Tag Archives: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Tottenham’s Andros Townsend the future of English football?

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I did not watch the England game. I was travelling for a weekend away in Suffolk whilst the match was on. I have not seen the match. By the time I got to where I was staying, the final whistle had just gone, so I settled down to watch the highlights of the goals. I did, however, read many a news report the next day, and most were saying the same thing, that Andros Townsend was the future of English football.

Let me get straight to the point, Andros Townsend is not the future of English football. He is the 4th choice English right winger, behind Walcott, Lennon and Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Andros Townsend is 22 years old. He has played for 10 different clubs as a professional footballer. His career reads played 136, scored 14. These are not the statistics of the future of anything.

He has got lucky this year, and in fairness, has taken that luck and made the most of it. An injury to Lennon, Bale being sold, and Lamela settling in has meant he has gone from QPR last season to Spurs 1st team this season. And injuries in the England squad left Roy Hodgson with few other options. He is not even the future of Tottenham Hotspur’s right wing, let alone England’s.

I first saw Townsend a few years back in a Tottenham v Arsenal youth game, where Arsenal took around 3,000 fans. A young lad called Jack Wilshere was by far the star of the show, running in a game which Arsenal comfortably run. Townsend was Tottenham’s best player, but he was mainly just pace, with very little end product. He has not changed that much.

Earlier this week, I wrote about how young players are getting too easily hyped after just a couple of performances. It seems after one game for England, Townsend is getting similar treatment. Tipped as the next big thing, despite not doing much, and already being 22.

Yes, the goal he scored was a brilliant finish, but a wonder goal does not make a brilliant player. Both David Bentley and Danny Rose have scored wonder goals against Arsenal in the past, neither of them have gone to do anything special.

The gushing over Townsend during the post-match summary even went as far as claiming he assisted the 1st goal. This despite it being a poor cross from Townsend and at least another as touches of the ball from other players before Wayne Rooney put the ball in the net. The pundits conveniently ignored a poor cross to use the clip as another example of how Townsend was the future.

In one report I read, someone jorno even said he was the ‘New Gareth Bale.’ That he was quiet in the 1st half but exploded into life during the second when he dropped inside in a Bale-esque performance. Gareth Bale is 24. Andros Townsend 22. He is nowhere near the talent of Bale. He is on par talent wise with Serge Gnabry, who is 4 years his junior.

Infact, Townsend is most similar to Shaun Wright-Phillips. A player of pace who would score the odd worldie, but never have the talent required at the highest level. His raw pace enough to make people remember him, but not good enough to be a consistent high end performer. Townsend also compares to SWP in that he is older than what many think. For years SWP was put in with Walcott and Lennon as ‘exciting young wingers for England’. This despite SWP being 7 years older than the other two. He is now 32!

I am sure Townsend will end up similar. Continual comparisons with those 4/5 years younger as he broke onto the scene so late. At 22 he has no potential. He should be England’s star now, not an England star of the future.

He is of similar ability to the likes of Scott Sinclair, Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge. He is just pace, and like these players, will suffer from second season syndrome. As players work out how to defend against him, his tells, whether he go’s inside or out. The top players such as Lennon and Walcott are able to continue improving, adding to their game, these players, like Townsend, have not, as they are just pace.

England’s future lies in the hands of the likes of Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ross Barkley and many more better, younger players then Andros Townsend. The future for England is brighter than some make you believe, and it is these players who Hodgson should be looking at taking to Rio to gain experience, not a ‘never gonna be’ like Townsend.

Again, to remind you all, Townsend is 22. Not exactly a young star. He is only 2 years younger the Mesut Ozil!

The one thing I would say about Townsend is that he is testament to not giving up and working hard. In the youth game I mentioned, he was outshone by the likes of Jay Emmanuel-Thomas and Emmanuel Frimpong. Neither of these have done much of note since then, so credit to Townsend for wanting to be better, not sitting on his laurels and accepting earning a good wage whilst being mediocre.

You have to feel that were Townsend not playing by the presses love Spurs, there would not be as much love for him. Were he playing for an unfashionable Stoke, Villa or Southampton, the hype would not be there. The only surprise is that Harry Redknapp has not yet come out and said how it was he who developed Townsend at Spurs and QPR and that if he were England manager, Townsend would have been in the England side years ago.

Andros Townsend will not be going to Rio.

Keenos

The overrating of young players by press and fans alike

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At the weekend, 18 year old Belgium winger scored a brace Manchester United. What has followed is the usual hyperbole in the press when a young kid has a good performance.

He is labelled the next superstar. The future of Manchester United. A bright young light. Whilst he is no doubtingly talented, there is a tendency when a youngster has a good performance for him to then be vastly operated.

We have seen it with our own Serge Gnabry over the last couple of weeks. Some average performances alongside some decent performances capped off with a goal against Swansea have led to a lot of Arsenal fans to talk about him having a bright future. Luckily the press do not yet seem to of caught on yet, but within our own ranks, there has been some who have got a little bit over excited.

