Creativity problem - work harder says Nuno!? | Vital Football

Creativity problem - work harder says Nuno!?

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Nuno comments on Tottenham players after Crystal Palace defeat

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/09/...ottenham-players-after-crystal-palace-defeat/

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Olly Dawes
1 hour ago
Tottenham Hotspur boss Nuno Espirito Santo has suggested that his players are realising the ups and downs of football in relation to the creativity problems.
Tottenham take on Rennes in the Europa Conference League tonight.
Spurs fans are desperate to see an improvement after a dismal 3-0 defeat at Crystal Palace last weekend.
A victory in France would boost the mood ahead of this weekend’s game against Chelsea, but Tottenham must improve going forward.


Tottenham’s lack of creativity

Tottenham were so bad at Palace that Harry Kane didn’t even have a shot. He didn’t even manage a touch inside the Palace box.

Tottenham managed to create just two shots. Palace had a relative breeze at the back as they coasted to a clean sheet.

Tottenham won their first three games of the season, but all were 1-0.

Son Heung-min’s goal against Manchester City was a fine strike. Yet the win over Wolves came from a Dele Alli penalty, and Son’s free kick beat everybody to secure the win over Watford.

Tottenham don’t look particularly creative going forward. Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele haven’t really played this season, and Nuno may need to call on them soon.
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Nuno has now been asked about Tottenham’s creativity, and he believes the answer is to simply keep training and working hard.

Tottenham can’t exactly go into the transfer market to find another playmaker until January. Nuno subsequently doesn’t really have any other choice.

Nuno has told Football.London that his players are simply realising the ups and downs of the game.

Nuno called on his Tottenham players to react properly and try to find solutions moving forward – starting with tonight’s game against Rennes.

“Training, training, spending as much time as we can on the training ground,” said Nuno. “Preparing the players, trying to find solutions and then give them the support and the confidence to compete and try to improve their performances.”

“I don’t know any other recipes for success. It’s hard work. Hard work and the boys are doing it. They are realising that in football there are ups and downs and what’s important is how you react to it,” he added.
 
I mean, he's not wrong. The more they train and understand each others games then it will improve creativity.

Our main problem with creativity isnt that we don't have players who can pick a decisive pass, its the off-the-ball movement being so poor. When we have played well this season our movement has been better. Nuno also needs to be slightly braver with getting either our wingbacks further up the pitch or giving one of the CM's a more attacking role with a bit less defensive responsibility.
 
Matic said:
I mean, he's not wrong. The more they train and understand each others games then it will improve creativity.

Our main problem with creativity isnt that we don't have players who can pick a decisive pass, its the off-the-ball movement being so poor. When we have played well this season our movement has been better. Nuno also needs to be slightly braver with getting either our wingbacks further up the pitch or giving one of the CM's a more attacking role with a bit less defensive responsibility.
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Sure you can work harder, but that won't solve a lack of creativity when it matters.
 
Creativity is a funny issue in football. We get the idea in our heads that creativity = players like Eriksen, Iniesta, de Bruyne etc. 'Land a pass on a penny' players. When really, creativity is just any form of action that creates a chance. Two seasons ago the PL had Alexander-Arnold as one of the top assisters and his success was down to your typical actions from a wingback - crosses, long balls, cut backs. If he hadnt had the likes of Mane, Firmino and Salah making amazing runs and constantly stretching defenders, would he have had the same stats?

I look in our squad and see creativity. Reggie has shown his crossing can be astonishingly good, Bergwijn, Dele and Ndombele have great vision and can feed players in behind the defensive line very well. Lucas, Ndombele and Gil and excellent at running at players and not only finding more space for themselves but also drag more players in towards them, creating space for their teammates. And then we have Kane who can hit those 'on a penny' passes when he drops deeper.

The off-the-ball movement is the big problem for me, on top of how gutless our CM's can be in avoiding the harder pass (as shown against Palace) and also the tempo. If we sort out those 3 issues I think we will see way more chances created and we may even start to see players like Bergwijn and Dele find their confidence that gives them an edge.
 
Matic said:
Creativity is a funny issue in football. We get the idea in our heads that creativity = players like Eriksen, Iniesta, de Bruyne etc. 'Land a pass on a penny' players. When really, creativity is just any form of action that creates a chance. Two seasons ago the PL had Alexander-Arnold as one of the top assisters and his success was down to your typical actions from a wingback - crosses, long balls, cut backs. If he hadnt had the likes of Mane, Firmino and Salah making amazing runs and constantly stretching defenders, would he have had the same stats?

I look in our squad and see creativity. Reggie has shown his crossing can be astonishingly good, Bergwijn, Dele and Ndombele have great vision and can feed players in behind the defensive line very well. Lucas, Ndombele and Gil and excellent at running at players and not only finding more space for themselves but also drag more players in towards them, creating space for their teammates. And then we have Kane who can hit those 'on a penny' passes when he drops deeper.

The off-the-ball movement is the big problem for me, on top of how gutless our CM's can be in avoiding the harder pass (as shown against Palace) and also the tempo. If we sort out those 3 issues I think we will see way more chances created and we may even start to see players like Bergwijn and Dele find their confidence that gives them an edge.
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Agree, off the ball running is the biggest problem.

