Harry Winks is a player that I have never understood from the perspective that I truly don’t understand what his actual role is. I get that he’s a midfielder, but is there really something in-between an attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder? Winks statistical footprint is an equally confusing business. We get a routinely very high successful passing accuracy (his mean average is 90.9%) but very little else that is which is tangible, in order to build a case – for anything. If you can make a case – be my guest.
The latest quotes from Winks via Football London are a worry. What on earth was the mindset before? Worse yet, Winks then proceeds to contradict himself, “So the most important thing for us is winning and if that means come the end of the season we are up there or thereabouts then that’s all that matters for us really.”
What matters in professional sport is winning, not being up there or thereabouts, and these comments do not fill me with confidence that young Harry fully grasps what it is that José Mourinho is all about. Which may well explain why the 24-year-old has to fight for his starting place under the Portuguese.
If there’s one thing I like to see in Tottenham players, it’s dynamism. With Harry Winks, it just isn’t there. These quotes don’t convince me that the boy is anything more than a journeyman.
Get rid of him he is not a winner and Dele Alli, Lamela D.Rose we need to clear the.swamps otherwise we will not win anything with the mentality like that Up there and thereabouts my arse we don’t need nearly men and prima-donna’s we passed that period get rid of them period.
Maybe they should’ve learnt to play without the ball too instead of attack attack attack all the time. One trick pony
Yeah but it didn’t with him did it. The obviously didn’t genuinely believe
Will be interesting to see which club he eventually goes to.
Youy’ve nailed it, he is not a top 6 club player.
Don’t you have to believe you can win in the first place? Or it simply happens?
I think of Harry Winks as a bit like an usher at a cinema. A patron can find the way to their seat of their own accord, they don’t really need the usher. Granted, the usher would usually be polite, neat and tidy and somewhat accommodating, but in truth you wouldn’t really notice or care if the usher was there or not.
Harry Winks’s relationship with the ball reminds me of an usher. He merely directs the ball, inoffensively, to the next available player, but rarely has a significant impact upon it. He is the kind of player you don’t notice, except maybe once a game he might make a slightly longer or more adventurous pass than usual.
There are some pundits, misguidedly, who see Winks as the footballing equivalent of an ‘idiot savant’! Who misconstrue the simple, recycling, efficiency, as some kind of Iniesta or Xavi like genius, but it’s not. It’s merely predicated upon a lack of ability to do anything more dynamic, brilliant, or dramatic with the ball!
Ndombele has me on the edge of my seat every game, with his sublime ball skills. Hojbjerg has me stirring my old sinews on the couch, lunging for every tackle! Even Lamela jolts me into life, with some innovative new way to surreptitiously leave his stud marks on an opponent without being booked by the ref! Winks however merely parks me in my seat!
to play devils advocate – as i am not a huge winks fan
i think his progress has been stalled by our lack of squad investment. consistently asked to play a deeper role due to not replacing wanyama, dembele.
Hopefully he can kick on with a more progressive position as PEH is behind him, like against Leeds.
As currently is, I do feel Skipp is currently better placed to add spice to our midfield
Winks. Transition? What’s that then!
“is there really something in-between an attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder”
That really sums it up for Winks, I call him a “recycler” for lack of any better term, showing for the ball and moving it on. In a team that plays out from the back and wants possession, Winks probably fills a need. Just don’t see how he’s going to be anything other than a squad player in a Mourinho team with his skillset.
Not giving the ball away is a good thing for a footballer. Also if players aren’t making runs for you to hit them with said ball you’re going to look mediocre.
Again I want Mourinho to coach the players and pass on his knowledge and I want the players to listen and learn, instead of this continual sniping at players and demand for new recruits.
Saying all that some players either won’t or can’t learn and do need to be replaced.
According to the poch lovers it ain’t about Winning it’s about believing you can win. Bo770cks
Spot on. Winks has very little to offer a team striving to be top 4. Football is more than stats of course, but looking at Winks` numbers they are not great. Over 100 games in the PL and a total of 2 goals/2 assists. So he is clearly not an attacking midfielder. And he is no Höjbjerg or Sissoko defensively. More of a passenger really.
I agree with the article. Winks speaks like he plays. I think he is simply trying to repeat his manager in that Spurs go into each match to win, but they only check the table at the end of the season.
His words simply do not execute the message.
Winks knows how to play when he is on the ball. There will be moments that look good through a camera that only focuses on the ball.
Winks however lacks the instinct to know how to do what is required off the ball. He lacks the understanding of how to truly know what do each moment of each match to help his team.
He is going to know where to safely find an option for a pass, driving a good completion percentage.
But he does not know what to do on the other end. He does not understand where to go, how to move off the ball in order to link play, to be the same good option for his teammates as some of them are for him.
Sure, there are moments of ‘light bulb.’ But they do not come naturally at all. Much of it does reflect a journeyman. Nothing of which to be ashamed, but it does need to be honestly identified in order for Spurs to properly progress.