And it is not a recent phenomenon. Look at Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He has never really put in the consistent performances to justify his hype, yet some still rate him higher than Theo Walcott, even though Theo has put in a lot of top performances.

Jack Wilshere has also suffered from it. Labelled the future of England, many put him down as one of the first names on the England team sheet. Yet at 21, due to injuries, he sits on just 10 caps. He made his 1st team competitive debut at 16 years and 256 days, but has not yet fulfilled the promise he showed as a teenager.

Gedion Zelalem is also entering this bracket. Already rated highly. Plenty of excitement about him. Yet he has not yet made his debut for the club. 16 year old Swedish striker Jamal Raage is another one being tipped for a bright future, despite only having scored a couple of goals for the under 18s. People are saying he will play for the under 21’s this year and be in the League Cup squad next year. A lot of hype about a kid who no one has really seen.

And it is not just Arsenal who tend to over hype their youngster. Look at Manchester United and the excitement over Adnan Januzaj. Reports are there is currently an International war breaking out between England and Belgium over who he will play for. This a kid who has played just 3 times for Manchester United.

He is not even Manchester United’s youngest ever goal scorer. That accolade falls to Federico Macheda who scored against Aston Villa in 2008-09. The back end of that season, he had played 4 league games, scoring twice, and big things were expected of him the next year.

Five years later, Federico Macheda is still a Manchester United player, but is now on loan at Doncaster Rovers, via VfB Stuttgart, Queens Park Rangers & Sampdoria. And example if needed over the hyperbole of teenage players based on 1 or 2 performances.

I could name many more who fall under this category. Jack Rodwell was supposed to be the future of England’s midfield. James Vaughan is the Premier League’s youngest ever goal scorer. Joe Cole has had a good career, but nothing compared to the hype he had as a youngster. The list of highly rated youngsters who never quite fulfilled their potential go’s on.

So the moral of the story is, before you get too excited over a Gnabry, Zelalem, or Januzaj, there have been better youngsters who have come through who have failed to make the grade.

Do not put players on a pedestal of greatness until they have earned it.

Keenos

Arsenal missing Theo Walcott

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Over the years, Theo Walcott has been much derided by Arsenal fans, England fans and the media. Brilliant one game, anonymous the next. Despite last season being our top scorer with 21 goals, and also adding 14 assists, many still question his place in the side.

It is often said you only realise what a player contributes to the team in general when he does not play. A lot of people underrated Gilberto Silva massively during his early years at the club. It was only during a 7 month lay off with a broken back during the 2004-05 season that many realised how important the invisible wall was to the teams make up.

We saw in the 1-1 draw against WBA how much we missed Theo Walcott. Back in the middle of September, I posted about how Arsenal were playing like a Brazilian side with their new 4231 formation, and how this formation was heavily reliant on having a player with pace on one side. We saw against WBA how when you take this pace away, the side becomes too narrow and does not break the line of the defenders enough.

The WBA game was probably our worst attacking performance of the season. With Wilshere and Ramsey out wide, but both drifting in, we often ended up with all 5 midfielder’s in the middle of the park. No width and more importantly, no pace.

A few instances spring to mind where we desperately missed Walcott. The first was a break away from a corner. Normally whoever brings the ball out looks first for Walcott. With his electric pace, he is key to our counter attacking. Unfortunately, without Walcott, we had no other pace options. Mesut Ozil had the ball and he had a choice between Giroud or Ramsey going forward. He played a good ball to Ramsey, but he had to check in side and by the time he did this, the WBA players were back in droves and the chance was gone. Had Walcott been on the pitch, I am sure we would have seen him rampage down the right before playing the ball into Giroud or Ramsey for a tap in.

The second scenario happened a few times. Often Theo Walcott is a cross field out ball. When play is tight down one win, he is usually in acres of space on the other, allowing us to switch the play and exploit this pace. Unfortunately, without Walcott there, that space went unexploited. Jenkinson tried to push into it, but did not get far enough forward. This meant that play often became to congested and then break down on the other side of the pitch.

Theo Walcott also creates space for others. He often gets ‘chalk on his boots’ which widens the pitch, and his dangerous play usually results in teams having to use their full back, and either a centre back or winger, to close him down. This then gives more space to either his full back, or the midfielder’s. Too often, we were easily closed down against West Brom, as they pushed us into a congested middle, we were unable to create space for ourselves. Had Theo Walcott been playing, this would not of happened.

Yes, Lukas Podolski or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could have also made a difference. Their pace on the wings would have supplied a similar threat to that of Walcott, however Walcott has shown himself in the Premier League to be the better performer of the 3 and we missed him.

With the International break now upon us, we have 2 weeks for Walcott to get fit. I am sure he will play in our next game, and we will be back to our swashbucking best.

The fact we managed to get a point out of a tough game with the amount of injuries we currently have (Sagna, Diaby, Walcott, Chamberlain, Podolski, Cazorla, Sanogo) is testament to both our squad depth and current mental strength. As players start to return, we should begin to see just how good this Arsenal side are, and if we are truly title contenders.

Keenos