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Player João Palhinha

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TeamSpirit™ said:
Sandro & Wanyama both had identical Spurs careers - absolute dynamos before picking up bad knee injuries and were a shell of themselves when they returned. You see this with Bentancur as well. Come to think of it, this happened to Winks as too. He was finished once he lost that burst and agility he had.

I never mentioned Palacios because we have to put an asterisk over his career because of personal tragedies. His heart wasn’t in it after what happened.

For the sake of fairness, players like Zokora and Bissouma I put at the other end of the scale; good enough on the ball but too error prone: not switched on enough defensively.

You don’t sacrifice one for the other and vice-versa.
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Yea, both Sandro and Wanyama were physically very strong.
Good tacklers. Good ball winners. I really liked both of them in their prime.

But both of them were significantly weaker on the ball than Palhinha.
Difference being, their partners in CM in terms of passing ability and creativity were much better than current options Palhinha has.
 
GinolasLeftFoot said:
Paulinha is a DM, win the ball back, break shit up, pass it onto the creatives...

His not a one man football team, and he doesn't need to be like Ronaldinho either.

He does his job, and he does it well.
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Exactly.

And on top of that he has 4 goals and 2 assist.
With which he is joint top goal contributor of the squad with VDV who has 6 goals + Kudus with 1 goal and 5 assists.

DM and CB + 1 attacking player

Yet Palhinha is the one "not good enough". Not literally every single fit attacking player... that post smaller goal contributions number.
 
TheSpurEst said:
Exactly.

And on top of that he has 4 goals and 2 assist.
With which he is joint top goal contributor of the squad with VDV who has 6 goals + Kudus with 1 goal and 5 assists.

DM and CB + 1 attacking player

Yet Palhinha is the one "not good enough". Not literally every single fit attacking player... that post smaller goal contributions number.
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100pc. He's excellent at what he does and needs a proper no8 and no10 alongside him.
 
TeamSpirit™ said:
If he’s one of our best players then we’re in a dark place.

For comparison:

Wanyama - press resistant, good ball carrier

Dier - Good long passer & deep crosser

Sandro - good ball carrier, able to pass between the lines

Parker - press resistant, able to pass between the lines.

Huddlestone - wonderful passer from deep

Even 20 years ago Carrick played as our DM and was basically the playmaker of the team.
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Of those, the only one who is a better player than JP is Carrick

Fact!
 
I thought he was good. He did his job breaking up plays, winning the ball back and prevented our attacks from breaking down by winning the ball back quickly after we lost it.
 
I can’t believe some people think Wanyama was better on the ball. I loved Wanyama in his prime, he could cover ground like no one else but he was absolutely crap on the ball. Wanyama had the luxury of 2 elite ball playing centrebacks behind him, Dembele next to him and Eriksen in front of him. Put Palhinha in that side and no one is critical of him.

Great goal against Dippers by Wanyama though.
 
It's up to Bentancur or whoever the midfield partner is to be more progressive. Palhinha's strength is winning the ball, so other players need to make themselves available for Palhinha to play a simple pass to after he's done his bit, then those other players need to do their bit. There's no point expecting a slide-rule defence splitting pass from him, no point running into a position where only a well timed and well executed pass will do when Palhinha is on the ball, just play it safe until a better passer is in possession, then it's time to move.
 
JDM said:
I can’t believe some people think Wanyama was better on the ball. I loved Wanyama in his prime, he could cover ground like no one else but he was absolutely crap on the ball. Wanyama had the luxury of 2 elite ball playing centrebacks behind him, Dembele next to him and Eriksen in front of him. Put Palhinha in that side and no one is critical of him.

Great goal against Dippers by Wanyama though.
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Yeah Wanyamas passing was terrible. Played like he had Timbs on.
 
VonnegutBusy said:
Yeah Wanyamas passing was terrible. Played like he had Timbs on.
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I never liked Wanyama but IIRC we used to never lose when he played. I vaguely remember he was out for a couple of weeks and fans were weeping and wailing.
Edit: He is only 34 and without a club but was playing in Scotland last season.

Victor Wanyama | Football Stats | No Club | Age 34 | 2010-2025 | Soccer Base

Victor Wanyama-2010-2025. (Born 25 Jun, 1991) Midfielder. Current season & career stats available, including appearances, goals & transfer fees.
www.soccerbase.com www.soccerbase.com
 
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Wanyama wasn't gifted on the ball but he was quite mobile as a destroyer. He wasn't camping in front of a back 4 to defend a very narrow area like Palhinha is doing right now.

It's not necessarily his limited technical ability that makes him quite unconducive to high block possession-based football, but rather his lack of mobility. Since he can't cover much ground, he can only be effective in a team where he gets to spend most of the game somewhere inside his own half as part of a mid to low block setup. Both Fulham and the current Spurs fit the description.

Shouldn't be treated as anything more than a stopgap player, at a [hopefully brief] period where we look like a mid-table team by all indications.
 
VonnegutBusy said:
Yeah Wanyamas passing was terrible. Played like he had Timbs on.
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Sissoko was the same - his tackling, physicality, pace, heading, and ability to create a transition was excellent - but as soon as he went to kick the ball, he looked so uncomfortable - almost like he was getting out a putter to pass it to someone (weird unnatural body shift to be in line with the pass he was making).
I feel like he could and would be totally capable of doing a run like micky did across the entire length of the field, just smashing through people, but he'd get one on one with the keeper and suddenly have no idea what to do.

Wanyama was a little different in that he had his shooting boots. Parker had that same Sissoko curse though
 
TheSpurEst said:
Yea, both Sandro and Wanyama were physically very strong.
Good tacklers. Good ball winners. I really liked both of them in their prime.

But both of them were significantly weaker on the ball than Palhinha.
Difference being, their partners in CM in terms of passing ability and creativity were much better than current options Palhinha has.
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Palhinha is def underrated on the ball- it's not like he is a wizard or anything but he is tidy and shields the ball well with his body. There were at least two instances today where he got taken to ground and stubbornly shielded the ball circling around his mark, eventually winning us two fouls off it. They couldn't get around him and he refused to be dispossessed. The trouble is he's not really a dynamic passer, and can't really run with the ball through midfield. You can't really afford to have more than 1 midfielder like this in your team- part of the reason why Bentancur and him make such a poor Prem pairing imo.
 
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