Stoke City have rejected loan offers for Wilson Palacios and Kenwyne Jones from Leicester City and Hull City respectively.
Potters boss, Tony Pulis has declined to let both players to go out on loan as he believes they both have the potential to become a vital part of life at the Britannia.
Jones has made just the two substitute appearances in the Premier League this season and started only five games this calendar year but Pulis has reiterated that the Trinidad and Tobago striker is going nowhere.
“I haven’t seen any other Premier League clubs selling players. There’s been lots of enquiries about lots of players, but at the moment we want to look after ourselves,” Pulis told the Stoke Sentinel.
“We had 25 in our Premier League squad and then let Jermaine Pennant go on loan to Wolves, so we don’t want to be letting others go and then picking up three or four injuries.”
Hull City boss, Steve Bruce who managed Wilson Palacios during his time at Wigan has inquired about the Honduran international mooting a potential loan move.
But Pulis has decided to keep on to the 28-year-old midfielder as his performances in training have improved.
“He’s trained really well over the last six weeks and got his levels of fitness up again,” he added.
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Last Saturday was the first time since August that Palacios made it into the 18 man squad and even came on as a late second half substitute against Manchester United.
Barcelona President Sandro Rosell has attacked Manchester City and Arsenal for trying to steal the club’s top players and best youngsters, according to Mirror Football.
The comments come a day after transfer speculation suggesting that Roberto Mancini is desperate to bring defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets to Eastlands.
The Italian believes reuniting Busquets with former team mate Yaya Toure would spark a great midfield partnership between the two that would dominate the Premier League. However, the Citizens would certainly have to pay big money for the world cup winner, and the recent comments from Rosell can be taken as a hands-off warning.
Talking at a club forum event, Rosell said: “City are now doing at first team what Arsenal have been doing at academy: call players and offer them lots of money.
“Busquets is the last try from City and in the past we have had the same situation for Messi, Valdes, Xavi and Puyol. But they have all stayed and this is the power and force of Barca.
“Some clubs have asked about Messi, but Leo personally has refused to negotiate.”
The Barca President then turned his criticisms to the Premier League and English Football.
“Barca has never received an offer from a Sheikh. La Liga needs to mirror the view of the Bundesliga and not the way the Premier League and some of their clubs function,” he added.
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Today’s transfer rumours have linked City with a player closer to home. Cash-strapped Birmingham’s Nathan Redmond has been compared to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and the Manchester club are interested in the youngster’s availability.
Yesterday we reported that Tottenham’s Gareth Bale was Real Madrid’s number one transfer target and it appears that the plot has thickened with Jose Mourinho preparing a swap deal involving the Spurs winger, according to The Mirror.
Bale is valued at around £30million according to the Spanish club and a deal involving £12million left back Fabio Coentrao is set to be discussed with Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas already keen on acquiring the Portuguese’s services.
However, the man who scouted the 23-year-old Welsh winger for Southampton when he was a youngster is not convinced that Bale won’t continue to have injury problems.
“Gareth struggled with injuries and was affected by a growth spurt. He was quite small but, like many teenagers, just shot up,” Southampton scout Rod Ruddick said.
“His back was out of alignment, which meant he would struggle to run properly and at full pelt.
“He was almost released and who knows what might have happened? You have seen players fall out of love with the game after a rejection.”
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Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew has always publicly displayed his appreciation to Mike Ashley for handing him the reins to take over at St. James’ Park in December 2010, but is it time for him to finally start questioning the club’s owner?
Before, we start to lose a sense of perspective, it is correct that Pardew is grateful for the opportunity Ashley gave him to manage a football club capable of challenging in the upper echelons of the Premier League. In a spell not long before he was offered the Newcastle job, he was written off into football’s managerial scrapheap, following an acrimonious sacking at Southampton, who at that time were a League One club, let’s not forget.
It would not have been totally unthinkable that Championship clubs would have turned their nose up at Pardew, with managers holding Premier League experience still being shunned by clubs in the lower leagues, Alan Curbishley a notable example. Nevertheless, it is now time to put this gratitude to one side and for Pardew to firmly demands his owner supports him over the club’s direction.
