Two areas Townsend could improve further
Having watched the second half of the victory over Chelsea a couple of things stood out, one surrounding Andros Townsend and the other regarding composure.
Before that though plaudits go to Bentaleb who had an excellent game throughout with few errors and showed he can play against the best. Also to Mousa Dembele he also put in a shift and seemed to play more forward balls and at a quicker pace than he normally does. Gone were the languid stroke out to the wide man, he was passing the ball with enough pace so the player didn't have to stand around waiting for it to arrive.
That one seemingly insignificant little detail shows that he is now taking on board Pochettino's requirements, perhaps, just perhaps, he has bought into the Pochettino team ethic, the work rate and the requirements of his role. I hope he has because if, at last, he is prepared to work and add to his game then we won't need to buy a Morgan Schneiderlin type player yet.
The other player in that role, the defensive midfielder with licence to go forward, Paulinho, was also putting in more effort than he has in some of his previous European games. He was at time sprinting to run wide and overlap Chadli taking players from the middle and allowing Chadli to cut inside. I'm not saying he has turned a corner but credit where credit is due, he was trying.
On to Andros Townsend who has of late looked for more passes and become a better team player as a result. Less of the me me me and more of the us us us so that's a positive. His defensive game is getting batter and his sprinting back to close players down was effective. He also took his penalty well so again more positives to take from his game.
An area he needs to work on though is his ball control, not when he has it at his feet, but when it is passed to him and that is solely down to concentration. Twice his poor control led to dangerous Chelsea counter attacks, which if Rose had been in advance of him could have been even more dangerous.
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The second element he has to work on is when to use his back heel and turn. Moreno for Liverpool if you remember was expecting it and went and scored from it from just inside their half. There is a time and a place and if Rose is in advance of him as he was against Chelsea then it is a recipe for disaster if the opposition have done their homework.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. He had one back heel that didn't work and they counter attacked again. It needlessly puts us under pressure so he needs to learn when to do it and in what areas of the pitch. He is currently doing it too deep, around the half way line.
The other aspect, which will come with more experience of the system, is composure. There were times when we were under pressure and we looked to be panicking a little, booting the ball out of defence when there was time to pass it out. At times we were chasing shadows during which we can lose our shape but you can only learn composure in these situations when you are exposed to them in games like this.
Before that though plaudits go to Bentaleb who had an excellent game throughout with few errors and showed he can play against the best. Also to Mousa Dembele he also put in a shift and seemed to play more forward balls and at a quicker pace than he normally does. Gone were the languid stroke out to the wide man, he was passing the ball with enough pace so the player didn't have to stand around waiting for it to arrive.
That one seemingly insignificant little detail shows that he is now taking on board Pochettino's requirements, perhaps, just perhaps, he has bought into the Pochettino team ethic, the work rate and the requirements of his role. I hope he has because if, at last, he is prepared to work and add to his game then we won't need to buy a Morgan Schneiderlin type player yet.
The other player in that role, the defensive midfielder with licence to go forward, Paulinho, was also putting in more effort than he has in some of his previous European games. He was at time sprinting to run wide and overlap Chadli taking players from the middle and allowing Chadli to cut inside. I'm not saying he has turned a corner but credit where credit is due, he was trying.
On to Andros Townsend who has of late looked for more passes and become a better team player as a result. Less of the me me me and more of the us us us so that's a positive. His defensive game is getting batter and his sprinting back to close players down was effective. He also took his penalty well so again more positives to take from his game.
An area he needs to work on though is his ball control, not when he has it at his feet, but when it is passed to him and that is solely down to concentration. Twice his poor control led to dangerous Chelsea counter attacks, which if Rose had been in advance of him could have been even more dangerous.
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The second element he has to work on is when to use his back heel and turn. Moreno for Liverpool if you remember was expecting it and went and scored from it from just inside their half. There is a time and a place and if Rose is in advance of him as he was against Chelsea then it is a recipe for disaster if the opposition have done their homework.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. He had one back heel that didn't work and they counter attacked again. It needlessly puts us under pressure so he needs to learn when to do it and in what areas of the pitch. He is currently doing it too deep, around the half way line.
The other aspect, which will come with more experience of the system, is composure. There were times when we were under pressure and we looked to be panicking a little, booting the ball out of defence when there was time to pass it out. At times we were chasing shadows during which we can lose our shape but you can only learn composure in these situations when you are exposed to them in games like this.
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