Playing without Harry... | Vital Football

Playing without Harry...

Spursex

Spursex

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We always tend to play better without Harry...we were more fluid, our front three played with greater freedom and instead of only trying to set up one player were far more expansive in our intent to score and create, our movement was outstanding and our midfield was rock solid and snuffed out almost all their attacks early on before they got going...our midfield were actually running past their defenders and stretching them everywhere.

We dropped deep as we always do away from home early in both halves, but other than that we controlled everything for almost all the game.

I think we should consider this, as it happens everytime he doesn't play; could we actually be set up and play better without Harry...?

Lucas, whilst clearly not fully fit, did well and clearly helped our fluidity and movement until he hit the fitness brick wall, maybe he was/is our missing link...


So Sell Harry in the summer and bank £200+ million?
 
It's nice as an option. But to take your question as real and not the tongue in cheek comment I assume it truly is... No!

Will be interesting if he's not back against Chelsea to see how we fair against a good side without him.

I do agree our movement and fluidity is better, but we've not played a team good enough to combat that.
 
Do spurs play better without Kane? Personally MP has never set up the team to feed Kane in the way city are set up to feed aguro. Playing the False 9 suits the way MP sets up, however, selling kane is a big no. Sell llorente, GkN and Janssen and buy a goal scoring wide attacker, when Kane is out go the false 9 route. Coys
 
Think I'll need to see a few more games without Harry before I draw any conclusions. I could also play devils advocate and say that the reason we were tactically better was because Sissoko drove us forward at pace through the middle. Dembele slows us down too much. I could also say that Moura, Son, Lamela and Eriksen has a more natural shape than having Dele in there.

The only real thing I concluded was that Poch has some fantastic options to choose from and the competition for places is making them all play better. The only exception I saw was Sanchez who looked nervy all game.
 
Could be interesting if Harry is fit enough for the bench come semi-final day. Maybe bring him on with say 20-25 minutes to go, hopefully against a United side chasing the game.
 
Interesting that Son was expected to step up and take over scoring duty with Harry out.

He had an average game compared to some, it was Eriksen and Lamela who really excelled. Sissoko has had some praise for his contribution and it mirrors what Poch said about him. He took care of transitional play. More reserved in the first half when he defended more but gradually focused on attack in the second half. He helped Sanchez a few times who was a little at sea positionally.

Moura is a lively threat and with Eriksen and Lamela both on form that is quite a handful for any team to keep quiet.
 
They were all over Son. He was dragging their defenders all over the park. He played well.
 
Sorry Ex , I'm taking this thread with a pinch of salt , and I do agree with Muttley that we do know have some fantastic options all over the pitch . I thought Eriksen was much more attacking . Don't think I've seen him attack the goal as much since the international match against Eire
 
Wow, never thought I would hear this coming from EX!

Interesting though...I do like how we play without him up top...but let's see against the likes of Chavs and United first.

Kane is responsible for a tremendous amount of goals...
 
So, the conclusion...
We should sell Kane...????
Or should we ban Ex for swearing in the church...???

:18:
 
I don’t think any conclusions can be drawn from the Swansea game since for whatever reason they were truly abysmal. However I think we will have to get used to being without Harry as apparently the injury he has is one that is likely to be repeated often given the damage previously done to his ankle which has weakened the ligaments and makes him prone to repeating the problem.

The test of the tactics will come against Chelsea at the Bridge where Kante, Willian and Hazard will pose different problems. There are reports that Poch is using the 2 week break for intensive training with Moura, Lamela, Sissoko and Foyth with Foyth tipped to make a PL debut soon.
 
The point I'm making is life after Harry is possible, not only possible, but may even be just as bright.

I love three up top with the movement and fluidity it creates, I'm also convinced it increases our passing speed and momentum - as we're not look for that one key pass/key player everytime.

All our front 3/attacking midfielders have shown again and again when Harry's not playing that they can score - I even think they play with greater freedom....

I wouldn't sell Harry, but the 'lesson' in all this is - is there any point in buying a back up to Harry or even playing Harry in every game when we can tactically adjust and even substitute him and change the dynamic of the way we set ourselves out and the way we can play...

It might be the difference between coming second next season or even winning the PL....

But it will take real bravery on Poch's behalf.

I was talking with two performance analysts about it post Swansea, both thought I was right....that pleased me greatly - but it's now a debate in my mind - when to start Harry and when to rest him - because what I do know is we can't keep playing him into the ground.
 
He has shown a few times that he has the ability to drop deeper or play out wide and become the provider
.mostly , Alli has reaped the rewards for that because of his runs and ability to lose his markers.
As for selling him ............. :59:
 
Spursex - 20/3/2018 09:08

The point I'm making is life after Harry is possible, not only possible, but may even be just as bright.

I love three up top with the movement and fluidity it creates, I'm also convinced it increases our passing speed and momentum - as we're not look for that one key pass/key player everytime.

All our front 3/attacking midfielders have shown again and again when Harry's not playing that they can score - I even think they play with greater freedom....

I wouldn't sell Harry, but the 'lesson' in all this is - is there any point in buying a back up to Harry or even playing Harry in every game when we can tactically adjust and even substitute him and change the dynamic of the way we set ourselves out and the way we can play...

It might be the difference between coming second next season or even winning the PL....

But it will take real bravery on Poch's behalf.

I was talking with two performance analysts about it post Swansea, both thought I was right....that pleased me greatly - but it's now a debate in my mind - when to start Harry and when to rest him - because what I do know is we can't keep playing him into the ground.
Click to expand...

perhaps we can encourage that fluidity from Harry also, he's got lovely vision and great delivery, but we set up to make everything go through him. If he was just one of a front 3 in the same way Lamela has been then it might work in games where our more traditional setup is proving fruitless.
 
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