Newcastle are currently languishing in 12th place in the table, closer to the bottom four than they are the top four and with no magic Carroll type business on the horizon, to fund another set of Graham Carr masterminded transfer coups, the club need their owner to back the manager. Ashley has already started the job that by handing his man a generous 8 year deal, but he now needs to dig deep into his pockets to fund his boss with player arrivals in January. Despite this being true, it is Pardew’s job to convince Ashley that it is necessary to spend in the next transfer window. The club’s supporters would certaintly be hoping that their manager has already started discussing what Newcastle need to bring in with some force. The 51 year old was quick to point out that Rodgers has struggled at times at Liverpool because he was not given the tools to succeed, as the Anfield club were criticised for not bringing in another striker. However, it appears that Magpies boss has suffered from the same problem, but he appears all too willing to ignore the issue.
The issue may have been magnified, now that Newcastle have failed to win what most fans saw as two winnable fixtures against West Ham and Swansea. The reality is though the team have looked rudderless and out of ideas on several occasions this season with the Europa League clearly taking its toll. A few tweaks in January though, and there is still cause for belief on Tyneside that the long term plan will work. All the foundations for success that Newcastle received credit for building last season have not suddenly crumbled.
The problem lies in the club failing to have significant competition for places and whilst it is the manager’s job to motivate his players, he can only do so much. Even ‘Pardiola’, as he is affectionately called by some fans, is attributable to some of the blame for this season’s struggle to put in a real “performance”. One of the biggest problems has been the club has failed to cope with injuries to key players. This is the nature of football and every side has to contend with injuries, but the paper-thin squad at St. James’s Park has really hampered Pardew’s ability to be able to create a starting XI that is capable of getting anywhere near the 5th place finish of last season. The long term injuries to Ryan Taylor and just recently Yohan Cabaye, means the need to bring in players who can make an instant impact has become all the more pertinent.
Whilst Newcastle fans may have been labelled deluded in the past expecting European football every season, there is a sense of realism these days. They recognise that last season was an unexpected overachievement. However, the feel good factor was based around a hunger and desire that Pardew is currently failing to deliver. The frustration amongst the supporters is that a number of the key ingredients for success remain at the club’s spine, particularly Hatem Ben Arfa and Demba Ba. The issue is that the majority of Newcastle’s established players are showing flashes of their ability with nobody really giving them that drive to push on. Whilst ensuring Demba Ba remains in January is a priority, this next transfer window is not a window where the club need to just focus on just keeping players. If Pardew and the board are going to build upon the positivity of last season, they need to bring in experienced players, who can immediately provide a lift to a team that is currently a little flat.
There are a number of promising young talents, such as Gael Bigirimana, Shane Ferguson and Sammy Ameobi, but even the most optimistic Newcastle fan would have to admit that none of these are yet the complete package, despite showing signs of encouragement in their first team outings this season. There needs to be a decent level of competition in all areas, and it is Pardew’s responsibility to ensure this happens, and at minimum the club need a new striker to give a much needed kick up the backside to Papiss Cisse. This is if including the underwhelming at times Shola Ameobi, instead of him, hasn’t provided a timely reminder that even number 9’s don’t just walk into the team.
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Whether Pardew has the bottle to demand Ashley provides the funds to sign the players needed, will tell Newcastle fans all they need to know about their manager’s determination to succeed, or willingness to sit back and take orders.
When football clubs like Charlton Athletic have hidden gems within their ranks it is sometimes impossible to keep hold of them.
Over the years a substantial list has been created and in the near future it could be added to with youngster Joe Gomez. There is a host of Premier League clubs that have expressed their interest in the 15-year-old defender. The England Under-16 star is widely considered to be one of the hottest prospects in English football.
One of the most controversial players that got away is Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe. Defoe joined the clubs youth team at the age of 14 before moving on to West Ham two years later.
The striker made his decision to turn professional with the Hammers and subsequently the Addicks were awarded £1.4million dependent on Premier League and International appearances.
During his early years Defoe went on loan to Bournemouth where he scored 18 goals in 29 appearances, and his West Ham manager Harry Redknapp was impressed with his season long loan at the Second Division club.
“He’s done great. I sent him out to Bournemouth to get some experience playing league football and he’s coped marvelously. To score 10 goals in 10 games is a terrific achievement. He’s a bright lad who’s full of confidence. Nothing knocks him, he’s a typical goalscorer. If he misses, he’ll be there the next time looking for a goal. He’s a kid with a big future,” said Redknapp.
