*** Tottenham Hotspur vs. Burnley OMT ***

[milo]

Yes. My view too. But for me his a number 10 similar to Oscar at Chelsea rather than Cesc who is the Quarter back.

Absolutely

 

[milo]

Re. positioning of Eriksen, it is probably worth remembering that Kane has played a lot of games at number ten and is probably more comfortable dropping deep than leading the line. This is probably one of the reasons why we see Eriksen pushing wide more on the heatmaps.

 

[Pirate55]

When you say width from Chadli and Lamela do you mean that they ran the line or that they started wide and cut in?

They start wide.

This enables them to found in space and at the same time decongests the middle.

When they have the ball, they can either run the line OR cut in.

It gives us so many more attacking options than them starting them too far infield.

 

[Pirate55]

Yes. My view too. But for me his a number 10 similar to Oscar at Chelsea rather than Cesc who is the Quarter back.

That would be great if we had a Cesc too. As we don't, and Eriksen is our most creative player, then that is his role for us.

Imagine if we had Bony/Benteke . Would you play Kane as the No.10 with Eriksen behind them or Eriksen as the number 10 without Kane?

 

[LutonSpurs]

That would be great if we had a Cesc too. As we don't, and Eriksen is our most creative player, then that is his role for us.

Imagine if we had Bony/Benteke . Would you play Kane as the No.10 with Eriksen behind them or Eriksen as the number 10 without Kane?

We could only play Eriksen in that role if we had a Matic. A real beast of a complete player.

If we had a proper 9 like Benteke then Kane as inverted left and Eriksen still in the same role.

The role you want for Eriksen and where he could play would depend on the right CM which we don't have and there aren't many around in world football.

 

[milo]

That would be great if we had a Cesc too. As we don't, and Eriksen is our most creative player, then that is his role for us.

Imagine if we had Bony/Benteke . Would you play Kane as the No.10 with Eriksen behind them or Eriksen as the number 10 without Kane?

When people talk about someone playing the quarterback role in football they are referring to a deep lying playmaker who looks to play long balls wide. Eriksen definitely does not have that role in our team. The closest that we currently have to that is probably Bentaleb.

 

[Rossi22]

Players like Eriksen are being used as #10s less and less nowadays, the old formula of creative players central and quick/direct players wide seems to have been reversed in the past year or so. Personally that's what I prefer too, players like Bale and Kane(not comparing the two but they are both direct runners with the ball) in that role with the creativity coming from wide.

http://theinsidechannel.com/2014/11/28/analysis/tactics/christian-eriksen-isnt-number-10/

I agree with this article and going forward I hope we find a partner for Kane rather than a replacement/competition.

 

[billyiddo]

I said we were making improvement. Not hard viewing at all. In fact Poch did what I have been calling for for weeks. WIDTH.

Look at the Chadli and Lamela heat maps. Both hugged the line - tick
Look at the Eriksen heat map - played central in a free role- tick
Did we play significantly better than against Stoke, WBA and Palace at home - tick

Would I have preferred a Benteke type up top, with Kane in the hole. Answer yes. But we can't have everything.

We are moving in the right direction.

But what you have been calling for for weeks is for Poch to drop 4231 in favor of 442 : no tick as we played 4231

And to drop inverted wingers in favor of two natural wingers playing on their 'correct' side : again, no tick because we played with inverted wingers.

You are right that we seemed to play with more width than many of our home games this season, but all that proves is we don't need the major overhaul of our tactics/starting lineup that you seemed to be advocating in recent weeks and that it's entirely possible to stretch play and create space for the attacking players with the current setup, just a little tweaking of instructions and some natural width provided with the return of Walker.

 

[Cochise]

Does anyone else feel that by stretching the pitch to its maximum, we hinder our own defensive game when it comes to pressing? I think the press is easier to coordinate when the players are already in a fairly tight formation, by staying very open we increase the distance to oposition players and leave more space for them to pass/move into. Is it just the trade off we must pay and if so is it conceivable that we play like that against lesser teams and the wonky (Kane at #10 and Eriksen on the left) when against teams with quality on the ball?

 

[Pirate55]

But what you have been calling for for weeks is for Poch to drop 4231 in favor of 442 : no tick as we played 4231

And to drop inverted wingers in favor of two natural wingers playing on their 'correct' side : again, no tick because we played with inverted wingers.

