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O/T U21 European Championship

Holtby seems to do better in a freer role where he can roam further forward and won't be punished for getting out of position. I think his ideas in the final third are often good, his passes just tend to get cut out whether that is because of the (lack of) movement in front or being a bit slow with the pass. Ideally, having more intelligent players in the final third and getting settled into the squad should solve that issue.

I think this attack could be pretty useful, if only we could secure Bernard or a tricky player like him:

------------Sandro---------
----Holtby-------Dembele-----
Bale-------Striker-------Bernard

I have Bale as RWF since he's gotten so good at cutting in to score, so it's a bit lacking in width unless Bale sometimes moves to the left ... however, with Sandro there the FBs should be better able to push forward like Everton's do. With Sandro holding his position behind and Dembele being pretty strong defensively, I think Holtby would get a bit more time and freedom to create in this formation, for both Bale (whom he seems to have good chemistry with) and a striker that actually drives into the box.
 
stinkfoot said:
Tonight, Holtby has really shown the intelligent and crisp passing/distribution that we all heard about when we signed him. Is this because he currently feels more settled in the German team and the role he is playing? I hope that the more he settles at Spurs the more of this we will see of him.
Click to expand...

I didn't watch the game today, but from what I've seen this winter/spring Holtby needs others like him in the team to really shine. He's good at quick pass and move football, if the rest of the team keeps up that can create space and chances. If the rest of the team consistently takes one or two touches too many thus taking the pace out of the moves then it doesn't work and Holtby seems ineffective for long stretches.

So far at least we haven't seen that he's capable of lifting the rest of the team with his skills the way Modric for example could. But it's very early days yet and he's shown some good signs. Will be interesting to see if he can make a spot in the starting 11 his own next season, even if not I think he will be a useful player for us.
 
Holtby was good last night in behind the striker, but what he did was get the ball off the centre backs and pop off a pass, one touch triangles and 1-2s, then make a stupidly long run from defence, past the midfield, past the defence, past the striker and try to get on the end of a pass.

It was a bit odd, reminded me a lot of Stevie G or Beckham in his England pomp, like a one-man heroic focus for the team... he would go and get it, then tell others where to go, then try to finish the move as well!

He did well all night, nearly always one-touch which can be great, but is also risky and can lose posssession with ambitious passes which only have a slim chance of coming off.

He captained the Germans, drove them forward, won set pieces, won a penalty, scored a good goal... if that had been Isco or whoever else we would be clamouring to sign the lad, so let's celebrate a bit ffs!

I thought the board would be red hot with discussion about this performance, but there are about 10 posts!
 
I'll be watching the game tonight. England vs Norway. Norway has a lot of exciting youngsters, and they are definitely more fun to watch than the seniors these days. Can't believe we didn't beat Israel in the opening match, had 4-5 shots hit the post, and generally bombarded the Israeli goal throughout the game. I think it'll be a good game! :)
 
Bullet said:
Holtby was good last night in behind the striker, but what he did was get the ball off the centre backs and pop off a pass, one touch triangles and 1-2s, then make a stupidly long run from defence, past the midfield, past the defence, past the striker and try to get on the end of a pass.

It was a bit odd, reminded me a lot of Stevie G or Beckham in his England pomp, like a one-man heroic focus for the team... he would go and get it, then tell others where to go, then try to finish the move as well!

He did well all night, nearly always one-touch which can be great, but is also risky and can lose posssession with ambitious passes which only have a slim chance of coming off.

He captained the Germans, drove them forward, won set pieces, won a penalty, scored a good goal... if that had been Isco or whoever else we would be clamouring to sign the lad, so let's celebrate a bit ffs!

I thought the board would be red hot with discussion about this performance, but there are about 10 posts!
Click to expand...

Was a very VDV-esque performance.

Daisuk said:
I'll be watching the game tonight. England vs Norway. Norway has a lot of exciting youngsters, and they are definitely more fun to watch than the seniors these days. Can't believe we didn't beat Israel in the opening match, had 4-5 shots hit the post, and generally bombarded the Israeli goal throughout the game. I think it'll be a good game! :)
Click to expand...

Rose, Ince and Zaha are back for the game, it should help England a lot.
 
England U21 Team: Butland, Smith, Caulker, Dawson, Rose, Chalobah, Lowe, Henderson (c), Ince, Redmond, Zaha

Norway: Nyland, Elabdellaoui, Semb Berge, Rogne, Strandberg, Eikrem, Johansen, Singh, Nielsen, Pedersen, Berget
 
That's a better team than the one that started against Italy, should edge it but then I'm totally ignorant to Norway's players.
 
Norway should line up something like this:

------------------------------------------------------ Nyland (Molde)

Elabdellaoui (Eintracht Braunschweig) - Semb Berge (Odd Grenland) - Rogne (Celtic) - Strandberg (Rosenborg)

---------------------- Eikrem (Molde) - Johansen (Strømsgodset) - Singh (Feyenoord)

---------------------- Nielsen (Red Bull Salzburg) - Pedersen (OB) - Berget (Molde)

Eikrem spent two years at Man United before signing for Molde, as did Joshua King (now Blackburn) who's on the bench.

Other interesting names on the bench: Berisha (Red Bull Salzburg), Henriksen (AZ Alkmaar), Nordtveit (ex-gooner, now Borussia Mönchengladbach), Konradsen (Rennes)

Most of them have experience with the senior team.
 
So depressing watching England U21. Whereas some countries really value their teams with proper coaches and decent players, England seems to have a string of typical reserve manager types. David Platt, Howard Wilkinson, Stuart Pearce.

I see no progress in any of these players at England level. Almost as if it isn't taken seriously. I expect Norway to win.
 
Jonjo Shelvey: Had a conversion rate of 2.9% this season - better than only 7 of the Premier League's 257 goalscorers in 2012/13
 
Three of the back four are Spurs. I'm very happy with that. Did we spend like one million on Rose? Net spend of 1m to have 3/4's of the back line of our country's U21s shows progress is most definitely being made
 
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