinho or Capoue. There will never be the option of Holtby or Eriksen playing next to one of the guys mentioned, except if 3 of them are injured at the same time possibly by a plague. In other news does anyone know what Ade has because it's about time to see him at least for 10 minutes at the end of a game. He ain't sick is he, caught a plague or something did he ? :D
 
Nigeyman said:
only wanted my initial questions answered;)

not trying to wax lyrical or put pressure on lamela just wanted opinions of the two playing together.......
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I was not trying to single anyone out, it's a general thing here. Are we truly that desperate to find a hero? Is a good performance over moldavian opposition at the WHL from a player enough to sparkle everybody ? in a barely 2-1 win ? Is everybody forgetting this is the same player who last week was utterly shet, and the week before that and so on ? I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST LAMELA, and of course I hope he does well for the club, I go forward and say he probably will do well for the club, i do have faith in him. But against a team like Sheriff, really, is that what everybody needed to see from him to light up ? Defoe for example has played excellent in EL in all 4 matches, scored a buttload and people say he is just a championship quality player, not good enough for the PL even(they might be right). Now Lamela played bad in the other matches and he played well here and suddenly he is Bale " Lamela plus one. Lennon, Sigi Townsend Chadli in that order.

In reality none of the other 4 are good enough or ever will be. No different to last season, when we had Bale but no one else."
 
It's clearly a viable option imo. Lamela right and Townsend left is a good option imo, we could also see Lamela behind Soldado with Townsend on either flank.

IulianSteaua said:
JEESUS the man played one good game and you are all drooling over him like he is pamela anderson at the age of 20. And against a bunch of guys from Moldova. He has been weak all season, did nothing when he started, did nothing when he came off the bench and out of 8 spurs players to take a penalty he was the single one that missed. Not to mention some of you already are talking about 60 mil pounds transfer,comparison to Messi and stuff like that, GET SOME GRIP PEOPLE FFS. Townsend has been impressive all season but now, after a game against the Moldavians we barely won 2-1, it's LAMELA and the other guy... I am not saying Lamela will not be a great player for the club, but you guys want so bad him to make because if not Spurs just got a 30 million flop. Have some balance, yes he did good tonight, excellent at times, but the other 10 matches he played in were extremely poor, worst player on the pitch for most of them. I have not judged him because he is in the bedding period, but giving him the same treatment here when he did good, not making him the one that sent his son on earth to save man kind...
Click to expand...

Your negativity towards him is at least as over the top as the positive reactions in this thread at least.

He has not been consistently "extremely poor", he has not been the worst player on the pitch for most of them either.

His contribution in terms of goals and assist is starting to look decent compared to most players in our squad I would think.

He was better last night than in most his earlier games, but to me at least there wasn't a massive difference. Just a difference in how often his stuff worked out and how frequently he got the ball in decent positions. He's been showing similar tendencies quite consistently when he's been given game time.

Modric THFC said:
Only viable option is Townsend at left back with both of them in the same team.
Townsend doesn't have the creative passing ability to help us unlock those massed defences. He said himself after the villa game that he isn't suited to it and plays much better on the counter attack.
Yes he could do a boring run down the left and cross the ball into an area but that's not gonna cut it with either Soldado or Defoe upfront.
He could do the same job from left back especially against some team sitting back.
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Lennon seems a much more obvious full back option than Townsend to me. Townsend shouldn't be asked to play as a full back any time soon.

Townsend could easily do a good job for us on the left imo. He's fairly two footed and has shown for us in the past, for QPR and for England iirc that he is a goal threat from range with his right foot.

I also find it quite strange that you're saying that he isn't suited to creative passing and unlocking defenses. Yet you only want him on the right where he will be cutting inside towards those crowded areas most of the time. That leaves him with the long shot attempts as his main threat and teams have been quite good at closing those down.

He can be a great threat on the break from either flank imo, just like Bale was a great counter attacking threat on the left or Walcott is a great counter attacking threat from the right for the scum.
 
practising small posts. no essays

Lamela played well

it was a gardners club from moldova. stay calm, pragmatic and focused.....it wasnt against bayern

Lamela should be introduced to prem games not full thrown into it from the start

dont drop siggy from left. man is a revelation so far from there.

dont move siggy into the middle even though thats where he ends up. such is the beauty of players with siggy skill set in that you dont track them moving into the middle without creating space for other opposition.

if siggy starts in the middle he is easier to mark, more congested and hasnt played so well as attacking playmaker. more of a finisher

townsend for the good of the team against stubborn teams should be utilised as a full back....dont laugh at me on this, it will work.... old heads remember my thoughts on moving bale and moving king and moving modric. my gut says this can work

probably not against ben arfa though
 
I don't think Townsend works on the left (nor will Lamela) - his natural game is cutting towards goal, not hugging the touchline. I'd have one of them right, then one of Eriksen or Siggy on the left.
 
Modric THFC said:
Townsend has had a few good games and a load where he created f all, ran into blind alleys and selfishly shot at goal.

At a time when we are struggling to create of course fans who never witnessed Lamela in full flight are going to get excited about what they see as a real Spurs player.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. In the last month Townsend has gone from undroppable to very droppable. Lamela deserves a chance, as does Siggy. It also allows more interchanging of positions, which we saw brief glimpses of last night.
 
Would Townsend be able to beat his man regularly out on the left? Because it's a lot different trying to beat a full back down his preferred side than it is simply cutting in from the right where the full back is on his weaker foot and often let's you go assuming you are running into trouble and that someone else will pick you up.

He might be just as able to beat his man out on the left and get crosses in (I would like to think so) but if he can't then he could be totally ineffective out there.

I think the bigger picture is that we badly need a LB who is decent going forward and overlapping because with Rose out injured and Naughton so uncomfortable on his left it's always going to have a detrimental effect on whoever is playing in front of them.. Siggy for example looked so eager last night but Naughton would give him the ball then stand still and only ever give him the option to come back, even if Naughton didn't want the ball out wide on his left foot there should have been a case for making the overlapping runs just to create some space for Siggy.

Anyway, back to the opening question.. yes I'd like to see Townsend given a go on the left.. just to see how he fares.
 
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