Andros Townsend, Where Art Thou?

In the latest of his articles for e-Spurs, stateside Spurs fan Marc Ashed gives his views on the Milan collapse and a certain player currently on loan at QPR.

These are words that probably won't come out of my mouth again but where is Andros Townsend when you need him? The problem that led to our defeat at Liverpool almost led to the greatest collapse in Europa League/European Cup history. We suffered from a lack of width due to Mousa playing as an outside mid position and the resulting lack of creativity in the centre.

Spurs winger Townsend
From my perspective, Mousa Dembele is an absolute force in the middle of the park and the positive play moving forward in the 2nd part of the game is fully attributed to him. Jake Livermore, who I vilified in the last article, played a better game but still is so incredibly one dimensional that between him and Scott Parker, the ball doesn't move forward. I thought that Gylfi continued with his recent good run of form and was let down by a lack of movement around him. I am confident that AVB will keep Mousa in the middle at all costs, even if Lennon has to miss a game again. Holtby injects energy and an attacking spirit anytime hes on the pitch but you get the sense that he hasn't gelled with the rest of the team yet and they aren't ready for his quick, incisive one touch passing. The lack of a substitute winger, namely Andros Townsend ( who scored a screamer for QPR the other day, http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/andros-townsends-golazo-qpr-v-sunderland/) hurt us. The ability to keep our width rather than depending on our full backs to get forward and keep Mousa in the centre would have been the difference between points v. Liverpool and elimination from Europa this past week.
 
Spurs progress in Europa League
Adebayor looks 3 steps slower than everyone around him and Defoe has gone back to the mediocre striker of old. The movement between the two was absent and killed attacks that were looking for an outlet that wasn't there. The need for a striker is raring its ugly head without the finishing of Gareth Bale. I have zero doubts that we will bring in at least 2 strikers with Ade leaving in summer. As I tweeted before the match (@marcaron22), I thought that Coulthirst should get a run. He has a strong goal scoring record with the younger teams and in a game like yesterday against Inter, youth should be given a chance (maybe even Tom Carroll ahead of Livermore).
 
Spurs Starlet Coulthirst
The defence is a whole other animal. Jan is tremendous, among top CB's in the world. Gallas is way over the hill & is hurting the team way too much to get any playing time anymore. Caulker should have played but hindsight is 20/20. Continuing to play Naughton on the left puts us at a disadvantage. With two right footed players on the left, it does us no favours and he isn't overly talented either. Next year, Danny Rose should compete with BAE for the LB spot and if he doesn't win it then get his wish to move away from WHL. Kyle Walker looks mentally fatigued and needs to be given a break. The defence was abhorrent yesterday but I don't think it will continue. Get Gallas and Naughton out and let Daws, BAE get back to their spots and the defence is shored up.
 
This team is going to be much better next year when theres some depth and guys like Gylfi and Lewis completely settling in.
 
Lewis Holtby
We have out-stretched ourselves too much with the loan moves that we have made, specifically Townsend and Danny Rose. Andros would have made huge improvements in the squad yesterday and I'd like to think would have changed the result, even if it was just avoiding extra time in the first place. We were given a favourable draw with FC Basel so the excitement needs to be high in Europa League. We are considered among the top 2 or 3 of the 8 remaining. A trophy would be nice but not at the expense of the league. Let's hope for health for the last 9 in the league.

Our objectives are clear, our summer priorities are clear and now its onward and upwards! Come On You Spurs.
 
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12 comments:

  1. Peter7:40 pm

    Agree Marc I think Townsend would give us options we dont have atm. The milan result was a one off as bayern showed agains the goons - these things happen sometimes.

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  2. I would like to see walker tried at right wing when lennon isnt available. anyone else agree?

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:42 am

      Great call. His defending is questionable at times but he's great going forward. It would be interesting to see what he could do further forward. Good work Spikeyspur!

      Delete
  3. David-Leeds7:42 pm

    Parker and Livermore is way too one dimensional

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  4. Anonymous7:54 pm

    Townsend should NOT have been loaned out.

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  5. Anonymous9:04 pm

    Very insightful. Totally agree. .......but hindsight was required. I might have also tried Livermore and found out how bad it was. Carrol instead of Livermore and leave Scottie defending the back four. Scott Parker as playmaker is cruel and painful to watch. We miss Sandro a lot

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  6. Anonymous9:15 pm

    ade gallas ekooto need be sold for us to take the next step even a rubbish arsenal team only 4pts behind and this is surposed be the best squad we had and arsenals worst back to the drawing board if we want 4th regular.......

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  7. Anonymous9:42 pm

    I feel we lost against Inter due to our formation of 442. Even worse, was the personnel picked for a 442, with out Bale and Lennon we simply don't have any pace down the flanks which is the real point to a 442. It looked like we were allowing our fallbacks to provide the pace, which left us very exposed.

    As for Townsend, I was very surprised to see him go on loan. I can't vouch for this as true but I heard that QPR wouldn't take Jenas without taking Townsend as part of the deal and as we have been trying to offload him for the past 3 years, well they forced our hand.

    We lost to Liverpool because of 2 stupid mistakes, without them we were heading for a comfortable victory.

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  8. Anonymous9:45 pm

    agree with most bele in the middle, liverpoor is poor and worse with parker

    442 left the lack of midfield creativity painfully expose too

    451 with one of our wack strikers would have been better, playing holtby or carroll instead of other one eyed guy

    please try one of our academy youngsters as a striking options

    ade is poor as we know and defoe is..... er defoe,one eyed, better this season but still one eyed

    lf we beat fulham, everton got injuries..... bonus

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  9. Anonymous10:25 pm

    Townsend is a speed merchant like Walker but neither player have any understanding of the game. They both run around like headless chickens. Would be better to promote Pritchard and Cebellos into the side.

    Sigurdsson and Dempsey are both average players. Rose and Livermore are championship players at best and need to be sold along with Adebayor, Naughton, Walker, Huddlestone, Bentley and Gallas.

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  10. Anonymous10:32 pm

    Forget about Townsend and Walker. Sell them for good money. Linford Christie was fast but it doesn't mean he would have made a good footballer. Pace is useful but a clever footballer with technique and pace is what Spurs need. Buy Christian Eriksen in the summer and bring in Alex Pritchard.

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  11. Anonymous12:02 am

    Been saying this since window shut. How can we loan out Townsend and keep Livermore. Also loaned out the other back up winger Falque. I am a huge fan of AVB but I don't understand what he was thinking of with that inter line-up. Moussa needs to be central..end of.

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