Again, take the point on crosses and I've never said don't cross, you have to mix it up, you have to keep the defence guessing, not be predictable. (I also don't know if a cut back is considered a cross when the stat-misters do their compiling of numbers but I'd class it as a cross of sorts?? I don't think it is included, if so I love these and want to see more of them but Trips is rarely in behind a defence to execute, unlike our other FB's). But "putting it into the mixer" really doesn't cause that much of a problem, it's bread and butter for the goalkeeper and defenders. (another game, did you see the Woolwich game in Madrid this week? All they did was cross, their crosses didn't find a single Woolwich shirt, it was 1 vs 5 or 6 or 7 if it went into the box, but the vast majority, just like Tripps crosses, also went sailing over everyone in the box. Piss of piss, let them do that all night long, it's why they only mustered a paltry 2 shots on target in a semi-final!!!!
With Tripps 90% of the time you know he's gong to cross, defending a cross is easier than defending someone who is going to get past you, especially if you know what is coming 90% of the time. I'm a defender, would I prefer defending against a player that's NOT going to try to take me on, or one that IS going to try to take me on? I choose the guy that's not going to take me on every single time. Answer this, if you were preparing to play Tottenham how do you set-up to counter what they are going to do to you? Where is the threat coming from? What patterns of play have you identified? Tripps = piss of piss to prepare for, you know what's coming, it's all he's going to do, cross. So, one you try to prevent the cross from coming in, or two just let him cross it our 'keeper and defence can defend this, no biggie.
With a take-on players aren't successful all of the time, they can lose the ball, however this opens up the counter-press, it's what I love about Son's work, he loses the ball a lot but the ball is lost in an advanced position, in order for the defender to tackle he has to engage him, therefore chances are he's been pulled out of a defensive line to do this, ergo there is now a space they need to fill or be left. With a defence out of shape and we win the ball back quickly the chances are far better to score than pumping a ball into a box defended by 4-5 defenders and a keeper (5 v 2) if we are counter-pressing it's against an out of shape defence and at least one defender is out of the game (4 v 2 or even better if the counter-press was won from an initial 1v1, so hopefully we may have even worked an overload in our favour). If all this brakes down, then we still have the ball. They can't score if we have the ball.
Back to crossing, it is easier to defend against a cross, than someone running at you, Walker, Rose, Aurier and Davies (on the inside) all commit the oppo, they all provide the oppo with a headache, "will he cross or will he take me on", with Aurier, Walker & Rose they can go inside or outside too. This is hard to defend against, their is variety there is a relentless pressure too as they have the ability to track back and get forward and as the minutes tick by the oppo relents, it wilts and the opportunities either increase or the oppo just takes the option to defend and are effectively pinned back (I'll excluded this from Aurier as not sure of his true capability and stamina yet but he does tend to improve and create more in the latter stages of game). Trips has never pinned back his opposite number, in fact as we see every single game they target the space behind him because he's never getting back, if he's not getting back then cover has to come from another player DM or CB, ergo it is now Spurs that are out of shape, it is now Spurs that are venerable and we concede loads of chances.
All this is why I hate seeing Tripps in the team, easy to defend against, easy to attack us. And I haven't even gotten to the point of entertainment, watching him is fucking boring. I love seeing our players take-on the oppo, look at Lucas, Son, Dele, Kane, Dembele, Lamela and Eriksen they all possess the ability to beat a player, to entertain us to make us go Ohoooo and Aahhh that get us out of our seats and sing their names. Tripps doesn't do this, he's a boring, dull footballer. The obvious entertainers are those who possess those flashes of skill, but watching Spurs under Poch I've also jumped out of my seat when Dier has put in a glorious tackle or Wanyama who has intercepted a ball, Toby's diagonal, Jan's bringing the ball out of defence, Hugo's cat like reflex all of them producing regular moments of joy, where I've spontaneously stood up to applaud. Tripps keeps me in my seat, Tripps makes me annoyed with his endless crosses to no-one, watching him trying to defend is painful. I get zero pleasure from watching the munchkin.