Spurs Inverted wingers, wrong personnel or wrong tactic?
Have Tottenham got it right with the inverted winger system that seems to be employed to a far greater extent than the traditional winger, which seems to be dying a death at the moment.
It isn't of course it's just not in fashion at the moment, the inverted winger is all the rage and if it is used correctly then it can be a potent weapon. Messi has played the role for Barcelona from the left, Neymar from the right, Ronaldo scored 61 goals for Real Madrid from the left last season and Arjen Robben is a master of the art at Bayern Munich.
To suggest it doesn't work is foolish, clearly it does so why are Tottenham struggling with it at the moment? If you look to the right and Townsend or Chadli there is no goal threat and Chadli doesn't score many goals cutting in from the left, he pops up all over the place to score, almost as a number 10.
We were given a lesson in how to play the role at Leicester, compare how Mahrez played the role to the way our wide men play the role and there is a significant difference, our inverted wingers cut infield far too early. Defences are better organised against the tactic so a winger has to keep the full-back guessing which way he is going to go.
When was the last time you saw Lamela go outside his man, or Chadli or Townsend in a Spurs shirt or Eriksen when he plays there? You'll be hard pressed to recall many examples I'm sure. Arjen Robben goes both sides of his man, he attacks the penalty area because inside it a defender has to be very careful, outside he can simply foul you.
It is almost as if our inverted wingers have been told you mustn't cross the ball, that is the job of the full-backs, yet our best crosser of the ball, Eric Dier, is playing as a defensive midfielder. If a wide man cuts in early then the defender can simply tuck in close to his centre-back and there are no holes to thread passes through, thus creating is difficult, which evokes constant sideways passing, which also is too slow to catch the opposition out.
Played correctly, when a winger cuts in the full-back should be in two minds whether to go with him or leave him to a midfielder, if you cut in too early it is easy for the defender and midfielder to work together close to the centre-back, the result a speculative shot from 22 yards or a sideways pass..
It's an area we need to put a serious amount of work into, Mousa Dembélé will do a decent enough job out there, but he isn't a winger, he isn't going to beat a man with speed, he'll do it with skill, but it will be slow and the defence will have time to organise. If you look at the player we are said to be targeting, Yannick Bolasie, he plays a fast wide direct brand of football under Pardew, he makes the defender make decisions, the more decisions a player has to make the more chances he'll make a mistake.
Bolasie plays though as a more traditional winger, not the role he would have to play at Tottenham so you still don't know whether he can operate as an inverted winger successfully. At the prices being mentioned he would be a gamble and the idea is to take as much of the gamble out of a transfer you can for the type of player you want.
Attack him going towards the penalty area and he has to foul you to stop you, when on a booking you should have the beating of him, without pace though your threat is somewhat nullified. They work if you have a player who knows the role inside out and can play it effectively, at the moment you have to question whether the wide men at Spurs are the right players for the position.
Dembélé and Eriksen are both central midfielders, yet both are shoved out there to accommodate them which suggests we don't have the right blend of players yet at the club.
It isn't of course it's just not in fashion at the moment, the inverted winger is all the rage and if it is used correctly then it can be a potent weapon. Messi has played the role for Barcelona from the left, Neymar from the right, Ronaldo scored 61 goals for Real Madrid from the left last season and Arjen Robben is a master of the art at Bayern Munich.
To suggest it doesn't work is foolish, clearly it does so why are Tottenham struggling with it at the moment? If you look to the right and Townsend or Chadli there is no goal threat and Chadli doesn't score many goals cutting in from the left, he pops up all over the place to score, almost as a number 10.
We were given a lesson in how to play the role at Leicester, compare how Mahrez played the role to the way our wide men play the role and there is a significant difference, our inverted wingers cut infield far too early. Defences are better organised against the tactic so a winger has to keep the full-back guessing which way he is going to go.
When was the last time you saw Lamela go outside his man, or Chadli or Townsend in a Spurs shirt or Eriksen when he plays there? You'll be hard pressed to recall many examples I'm sure. Arjen Robben goes both sides of his man, he attacks the penalty area because inside it a defender has to be very careful, outside he can simply foul you.
It is almost as if our inverted wingers have been told you mustn't cross the ball, that is the job of the full-backs, yet our best crosser of the ball, Eric Dier, is playing as a defensive midfielder. If a wide man cuts in early then the defender can simply tuck in close to his centre-back and there are no holes to thread passes through, thus creating is difficult, which evokes constant sideways passing, which also is too slow to catch the opposition out.
Played correctly, when a winger cuts in the full-back should be in two minds whether to go with him or leave him to a midfielder, if you cut in too early it is easy for the defender and midfielder to work together close to the centre-back, the result a speculative shot from 22 yards or a sideways pass..
It's an area we need to put a serious amount of work into, Mousa Dembélé will do a decent enough job out there, but he isn't a winger, he isn't going to beat a man with speed, he'll do it with skill, but it will be slow and the defence will have time to organise. If you look at the player we are said to be targeting, Yannick Bolasie, he plays a fast wide direct brand of football under Pardew, he makes the defender make decisions, the more decisions a player has to make the more chances he'll make a mistake.
Bolasie plays though as a more traditional winger, not the role he would have to play at Tottenham so you still don't know whether he can operate as an inverted winger successfully. At the prices being mentioned he would be a gamble and the idea is to take as much of the gamble out of a transfer you can for the type of player you want.
Attack him going towards the penalty area and he has to foul you to stop you, when on a booking you should have the beating of him, without pace though your threat is somewhat nullified. They work if you have a player who knows the role inside out and can play it effectively, at the moment you have to question whether the wide men at Spurs are the right players for the position.
Dembélé and Eriksen are both central midfielders, yet both are shoved out there to accommodate them which suggests we don't have the right blend of players yet at the club.
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