Our players have been so drilled about their "zones" that none of them now vacate them. When did Eriksen and Dele ever worry about who was playing central and who was on the right in the 4-2-3-1. Poch just knew that along with the other smart players in the side, they would be defensively strong and offensively flexible.

We have lost that under Jose who tried to turn every player into a robot. Nuno's big challenge is to prove to us that he's not doing the same. In turn, the players need to prove to their manager that if they are moving into different areas, then they will cover for each other out of possession. That is what guys like Bergwijn and Dele are so great at, whereas Moura and Son don't have the defensive smarts. They switch off, whilst Kane can't be arsed at the moment. The difference between working hard and working smart.

When Gil, Tanguy and Gio start to play in the side a bit more, it has to change. They only know the other way of playing.
 
Matic said:
The off-the-ball movement is the big problem for me, on top of how gutless our CM's can be in avoiding the harder pass (as shown against Palace) and also the tempo. If we sort out those 3 issues I think we will see way more chances created and we may even start to see players like Bergwijn and Dele find their confidence that gives them an edge.
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That is the crux of it and I agree. The main problem is that the confidence to do just that has been knocked out of the 'long established' players - Poch's latter time + Jose - and will take time to recover or replace. The newbies offer hope but Nuno seems to be risk averse. Likes of Gil, ND, Lo can and have shown the much needed creativity but those around them are not adapting, so their end product looks poor. Just have to persevere and keep tuning the squad.

So rather than keep improving the squad with new mindset players, our new guys are often brought down a peg or two. You only have to look at Reggie, from 1st arrival 'wow' displays to meh!
 
muttley said:
Agree, off the ball running is the biggest problem.

Our players have been so drilled about their "zones" that none of them now vacate them. When did Eriksen and Dele ever worry about who was playing central and who was on the right in the 4-2-3-1. Poch just knew that along with the other smart players in the side, they would be defensively strong and offensively flexible.

We have lost that under Jose who tried to turn every player into a robot. Nuno's big challenge is to prove to us that he's not doing the same. In turn, the players need to prove to their manager that if they are moving into different areas, then they will cover for each other out of possession. That is what guys like Bergwijn and Dele are so great at, whereas Moura and Son don't have the defensive smarts. They switch off, whilst Kane can't be arsed at the moment. The difference between working hard and working smart.

When Gil, Tanguy and Gio start to play in the side a bit more, it has to change. They only know the other way of playing.
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Beat me to it by a millisecond!
 
Working hard at what though? I'm not seeing any top draw fast tempo football. I'm not seeing good passing or movement.

As Matic said there are numerous ways you can describe creativity. But you do need the players to play a certain way.

I think we should chuck Ndombele in at the deep end. I would give him free roam for half a dozen games. Let him get in the grove and work on his fitness and sharpness. Take him off around his favourite 60 minute mark and bring on either John or Gil.

But we will need all of our midfielders and forward players working extra hard because we can't carry 3 or 4 outfield players.
 
I still think this trend of getting attacking players to do more work than anybody is unsustainable. Defending corners and set-pieces I get, but if you play with a front 3 you want to keep them as far up the pitch as possible. If you have 7 outfield players having to organise and defend then you really shouldnt need to over-stretch your attacking players. If you are having to do that then, in my opinion, it simply means that they are having to cover the lack of quality in the midfield.

Currently, I only see Skipp and Dele as CM players who truly read the game well and contribute well to the defending. Hojbjerg, Winks and Lo Celso dont. Skipp is still a bit frantic at the moment but you can see he knows what is needed. Dele is turning into a truly excellent box to box mid thanks to his understanding of the game and engine.
 
Matic said:
I still think this trend of getting attacking players to do more work than anybody is unsustainable. Defending corners and set-pieces I get, but if you play with a front 3 you want to keep them as far up the pitch as possible. If you have 7 outfield players having to organise and defend then you really shouldnt need to over-stretch your attacking players. If you are having to do that then, in my opinion, it simply means that they are having to cover the lack of quality in the midfield.

Currently, I only see Skipp and Dele as CM players who truly read the game well and contribute well to the defending. Hojbjerg, Winks and Lo Celso dont. Skipp is still a bit frantic at the moment but you can see he knows what is needed. Dele is turning into a truly excellent box to box mid thanks to his understanding of the game and engine.
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Gio absolutely does for his country though. That's the mystery in a Spurs shirt as it would be easy to form the opinion you got to.

I'm all for moving Dele to the right of Skipp and putting Tanguy in Dele's role. That puts him between the hard working Reggie and Bergwijn. We all know that Bergwijn will drop in for Tanguy if he moves up into the final third.

The bigger picture is that we do need to break this mould of "these guys defend" and "these guys attack". In some ways, I might only have Skipp in that "only defend" category. I'd like to think that any other player should have license to attack knowing that a team mate would drop in. That includes any of our forward players. It is exactly that which is winning the PL year after year. City and Liverpool have taught us that.
 
