Back to the old Townsend

One step forward two steps back, no not Tottenham, but Andros Townsend. Once again he showed he is a liability.

He came on for a 28 minute cameo against Sunderland on 13th September and brought a whole new dimension to our game, he attacked his man on the outside and left the full-back for dead the first two times he came up against him, the third time the defender knew exactly what he was going to do and stopped him easily. Then he resorted to coming inside.

We had high hopes he had at last sorted his mentality out, that he would come on as a sub ready and mix his game up to make him more unpredictable. When a fringe player is given a chance they have to take it, no excuses, they have to shine if they want to stay in the team. Tom Carroll has failed and rarely sees game time, Andros Townsend was back to his old ways.

I have written many times that when someone is under pressure they revert to default. Townsend may have skill, but he is a limited player and one we need to sell in the summer, if not before. You can only have potential for so long and he is 24 now, time is running out. As an inverted winger, he isn't fit to tie Arjen Robben's boots.

Before I get on to his attacking his defending was very hit and miss, sometimes he was defending, sometimes he wasn't. He is a ball watcher, fine when it is one on one, but if his opponent passes the ball he is lost. Townsend watches the ball, his runner goes past him and is played in behind him while Townsend turns and trots back towards goal with it seems, an 'It's not my problem' attitude. The right-back, in this case Trippier, then has two to deal with and he can't close down the man with the ball effectively.

Our system is about making the opposition play the ball where you want them to play it. That means intelligent play, mentally intelligent play, positioning, body shape, feet positioning, all forcing an opponent to do what you want, not what he wants. Your body shape and feet positioning are all about allowing you to react. Defensively Townsend isn't a patch on Aaron Lennon. 

Going forward he should know what he is doing by now and he doesn't, in the inverted winger role he is woeful quite frankly. Yet again he wanted to cut inside at right angles and simply run across the pitch in the hope of being able to get a shot off. Not only is it easy to defend against, but it gives us no options either.

The theory is that Trippier overlaps, but you either have to leave a lot of space and switch the ball quickly, which is never going to happen with Dembele playing the link role, or you cut inside at an angle attacking the gap between centre-back and defender so you draw him with you. All the full-back has to do at the moment is usher him to a midfield player and his duties have finished, he can take up a position that negates any overlap.

Townsend just makes it so easy for the opposition and of course in modern football if you are touched you have to fall over, that seemed to be what he wanted to do. Then it was time to blame the referee and not himself, in other words, he was looking for excuses instead of taking responsibility for his actions.

Erik Lamela once again showed that he needs to be central where he can get into goalscoring positions, Townsend doesn't provide any goal threat, the majority of his shots are pointless 35-yard efforts that will see him score 1 or 2 a season and live off it. It simply isn't good enough. He needs a different system or to find his true motivation. Personally I doubt he'll do the latter so that means a different system where he can be a more traditional winger, which few top sides actually play.

He needs to be sold to a nid-table team where he can be more natural and run at players towards goal. Rumour has it Aaron Lennon refused to play on the left preferring to play as a more traditional winger, Townsend is in the same mould, he seems only capable of that. I'd continue to pick him in the Europa League to give other players a rest, but I wouldn't hold out much hope of seeing him excel in the Premier League for us.

Recent Articles
We have to marry strong defence with attack - a rather appropriate article given the defeat last night to Anderlecht
Feghouli likely to turn down more money for Spurs - negotiating to stay at Valencia
VIDEO Link: Full match Replay Spurs vs Liverpool - plus highlights, Match of the Day, pre and Post Match Analysis
Is Eriksen causing problems at Spurs? - and why Dembele, Eriksen and Lamla, Eriksen can't play together
Further reports of Spurs scouting - MacKenzie scouting 9 games in 4 days

---