You are right that we seemed to play with more width than many of our home games this season, but all that proves is we don't need the major overhaul of our tactics/starting lineup that you seemed to be advocating in recent weeks and that it's entirely possible to stretch play and create space for the attacking players with the current setup, just a little tweaking of instructions and some natural width provided with the return of Walker.

No, I have wanted width first and foremost and yesterday we got it.
Yes, I still want two forwards against the lesser teams. Would love Benteke and Kane with Eriksen in a free role behind. I agree with LutonSpur that for this we need a Matic type. Would that be Scchneiderlin or might Bentalab develop into this role?

 

[Jurgen the German]

Bit of a blast from the past seeing Ian Woan on the sidelines for Burnley. Remember him scoring a few screamers in his heyday for Notts Forest.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Maybe I'm being harsh, but I don't quite see what Bentaleb or Mason are good at. Both show great enthusiasm and they are by no means poor players and they are certianly far more effective than Capoue/Dembele/Paulinho.

 

[Cochise]

Maybe I'm being harsh, but I don't quite see what Bentaleb or Mason are good at. Both show great enthusiasm and they are by no means poor players and they are certianly far more effective than Capoue/Dembele/Paulinho.

I think they are the best we have at moving around the pitch and stitching play together from deep. A lot of our play seems to depend upon quick one touch football with passes being hit with pace through to Eriksen, Lamela, Kane and Chadli and as you say they are the best we have at doing that. So far as what they excel at; well I'd say Bentaleb for me has come on quite far with his defensive reading of the game, although there is still work to be done there he does snuff out trouble and has the physical attributes to deal with a lot of opposition midfielders already. Mason gives us a bit more drive in the middle with his high energy and he is great at switching play very quickly with accurate long passes.

 

[Pirate55]

Players like Eriksen are being used as #10s less and less nowadays, the old formula of creative players central and quick/direct players wide seems to have been reversed in the past year or so. Personally that's what I prefer too, players like Bale and Kane(not comparing the two but they are both direct runners with the ball) in that role with the creativity coming from wide.

http://theinsidechannel.com/2014/11/28/analysis/tactics/christian-eriksen-isnt-number-10/

I agree with this article and going forward I hope we find a partner for Kane rather than a replacement/competition.

Interesting article and I agree with your comments. Benteke would make a great difference to us.

 

[thfcsteff]

So almost exactly where I postioned him k:

But in post 374 you said he ran the show from the middle of the park!!!!

 

[thfcsteff]

I said we were making improvement. Not hard viewing at all. In fact Poch did what I have been calling for for weeks. WIDTH.

Look at the Chadli and Lamela heat maps. Both hugged the line - tick
Look at the Eriksen heat map - played central in a free role- tick
Did we play significantly better than against Stoke, WBA and Palace at home - tick

Would I have preferred a Benteke type up top, with Kane in the hole. Answer yes. But we can't have everything.

We are moving in the right direction.

WHY do you think he has been able to do this? Because in Kane he has a forward who moves superbly allowing Eriksen more space, in Bentaleb he has a DM who protects him and in Davis, he has a LB who is defensively sound should he drift and play free. Plus Eriksen is simply working harder and playing better! As for Chadli and Lamela staying wide(r) the fact Burnley didn't come to stifle the ball and try to pinch us on the break whilst settling for a point allowed us to play our style.

 

[thfcsteff]

That would be great if we had a Cesc too. As we don't, and Eriksen is our most creative player, then that is his role for us.

Imagine if we had Bony/Benteke . Would you play Kane as the No.10 with Eriksen behind them or Eriksen as the number 10 without Kane?

I've said for ages I'd personally play Eriksen deeper with Bentaleb.

 

[LutonSpurs]

Maybe I'm being harsh, but I don't quite see what Bentaleb or Mason are good at. Both show great enthusiasm and they are by no means poor players and they are certianly far more effective than Capoue/Dembele/Paulinho.

The main asset is the fast transitions which are key to Poch's system. The other CMs we have seem to dally on the ball too much and they do not pass forward particularly well.

 

[milo]

The main asset is the fast transitions which are key to Poch's system. The other CMs we have seem to dally on the ball too much and they do not pass forward particularly well.

Agreed, although I think that it could also be a case of the younger players being more willing to buy into his methods. To be fair to Dembele, I think that he has done quite well in an more advanced position when he has come off the bench recently.

 

[Pirate55]

But in post 374 you said he ran the show from the middle of the park!!!!

QED. See heat map and key passes.