Are inverting wingers the problem for Tottenham’s lack of goals?

After the frustrating game vs Hull City in the Premier League at White Hart Lane, Tottenham Hotspur fans are getting anxious about where the goals are going to come from and are beginning to wonder how many more times a goal from the from the penalty spot will be their saviour for the 3 points.

A topic that has been talked about at White Hart Lane recently is the depth and situation of the wingers and it appears that AVB likes his wingers to play on the wrong side of their preferred foot so they can cut inside to create chances for the striker. We have seen this from Andros Townsend, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Erik Lamela and the forgotten man Nacer Chadli who didn’t even make the squad in the Premier League tie vs Hull City.

The problem with these tactics from AVB is that the wingers are not having enough width which means they are congesting the space for the attacking midfielder, whether it is Christian Eriksen or Lewis Holtby, which means these two are getting minimum space on the ball to really show off their creativity and flair to create chances for the Spanish “fox-in-the-box” striker Roberto Soldado who
has become a regular starter in the Premier League this season.

This point was backed up in midweek when Mousa Dembele came out publicly and said that the pitch at White Hart Lane is narrow compared to others in the Premier League and that is not benefiting them when they play especially with the inverted wingers.

With Wednesday’s cup tie against Hull giving Erik Lamela a taste of first team football against a Premier League team he really had a chance to show the fans what he could do and he took it with two hands and was one of Tottenham’s best players and you could really see his confidence improving as the match went on as he was demanding the ball and dribbling against the opponent with the ball and played a 120 minutes. He was unfortunate to miss his penalty in the shoot-out which hopefully doesn’t bring his confidence down again as after his 120 minute performance he could hold his head high.

Tottenham face Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday and it will be interesting to see Andre Villas-Boas’ starting 11 for the game as Everton both have very good, consistent full backs in Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines so I think Andre Villas-Boas will go for a balance of pace and an inverted winger and with Erik Lamela having played 120 minutes I think it would be a risk and a big ask of Erik to play up against England’s left back Leighton Baines who is one of the best left back’s in the Premier League.

So, the expected duel on the right hand side is likely to be Andros Townsend vs Leighton Baines but then that leaves a question mark on who he will put on the left as the only players left are Aaron Lennon, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Nacer Chadli or a fatigued Erik Lamela and there is only one left footed player in the list of them four players.

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