Falque lacks vision, Soldado is a worry
Tottenham completed their 2014 USA & Canada Pre-season Tour with a 2-0 win against Chicago Fire which UK fans watched at 1am in the morning here in the UK.
Toyota Park is a soccer-specific stadium located at 71st Street and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview, Illinois, about 12 miles southwest from downtown Chicago. This was the second game on tour on grass and in a soccer-specific stadium which demonstrates how far the sport has come in the States in a short time.
New head coach Mauricio Pochettino said the heat and humidity made this a tough test for some of the players, particularly someone like Kyle Walker who is behind the rest in terms of fitness having only just recovered from his groin injury.
The 42-year-old Argentinian has now had a good look at large parts of the squad following his arrival, the only players he has not seen first hand are the World Cup players. He will know about them of course but said he will look at all the players before deciding the futures of any of them.
Some players have taken their chance to catch the eye on tout while others have confirmed views, Iago Falque for instance has skill but appears to lack vision so I doubt he'll have a long term future at the club. Roberto Soldado is paid to score goals and did so from a penalty in the first games, apart from that he hasn't looked like scoring which is a worry.
I wondered whether he would fit the system and wrote an article as such as soon as Mauricio Pochettino was appointed, this tour has done nothing to alter that view. He can play within it, but he needs to be having goalscoring opportunities within it and they are few and far between.
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Fitness, a new system etc can all be used as reasons or excuses, but in 3 games the bottom line is how many shots did he have on tour? I don't rule out him coming good but the longer it goes on without him even looking like scoring the more worrying it becomes.
You can see Adebayor perhaps fitting the system better with probably more movement and does rather highlight that we appear to be weak in attack at the moment. Erik Lamela for instance took his tour chance well, he has stood out, scored goals and boosted his confidence, you would have liked to have seen Soldado impressing in the same way, but he hasn't.
It may be that it's early days in a new system or it may need a change of personnel, time will tell.
Toyota Park is a soccer-specific stadium located at 71st Street and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview, Illinois, about 12 miles southwest from downtown Chicago. This was the second game on tour on grass and in a soccer-specific stadium which demonstrates how far the sport has come in the States in a short time.
New head coach Mauricio Pochettino said the heat and humidity made this a tough test for some of the players, particularly someone like Kyle Walker who is behind the rest in terms of fitness having only just recovered from his groin injury.
“I’m very pleased for the players because we’ve finished with a good win, a clean sheet and that’s a boost for the confidence.
“It was difficult in the humidity but well done to the players, it was a good game out there. I’m happy for all of them. I thought we played well.
“We’ve worked hard on this Tour and congratulations to the players, staff and the supporters, they’ve been fantastic.”
The 42-year-old Argentinian has now had a good look at large parts of the squad following his arrival, the only players he has not seen first hand are the World Cup players. He will know about them of course but said he will look at all the players before deciding the futures of any of them.
Some players have taken their chance to catch the eye on tout while others have confirmed views, Iago Falque for instance has skill but appears to lack vision so I doubt he'll have a long term future at the club. Roberto Soldado is paid to score goals and did so from a penalty in the first games, apart from that he hasn't looked like scoring which is a worry.
I wondered whether he would fit the system and wrote an article as such as soon as Mauricio Pochettino was appointed, this tour has done nothing to alter that view. He can play within it, but he needs to be having goalscoring opportunities within it and they are few and far between.
Recent Articles:
VIDEO: Goals from Chicago Fire 0 Tottenham 2
Lamela tour in pictures continues
VIDEO: Training & Tour round up
VIDEO: Tottenham pre-game press conference
Alex Pritchard bags a brace vs Nice
Is Jamie O'Hara the new David Bentley?
Fitness, a new system etc can all be used as reasons or excuses, but in 3 games the bottom line is how many shots did he have on tour? I don't rule out him coming good but the longer it goes on without him even looking like scoring the more worrying it becomes.
You can see Adebayor perhaps fitting the system better with probably more movement and does rather highlight that we appear to be weak in attack at the moment. Erik Lamela for instance took his tour chance well, he has stood out, scored goals and boosted his confidence, you would have liked to have seen Soldado impressing in the same way, but he hasn't.
It may be that it's early days in a new system or it may need a change of personnel, time will tell.
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