Currently at Tottenham Defoe is still scoring goals on a consistent basis and his goal scoring antics means he is the eighth all time Spurs goalscorer.
Scott Parker was another player to leave the club in controversial fashion after coming up through the ranks. After playing 145 times and scoring 10 times for Charlton, Parker was a fan favourite for is combative roles in midfield. When Parker left the club for Chelsea in 2004 for a fee of £10mllion it left a bad taste with fans and manager Alan Curbishley who was disappointed in the conduct of the transfer.
“The bottom line is that Scott, from the moment he heard Chelsea were interested, hasn’t wanted to play for us and has been totally not focused on what he was doing,” Curbishley said.
“I’ve known Scott for 10 years, and he’s been phenomenal for the last three seasons. But the last three weeks have left a bad taste in the mouth.”
Parker has represented England from every level from Under-16’s to the National side where he has earned 17 caps.
Charlton’s youngest player at the age of 16 years and 59 days old, Jonjo Shelvey’s departure was an upsetting transfer but not one which any Charlton fan can have any complaints about.
Shelvey also became the clubs youngest goal scorer when he scored against Norwich in the FA Cup and his performances soon made him recognised by bigger clubs. It was Liverpool that signed the midfielder for a fee of £1.7million and is making an impact at his new club, as well as making his England debut.
Carl Jenkinson is another youngster that came through the cubs youth ranks before moving to the Premier League. The right back only featured eight times for the Addicks before moving to Arsenal for a fee believed to be worth £1million. Jenkinson started the first five games of this season due to injury to Bacary Sagna and has gone on to represent his new club in the Champions League and like Shelvey has made his International debut.
The final name to make it on to this list is Lee Bowyer. Bowyer broke into the first team at 17 years-old and became a first team regular before Leeds United signed the midfielder in 1996 for £2.8million, which was then a record fee for a transfer.
There is no denying that Charlton’s youth set up has brought through a number of top players which have turned out to be stars and represent their country at the highest level. As a Charlton fan, for most of these players I want to see go on and be a success, others I hope they enjoy less success, but the underlying question is, if we were any bigger would these players have stayed and helped the club progress even further than what we achieved in our ‘glory’ years of the Premier League instead of being in the Championship at the moment after suffering a torturous few seasons which saw the club fall to League 1.
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Stoke manager Tony Pulis has confessed that he must sell first-team players before making additions to his squad during the January transfer window.
The Potters have enjoyed a solid start to the Premier League season, securing 29 points, leaving them ninth.
Pulis admitted that his side were showing signs of tiredness during their 3-0 loss to Manchester City, an issue that he would like to address in the coming weeks:
“We have to bring money in to do it,” he told Sky Sports when asked about potential arrivals at the club.
“If we can wheel and deal and get a few out then hopefully we’ll be able to bring a couple in and give us some fresh impetus
“We are in that position where one or two may have to leave first. Last year we didn’t freshen and we fell away but we have to try and wheel and deal to generate some money.”
The Welshman also revealed himself to be envious of City’s financial muscle after the game:
“What was the difference – it was about about £220million.
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“If we haven’t got our A-game on – and I thought we were a little bit away from that – and they are at their best then it’s always going to be difficult.
“But also you have to keep shaking the cage to get people to understand it. There is a massive difference in lots of respects from this club to ours and sometimes it isn’t going to go for us.”
Arsene Wenger finally got it right—with Theo Walcott at least. That’s not to say he hasn’t been doing good by the player, but Walcott was never cut out to be a winger.
What’s the promise and hope? Well that’s one more player who isn’t struggling to squeeze into a position that isn’t ideal for him. Yes, Walcott has looked great at times in the past, most notably last season with Robin van Persie to aim for in the penalty area. But the inconsistency of the player is attributed to playing out of position.
Where’s the other hope? For now, it’s just another player that keeps the ineffective Gervinho away from striking duties for the team. When the manager pays a reported £12 million for Olivier Giroud, a top scorer in France last season, there has to be a few questions raised as to why Gervinho is played out of position and ahead of more obvious members of the squad.
But it’s been like this for years under Wenger, all over the pitch there were players in unnatural positions. Maximum points weren’t coming in and fans would look to the market to fix the problems. There have even been suggestions that the manager places far more importance in the development of his players than the results of the team. Sometimes it goes hand in hand, but there’s no reason for Wenger to sacrifice the short-term stability of the club just to prove a point. Not even he is that stubborn.
