Article by John WardFirstly my brother and I are very different characters, he is 3 years younger than me, lives in London, works for a very cool advertising agency in Shoreditch – and his biggest worry is which trendy bar he should spend his evenings in, and maybe even more worryingly which of his trendy hats he should then wear (Banter). I on the other hand am married, with 2 kids and I live in a cottage in the middle of a nowhere, which I absolutely love.
Despite then, the obvious differences in our lives and personalities, it may surprise you that we have always agreed in the main on the topic of football and more importantly Spurs. That was, until a few weeks ago when we caught up with each other, over a beer or three and the conversation inevitably moved onto Spurs, We moaned about a number of gripes we both had on the team…’We’re too defensive’, ‘Why are we not playing wingers on the right sides?’ etc … We also both agreed that AVB was completely out of line when he had a pop at the fans over their lack of support for team during the narrow win over Hull. My brother than had another sip of his beer and said; “You’d drop that Paulinho though wouldn’t you, I mean trust Spurs to sign the worst Brazilian ever, is he really Brazilian?”
Now I must admit, whilst I haven’t been blown away by Paulinho this season I definitely didn’t think he was playing badly this season, the exception being the Everton game.
A heated debate/row then followed where a number of differences in opinion were aired, my argument in defence of Paulinho was that he was still finding his feet in the team and adjusting to the speed of the Premier league. I argued that if anyone was going to be dropped from the Midfield it should be Dembele ,the reason being that, despite the fact he is technically a very good player – he plays within himself far too often, almost to the point where he looks uninterested on the football pitch. Also I am always amazed that he manages to take the ball past anybody, seriously as a defender the question of which way will Dembele go, should never be asked….. IT’S ALWAYS LEFT!.
Paulinho according to my brother is ‘basic’, someone who runs up and down and passes sidewards. This last point I argued could be directed at a number of players not just Paulinho. However, my brother also didn’t rate his shooting or lack of attacking prowess which according to the stats is a valid point. This season for example, Paulinho in the Premiership has had 36 shots and has scored only once but he has also got 2 assists. Compare this to Dembele who has played 3 less games, yet still he has only had 6 shots, 2 of which were on target and none of which have made it passed the white line as yet and Dembele has no assists to his name in the Premiership. Surely you have to question the hunger of a player who, when so naturally gifted as Dembele undoubtedly is, is so content to play the simple ball or the easy ball and never seems to want to go for or become involved in the glory himself.
This difference in opinion between the two of us, as mentioned took place a few weeks ago. Since then a handful of Spurs games have been played, which courtesy of the European nights on Thursday has meant that many of these games have been broadcast on TV. Both my brother and I have watched the majority of these games together, each of us taking joy, in pointing out to the other, when either Demebele or Paulinho does something ‘basic’ or that emphasis’s our respective view. Interestingly though, a point both of us have now finally agreed on is that the differing of opinions we both initially had on these two particular players, does make you watch players perhaps more closely and view their game and effectiveness through different eyes. Can I see more gaps now in Paulinhos game than before the discussion with my brother? Absolutely!
Finally, to this Sunday where we face a Manchester City team who like Spurs will be looking to bounce back from their previous result. If we take the view that Sandro will start as surely his performances against Everton and Newcastle demand, who would your money be on out of Paulinho and Dembele to start? Or would you go for both?
Personally I would still go for the hardworking, “basic” player who whilst still finding his feet in the English League has already shown he has more desire to attack and create more than his midfield colleague….
I would also choose Paulinho because at the end of the day he is most definitely Brazilian!!
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First of all, Paulinho is a gem of a signing. All criticism of him after 10 games can EASILY be said about Modric in his first 20 games for us. What did Modders become? Exactly. He has been the best of our newbies so far, but overall we have been disappointing. We have only scored 9 goals, and guess what? Paulinho scored 1 and assisted 2 others! ONE THIRD of our goals have come via him. All three of those goals led to 3 points for us. As for Brazilians, how many have we seen do well over here? ONLY Juninho and in a stop-start fashion, our own Sandro. The rest have flattered to deceive, or just plain flopped. It is coming across that it is not straightforward for them to come here and fit it - unless they have a unique spirit that Juninho or Sandro have.
ReplyDeleteJuninho? Dont remember him playing in the pl. Oscar is good. Cesar too. David luiz also. Ramirez as well.
ReplyDeleteSo yeah @tonyRich, there's been more great Brazilians playing in the pl than u thought. Although we prob have the best defensive pair.
Anon:... I guess I am a tad older than thou....I am talking about historically. The ex-Middlesbrough Juninho. Oscar is pretty good. Cesar - hard to say given how bad his team was. But great keeper. Ramirez ok. Willian - jury is out. David Luiz has been a terrible defender. Midfield he is quite good, but he has mostly been in defence, so give me that one. HOWEVER - Alves, Robinho, Jo, Andre Santos, Gilberto, Kleberson, Anderson, Roque Junior, Julio Baptista, Mario Jardel - (not an exhaustive list) some of these players have been good elsewhere, but between nondescript and terrible in England.
ReplyDeleteDavid 'Sideshow Bob' Luiz - has hardly been a great success!! Oscar, has done well.
ReplyDelete@TonyRich - I agree Paulinho in his time at Spurs has done very well and I think as you rightly point out , his Stats suggest that.
Whether I can see him having the important impact on the Team as Modric did - I doubt, but here's hoping.
As the younger "trendy" brother of John Ward, I would like to say the following:
ReplyDeleteI believe if we put Dembele in the more attacking position currently occupied by Paulinho, we would get greater rewards, Much less sideways passing and would give Dembele the chance to show his talent. Like I remember seeing him do at Fulham and for spurs against Man Utd, when it was him and Sandro together.
With Eriksen out, this give us the best opportunity to give Dembele the platform his talent deserves and that is to attack, attack, ATTACK and not have the worry of being the last midfielder and playing it safe
PLEASE, PLEASE let’s not waste the talent of Dembele.
Great Article, Great Convo...
David luiz is a talent, and his form has dipped majorly since his arrival. I still rate him, a more offensive Vertonghen.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the other brother, no way we should play Dembele as our cam. He even said he doesn't like to shoot and prefer to walk in the box but what's the point if u can get into the box and don't shoot?
ATM he's been poor. I'll rather have lamela or holtby there and Dembele benched. Past few games he's been dreadful to say the least.