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Player Djed Spence
- Thread starter The Fighting Cock
- Start date
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I know he's a fan fave but he's been poor a while now.
He's fine as rotation for Porro but he's hurting us at LB.
Just appalling squad management to go into ANOTHER season with no actual LB cover.
He's fine as rotation for Porro but he's hurting us at LB.
Just appalling squad management to go into ANOTHER season with no actual LB cover.
He isn’t a left back. He can do a job there because of his 1v1 ability and athleticism but he just isn’t. The club have shoved him there because they’re too lazy to just go out and buy a proper one.
I think the issue's got worse over time too. When he first started covering at LB he was a bit of an unknown quantity and other teams didn't seem to know how to deal with him. IIRC he initially looked decent going forward at LB and, weirdly, was more impressive on the left than on the right but now teams know how right-footed he is and set up accordingly. He's almost purely a defensive player when he plays there now - offers very little on the ball.
When he moved over to the right against United, there was a moment where he skinned their LB/LWB and put in a cross. You never see him do that on the left.
I secretly hope somebody come in and offer a kings ransom for porro so we can start the spence era, which at this rate may never happen since our managers are all either too fucking conservative, or tactically clueless.
It’s just sad watching our utterly daft club waste so many good talents with miscoaching and mismanagement.
I know what you mean, although I think Porro's a useful player to have around. If we can rotate him and Spence at RB then we've got 2 very different, quite unique options to play there. Bit of a nightmare for opposition teams to prepare for and we can pick the best option according to the opposition.
I think we need something similar on the left, really. A left-footed alternative to Udogie that offers something a little bit different and gives us some tactical diversity.
Hamstrings.
Doesn’t have to go full pelt…. He’s class, can stay in the back 4 and zip passes about or carry the ball and get forward. Fewer 0 to 100 sprints than at CB. More controlled and his choice when to sprint
3 at the back in possession and he can sit in (mainly) and can go when there is space and he wants to
Our best footballer - give him being he platform
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Yeah I was half-joking. He's a legit option there if he can stay fit and it's where he plays for the Dutch NT. And Frank would no doubt love being able to have another giant in the side for set pieces.
Another positive is it could open up a spot for Vuskovic if we wanted to bring him into the 11 next year.
In the short term we do kinda need another proper LB, though as we'll be spread too thin at CB if VdV is playing regularly at LB. Danso and Dragusin both look pretty dodgy at LCB so there are knock-on issues until we have another LCB option.
Think people are missing something. We can keep Porro and do any of the following. Play 3 atb with Spence as RCB and Porro WB. Play back 4 with Spence RB and Porro on right of midfield 3. Or play Porro RW. This gives us great solid right dude with pace, passing and defending. VDV and Spence as the fast CBs with cuti in the middle who would be given licence to move into midfield. Not many trans would get behind us.
Back to Spence, said it before, he has great technical skills and can breeeze past players. He just needs to be able to show it.
Back to Spence, said it before, he has great technical skills and can breeeze past players. He just needs to be able to show it.
If you think we currently have Tel out of the CL squad, so that also means no room for Kulu.
Which in turn gives our recruitment team a very limited number of players to filll that LB space. Have to be either club trained and fit the HG standard. 4 or 8 spaces.
Probably leaves a shortlist of a few international level players and then you need to go down the leagues.
Then we would use up a squad place on a LB who will occasionally play and potentially isn’t that great.
We’ve got a squad purchased by Conte, Ange, Frank (and 1 from the Poch days somehow). It’s messy.
It's bizarre that he isn't getting drilled in that day after day in training to the point that he can at least do it a couple of times per game to give the opposition something to think about. Even a poor ball into the box is more dangerous than turning back and recycling the ball to our cm, which inevitably ends up back with Vicario...
Porro is better than Spence
Not as a orthodox rightback he inst nowhere close. Your entitled to your opinion but you can't be as poor as Porro is positionally and defensively. If you could combine them you have the perfect player. But as it is we should rotate them depending on opponent. Porro Saka would look like Mia Lai, Spence against bus parkers pointless. But Spence is absolutely not a leftback that helps us attack teams.
100%. Spence offers nothing going forward. I was surprised but read somewhere Porro’s defensive stats are up there as the best in the league. 1v1,you’ll not find a better full back than Spence but there’s so much more to the game as a full back now.
I might be in the minority here but there’s something unlikeable about Spence. Something big time about him but I don’t see that in his performances.
I thought the initial hype surrounding his emergence that, let's be honest, had more to do with us going through a terrible time than him being the next big thing has died down already. He has been looking like an average player for quite some time.
He's 25 already, very close to a point where you'd have to consider what you're seeing the end product. People would be complaining non stop about him being one of the epitomes of mediocrity at this club if his career had been following a usual trajectory.
He's 25 already, very close to a point where you'd have to consider what you're seeing the end product. People would be complaining non stop about him being one of the epitomes of mediocrity at this club if his career had been following a usual trajectory.
Not sure what an orthodox right back means in the modern game.
Pretty sure no fullback in the league has had better attacking output than Porro since he arrived. He is also one of the few top passers we have in the team. His defending has improved massively but yes he still makes mistakes - as do the rest of our backline.
Yes Spence is better 1v1 so I get the argument of starting him against the very best wingers to try to nullify them but outside of that fairly limited scenario Porro gives the team way more.
He has 100% been overplayed in his time here so there will naturally be some drop off in performance. So there is room for more rotation.
Nothing Spence has done in his Spurs career warrants the hype he has though. It is mostly good PR.
Some harsh criticism in here, he's naturally a RB being played out of position because he happens to be arguably the best 1vs full back in the league, he's not totally done on the left - what he needs is a touch line winger who will happily get chalk on his boots and hold the width so he can do his inside runs, at the moment he's had to play with Xavi who wants the ball infield and run into the same space, Johnson and Richarlison who don't want the ball at all, I'm not sure how many matches he's had with Odobert but I think that combo would work, should have seen it on Saturday really.
Is it a right footed defender who refuses to eat a bacon sandwich?