As long as he plays winks/skipp/Hoj together we will allways look bad. They all 3 should be fighting for the same spot, that number 6.
If he wants to carry on with his 3men midfield he will need 2 CM's who can move foward with the ball (Like Dembele used to) so I can only see this formation successfull with NDombele/LoCelso and Dele next to the number 6. If one of them is not available I would change the system as it doesnt suit his DM's

And for the number 6 spot I would have Skipp then Hoj and then winks.
 
What a thing to say lol we're 4 league games in and I can see us turning on Nuno pretty quickly.

Jose got (and deserved) more time simply because it was Jose. I reckon Nuno is gone by Christmas.

Hate to say it but think it could turn out to be a terrible appointment.
 
The Liverpool front 3 don't stop pressing or moving. Certainly the 2 seasons they had a very high points tally.

City are the same.

I don't think we have good enough defender's or midfielders for our forward players to not press or track back when under the cosh.

We are terrible at keeping possession in key areas of the pitch. That just adds to more ground covering.

I do think Mutters is right now. We need to play our best players.

I don't think Nuno has the balls to play all of our attacking players though.
 
Player 1
A quick, powerful and versatile player, Player 1 generally plays as a box-to-box midfielder but can also play in various other positions like an attacking midfielder or a defensive midfielder. He is known for his dribbling ability, body balance and passing ability.

Player 2
Player 2 is a versatile player with brilliant attacking qualities who can play in any central midfield role. He brings an engine to midfield – both with and without the ball.

Player 3
In the box, he looks like a striker, and outside the box, he plays like a midfielder. He is fast, fluid and has a great skill set with the ability to get into the box without being marked.

I really hoped these 3 would be running the show by now at Spurs.
 
ScottDaYid said:
What a thing to say lol we're 4 league games in and I can see us turning on Nuno pretty quickly.

Jose got (and deserved) more time simply because it was Jose. I reckon Nuno is gone by Christmas.

Hate to say it but think it could turn out to be a terrible appointment.
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The easiest scapegoat ever hired, with both Paratici and Levy escape their role in this. Didn't get the manager they targeted and Kane still here. The team needed a rebuild but all we have so far is a rebuild of a management structure!
 
muttley said:
Gio absolutely does for his country though. That's the mystery in a Spurs shirt as it would be easy to form the opinion you got to.
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No doubt you will have seen the movement of the rest of the Argentine team. There are always options for a pass whilst our statues want pin point passes at their feet only to ping it back to the passer in a crowded area!.
 
muttley said:
Gio absolutely does for his country though. That's the mystery in a Spurs shirt as it would be easy to form the opinion you got to.

I'm all for moving Dele to the right of Skipp and putting Tanguy in Dele's role. That puts him between the hard working Reggie and Bergwijn. We all know that Bergwijn will drop in for Tanguy if he moves up into the final third.

The bigger picture is that we do need to break this mould of "these guys defend" and "these guys attack". In some ways, I might only have Skipp in that "only defend" category. I'd like to think that any other player should have license to attack knowing that a team mate would drop in. That includes any of our forward players. It is exactly that which is winning the PL year after year. City and Liverpool have taught us that.
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Where Citeh and Liverpool find success though is their ability to keep the play in a certain area of the pitch through excellent possession, pressing and "dark art" fouls to stop breakaway's by the opposition. Mourinho's neglect of our CM has caused the issue we see now where we are too afraid to try and control games. We invite pressure, our pressing rarely results in recovering the ball and we don't apply these "dark arts" well enough, which causes more bookings or we are normally too deep in our own half so the freekick becomes a direct threat.

If we play like this, in a system where Nuno might stick to counter attacking football, I don't think we will break the mould of "these guys defend" and "these guys attack" because it just stretches the whole team too much.
 
The very best we can hope for this season is top 6.

Is that really good enough? Unless our style of play improves drastically then it wont be.

We will be in limbo if Nuno sees the season out and finishes 6th. This was a huge appointment and we had to really push on and at least show we are improving style wise. It's not going to happen.
 
If Ndombele and Lo Celso had lived up to what could reasonably have been expected of them when we bought them for big money, this would be a non debate. It begins to look as if Nuno will have a bit of an obsession with a 'defensive midfield', whereby I think it unlikely that we will ever see Ndombele, Lo Celso, and Dele in the same line up. The solution to our creativity problems should however rest with these three, whereby if any of them are not up to it, and I have doubts about all three, we should be moving them out come the summer. Dele should not be expected however to carry pretty much the entire CM, AM workload on his own which is pretty much the case currently. At the very least a two out of three combination of Dele, Ndombele and Lo Celso should be present in every starting line up.
 
Our identity the season Leicester won it, and arguably the year we played best, was when when we had young, energetic players pressing all over the pitch.

Somewhere along the line, poch lost that and we never regained. I don't understand why because the results and style ticked all boxes. I know players age out but if the don't suit the style, you sell them surely?

If we finish top 6, I feel it will be a success. This squad is really quite poor. We saw warning signs v wolves and palace cashed in.

We have to stop with this negative style of football. And dele cannot play cm again. Try him up top and drop kane. Just something...
 
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