But he can be that frustrating. The Aaron Ramsey on the wing project isn’t working. The player, like Walcott, doesn’t have the makeup to be effective from the wide positions. It could be in an attempt to prepare him for the demands of the central position. The protection from the flanks is a logical tool in aiding in Ramsey’s development, but it does cost the team come the final whistle.
Once again you have to ask whether Wenger is being forced to make do with what he has, thus requiring the need to use ’square pegs in round holes.’ Despite recent revelations (albeit a very subtle one), we’ll never know.
Wenger’s desire to experiment has had mixed results in the past, however. Early decisions to play Robert Pires, Alex Hleb and Tomas Rosicky on the flanks and seemingly out of position might have appeared baffling, but each of those players became successes to varying degrees from the wide positions.
The other end of the scale has seen disappointments such as Andrey Arshavin, who initially started his Arsenal career extremely brightly. The Russian was an example to Wenger that forcing another dimension out of a player won’t always bring the same response as it has done in the past.
Would Arshavin’s career have turned out as it had if he were regularly played in his correct central position? The same can be said for a number of other players, many of whom have played a role in Arsenal’s poor performances on the pitch and subsequently found themselves on the fringes or out the door.
It’s a need from Wenger to see players moving around the pitch, rotating positions and seeing goals from more than just one or two individuals. But using players in unfamiliar positions can also have a negative effect of their confidence and development. One mistake is overanalysed and sooner than later the player goes into meltdown. It’s not to say that Aaron Ramsey’s performances, for example, are totally due to the frustrations from the fans, but it can’t be a good thing either.
Wenger has always tried to identify certain traits in players and put forward an experiment by which he can successfully turn them into something the team needs. It’s regularly been the case, most notably with shocking results such as Emmanuel Eboue appearing on the right-wing for the majority of a season.
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But the manager seems motivated by past achievements such as Thierry Henry and Kolo Toure, remaining confident that he can continue to pull off the incredible almost every season. The key factor is that many players are not the quality of Henry.
Despite handing in a transfer request this weekend, West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie will not be sold this month according to The Sun.
The Nigerian forward has been the subject of a January bid from Queens Park Rangers but the Baggies are in no need to sell one of their key players to a Premier League rival.
The Midlands club have rejected the strikers written transfer request and are not backing down that his long term future is at the Hawthorns.
QPR are set to return with an improved £3million bid for the 31-year-old who has hit double figures for goals in his previous two seasons in England and is on course to do so again this time out.
Odemwingie and West Brom may now become entangled in a messy stand-off over the deal that will not benefit either party, so a solution may have to be found before Thursday’s transfer deadline.
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Arsenal face an uphill battle to qualify for the Champions League for the 17th successive season this term under manager Arsene Wenger and if they do fail, it could come to represent not only a hammer blow to the man at the helm from a personal perspective, but a potential tipping point that sees them finally drop out of the league’s elite in a similar fashion to the way Liverpool have over the past few years.
It has to be said that Liverpool’s fall from grace was largely down to financial mismanagement and in Rafa Benitez’s final season, where the side finished 7th in the league in 2009-10, the club came worryingly close to declaring bankruptcy under the corrupt ‘leadership’ of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, which saw the side move from title challengers to a top eight side in just one dramatic season and Arsenal’s slide away from the pinnacle has been an altogether more gradual and some would say, more painful affair because it’s been dragged out over a number of disappointing seasons.
Of course, that is not to say that great amounts haven’t been spent in the pursuit of restoring them to the top four over the past few years, but the quality of player brought in to replace the likes of Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres has never been the same and while the situation has been somewhat foisted upon them, they are not without blame themselves for their under-performance on the pitch and the subsequent failures of both Kenny Dalglish and Roy Hodgson in charge.
There are plenty of parallels to be found between the two clubs; Arsene Wenger has also seen his biggest and best names leave year on year ranging from Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri to Robin van Persie, robbing them of the precise quality they need to truly challenge not only for trophies but to maintain their current status. The established four of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool were once referred to as the ‘Sky Four’ due to their domination of television coverage and how comfortably they saw off challengers, but only the first two clubs now remain, with Manchester City’s millions helping them crash the party and a consistent Tottenham side finally pulling their finger out and stepping away from a penchant for internal implosions of a season-defining kind.
