Article by @ginolasleftfootOkay not Redkappesque literally, I don’t really want Villas Boas to abandon his footballing ambitions and finally unleash his inner desire to become an intergalactic Space Captain, along with it coercing Bobby Soldier (great space pirate name), Daws, the Vert and all to join up in his quite literally gung-ho approach to space piracy.
Or do I…….
(If you are in need of some obscure football themed oddity, check out Dear Mr Levy’s excellent adventures of Bale and Bentley)
……No, I don’t.
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What really does need to happen though is Villas Boas needs to lace up those boys shooting boots real swell, give em all a ruffle of the hair, then stare them right in the eyes (one by one could be the only way, unless he did become a space captain, got some extra-eyes-when-needed-skills, then travelled back in time to the exact moment I was just referring to), and tell them clear as day; Unleash Hell.
Bobby Soldier, Eriksen, Lamela, Paulinho, Rose, Walker, Siggy, Townsend, Chadli, Lennon, Holtby, Dembele.
These are players who have the potential to overpower teams if their attacking potency is harnessed by Villas Boas.
We may still be some time off before these players fully gel together but Villas Boas needs to begin focusing our game plan on effective attacking play. This means altering his personnel in front of the defence, where he currently plays Paulinho and Dembele.
Their positions in the team appear to be stifling their natural attacking tendencies as they are expected to perform defensive duties in which they do not excel. Dembele is highly culpable of this predicament, as too often, his runs with the ball begin too deep within his own half to effect any positive change.
Setting a midfielder with excellent dribbling and close control skills in front of his own defence means the opposition are unlikely to be caught out of position during the periods he is on the ball.
The time may come for Villas Boas, to drop Dembele in favour of using Sandro or El Captian as a specialist defensive midfielder. In previous articles I have talked about allowing Paulinho to move further forward, relinquishing a degree of his defensive duties to the specialist DM.
The Brazilian is a player who has adapted well to the Premier League and his physical nature has endeared him to the Spurs faithful. With a holding midfielder
firmly in place, this would release Paulinho to make greater use of his attacking potential.
The performances of Andros Townsend for England fresh in the nations mind, Villas Boas is faced with an issue of how to balance his forward line up. With the record signing of Erik Lamela still adapting to a completely different environment, Townsend will probably remain a feature in the starting XI.
This is promising for Townsend as he will benefit greatly from more game time and exposure to playing with elite players.
The problems will arise when Lamela begins to challenge for a starting berth, as Villas Boas now appears have something of a conundrum. On the right he has two left footed players (Lamela and Townsend) and one right (Lennon); and on the left he has one leftie (Chadli) and one right (Sigurdsson).
Sigurdsson is clearly a player who thrives on playing a more central role in the attacking half, but seems aware that in order to survive he must adapt and has performed well on the left side contributing with three vital goals for Spurs this season.
Barring the Europa League and the opening match of the season, little more has been seen of Nacer Chadli, the left sided winger from FC Twente. Villas Boas seems to be utilising the depth of his squad to allow the new players to settle without the onus of pressure being immediately placed on them. One hopes, Chadli will emerge soon with the intent to claim the left point of the front three.
Should Chadli struggle to find form, one option that continuously churns over and over is to use Townsend and Lamela on both flanks. Both players are technically skilled enough to control and deliver the ball using both feet allowing the opportunity to expose the defender inside and outside.
Bobby Soldier needs to get his shooting boots on. Simple.
Eriksen has immediately found himself in the No 9 role, as the creative fulcrum of the team. He shows an awareness that has allowed him to assimilate to the movement and needs of his team around him far quicker than should be expected (Ozil appears to have achieved the same at Arsenal). He has, however, received considerable criticism for his national performances over the World Cup qualifiers, and one hopes this does not affect his mentality when he returns to club football as his development with Soldado has the potential to deliver goals.
As for Holtby, whether he can provide an alternative foil to Eriksen with a more direct approach to his attacking play is something the Spurs coach is yet to experiment with.
We have a squad blessed with an array of attacking talent, which as of yet, has not bore the fruit we had hoped for. The chances being created are low percentage, long distance shots from outside of the 18-yard box.
Spurs have had a total 131 chances on goal in the Premier League 2013/2014, with 75 of these coming from outside the 18-yard box.
This is a worrying statistic as it highlights our lack of penetration in the final third, and means we are not getting the best out of Soldado. The inside 18 yard box shot percentage should always be greater than it’s outside counterpart.
These are things that will be key for the weekend as Villas Boas looks to cast aside his team’s 3-0 defeat to West Ham and take on Aston Villa.
As I said before Andre.
Time to Unleash the Krakken.
Would love to know how you think Spurs attacking front should line up.
over and out.
@ginolasleftfoot.
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