Replacing departing players has proved to be a real problem for Wenger in recent years and his record in the transfer market has been filled to the brim with panic buys and people of insufficient quality. It’s simply been a penny-pinching exercise at times in the pursuit of Financial Fair Play (FFP), but this has seen them become less and less competitive, further highlighted by the fact that they’ve taken just one point from a team in the top three in the league this season. A gap has opened and it’s quickly turning into a chasm due to the squad’s failing confidence.
This is a situation completely of Wenger’s own making. He has had money to spend but has largely chosen not to and to operate within net spend means. Arsenal are currently one of the most financially sound clubs in Europe but it’s come at a price to their chances of success. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has always been keenly aware of the need to strengthen from a position of strength and sometimes players cost a lot of money, but like Liverpool were forced to for years under Benitez, Arsenal have operated the majority of their deals around the bargain bucket range of the £8-12m value market and you really get what you pay for in the long run.
Under Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool slowly but surely look as if they are making progress, but is has been slow at times and every step forward has inevitably been met with a shock result and two steps back. It’s been that sort of season for the club, which was to be expected of a side in transition, but they require stability above all else and patience. On the flip side, Arsenal fans have been hugely patient with Wenger and they are a club that is the very model of stability behind the scenes, and they present a united front even when supporters groups are clamouring for change and a more representative board. Nevertheless, it has been eight years since the club’s last trophy under Wenger now and the naysayers for the first time during his tenure look in the majority rather than the minority now.
There is talk of the Frenchman being handed a £70m transfer kitty to spend in the summer, but given his recent record, there are no guarantees that he will even spend it wisely. There are plenty of noticeable flaws and gaps within the squad that need addressing and to make them a side truly capable of challenging the Manchester duopoly again, they would need an even bigger budget than that, because they are that far adrift in terms of the sort of mentality and quality needed to sustain a squad capable of competing on multiple fronts over the course of a whole campaign.
The one major downfall that Wenger has made in the last few years has been the amount of trust he has placed in his players who have then only served to let him down, whether it be in terms of their poor performances out on the pitch or the fact that they’ve negotiated moves away to rival clubs in the pursuit of silverware. To an extent, you have to feel slightly sorry for him as he cuts an increasingly agitated figure on the sidelines, but from the club’s failed experiment with their playing style, which they look completely incapable of adapting away from, to their flawed transfer policy, everything comes from Wenger and should they finally fall out of the top four this term, the blame must rest squarely on his shoulders.
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It simply didn’t have to be this way and as much as Liverpool’s fall from grace was unexpectedly quick, set against the backdrop of the financial problems at the club, it was inevitable, whereas Arsenal are mainly suffering from self-inflicted wounds and a remarkable degree of stubbornness that their approach is the right one at senior levels.
The state the club find themselves in now, four points adrift of Tottenham and with no silverware hopes as early as February, was avoidable and having crashed out of the FA Cup and all but sealed the same fate with a disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. A repeat of the run that clinched them third in the league last season looks a long way off and as Liverpool have shown in recent seasons, finding your way back to the top is easier said than done and a path best avoided at all costs.
Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon has quickly become part of a rare breed of performing wide-men in the top flight this season, but is the decline in effectiveness part of a wider European tactical trend that’s gripping the English game or simply a consequence of the poor individual form of plenty of the bigger names in the league this year?
The 25-year-old has been a key component of Andre Villas-Boas’ counter-attacking style at White Hart Lane this season and he’s absolutely integral to the overall balance of the side, just as he was under Harry Redknapp, with Gareth Bale increasingly given more freedom and license to roam inside in that role just behind the lone striker. Without Lennon in the team now, they can often be found lacking any sort of threatening shape in the final third.
You only have to look at who Lennon’s replacements have been out wide when he’s been missing through injury this season to notice the decline in status and esteem with which the the position is currently held in across the top flight – Moussa Dembele, Lewis Holtby and Gylfi Sigurdsson – all very good midfielders in their own right when played in their natural, more central position, but they can best be filed under the ‘can do a job’ bracket. As much as this exposes the relatively fragile and thin nature of Tottenham’s squad and their need for more strength in depth, it also points to the fact that a lack of width is becoming common practice more and more in the Premier League.
Glancing at the assist table for the league this year tells you everything you need to know about how game is are approached these days, with most sides carrying the majority of their threat through the middle as opposed to out wide – Juan Mata leads the way with 10, Steven Gerrard is on nine, with Lukas Podolski, Wayne Rooney, Santi Cazorla, Eden Hazard, Robin van Persie and David Silva all completing the top ten. Only Theo Walcott (who has spent a lot of time up front this season ) and Damien Duff could be said to be wingers in some degree, at least in the more traditional sense, out of all those players listed.
Sure, Podolski lines up out wide, while Hazard, Silva and Cazorla all drift into positions on the flank during a game, but they don’t hug the touchline, often choosing to move inside in search of the ball. Lennon takes his place with six assists in joint-12th place on the assists table, behind Jobi McAnuff and level with Jean Beausejour and it seems as if out-and-out wide midfielders are now confined to the lower mid-table teams now.
Part of this is the way formations have changed in England over the past few years; Sunderland’s recent struggles under Martin O’Neill just go to show that playing with either a traditional 4-4-2 or any other variant of that where you rely predominantly on width is a recipe for disaster in the long run, even if Adam Johnson and James McClean have hugely underperformed this term to compound that tactical error even further.
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The in-vogue system of the moment is 4-2-3-1, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal all found using it at various points this season, while Manchester City often prefer a narrow 4-2-2-2 formation. This places a heavy emphasis on the team’s threat coming from the middle of the pitch, with the success of the smaller-framed playmakers like Silva, Mata and Cazorla this term a direct result of them finding those pockets of space between the opposition’s midfield and back four in a central position. It’s a hybrid role between the old-fashioned no.10 role, of which Juan Roman Riquelme was perhaps the last link between the modern game and the past and the function a winger may have performed 10 years ago. They are quick, technical players that look for space inside a team rather than going on the outside and when used correctly, the can often prove the difference.
The reason for this is that wingers are more often than not used to draw teams out and stretch them, whether that be on the break or when the opposition has men behind the ball; this then allows more room inside to operate and pick a pass in behind the back four, which will always have a higher success rate, particularly given the quality of the players mentioned above, than a hopeful cross into the box ever will.
All across the top flight, wingers are enduring difficult seasons from a personal perspective – Antonio Valencia, Nani, Ashley Young, Johnson, Matt Jarvis, Matthew Etherington, Walcott (since he signed a new contract in January at least), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Hatem Ben Arfa, Scott Sinclair and Charles N’Zogbia all serve as prime examples as those that have struggled through a mixture of indifferent form, a lack of first-team opportunities or issues with their fitness.
The bright sparks have been few and far between – Nathan Dyer, Wayne Routledge, Pablo Hernandez, Victor Moses (occasionally), Shaun Maloney, Jason Puncheon and Ashkan Dejagah – while plenty of players we’ve been accustomed to seeing play out wide in years gone by have reinvented themselves as central players, often in a four-man midfield such as James Morrison, Chris Brunt, Leon Osman, while Routledge has done well off the lone striker for Swansea this season.
Of course, as Brendan Rodgers has shown at Liverpool, the craze at the moment is to play with inverted wingers, with people like Stewart Downing often seen drifting inside onto their stronger foot from the opposite flank, an approach which Norwich, Swansea, Southampton and Wigan have all utilised for the most part, leaving their full-backs to bomb on forwards ahead of them instead. Those teams that rely mainly on their wingers to provide width such as Newcastle, Sunderland, QPR, Reading, West Ham and Stoke have all found a consistent and steady stream of goals and chances hard to come by and that’s not a coincidence by any stretch. It’s increasingly looking like they’re simply regarded as an out-dated and limited option in the modern game; teams are much narrower now than they were even two, three years ago.
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Lennon represents a shining example for others to follow, though, and he provides hope that they still have a part to play and that they can still be relevant. When the balance is struck (and he remains one of the best in the business at tracking back well), they can still provide a useful outlet, just so long as they’re not the only outlet. If traditional wing-play is going to survive this latest tactical shift in the game, they’re going to have to adapt in order to survive and start to contribute just as much off the ball as they do on it, with a more fluid continental approach becoming the sought-after norm.
This means becoming more adaptable to different formations and more versatile when keeping new roles and styles of play in mind. Raw pace alone is a precious commodity, just as it has always been, but it has to be used in the right and most effective way for it to be considered dangerous and this is where the Tottenham man stands out among his peers, in what has represented a disappointing season across the board for the winger’s fraternity.