Harry Winks has managed that which he ought to have done some considerable time ago. He’s managing to play just well enough to distance himself from the rest of the hopeless herd of second-stringers at Hotspur Way.
The goal was incredibly welcome and, just like the following three, provided relief as opposed to any sense of glory. Although Winks has come out and explained that he fully intended the ball to either take a touch or if it didn’t, the accuracy was there for it to be a goal in its own right.
“It wasn’t a good enough performance. We were sloppy at times, we didn’t play sharp enough, with enough aggression, enough intensity,” the English midfielder said.
“I think everyone could have upped their game by a lot and at half-time there was a lot of harsh words and honest words said.
“We weren’t good enough, we know that. These are the types of games where, in the first 15 minutes, you need to settle everybody, score early and then hopefully it can be an enjoyable afternoon.
“My thought process was just to aim for the far corner and if I underhit it, or I connect to it as well as I wanted then someone will get a head on it.
“Whatever happens, it will go in.”
I agree. Harry Winks never plays 188 games for Liverpool, United, Chelsea etc. Why should Spurs allow sentiment on this issue? If we want to win then there has to be a point where we jog on the ‘average Joes’.
Depends where the cones were placed.
“buckling down and turning round his form”
Winks picked out his best key pass ever for Spurs against Southampton for the disallowed Kane goal. He also lobbed the ball into the box for the disallowed Doherty goal.
My assessment of Winks is based on the 188 games he has played in and in particular the 116 Premier League games from that total.
I’m being honest. Winks getting selected for England is irrelevant to me. I would suggest that Winks selection for England says more about the recent past and current standard of English midfield players than it does about my support for THFC.
My Spurs credentials are sound btw. I’ve done my fair share for Tottenham.
If the team we started yesterday played against 11 traffic cones how many goals would they have scored?
Harry Winks wears Steve Archibald’s and Gascoigne’s number 8 shirt. Do I need to go on? The fact that Winks did not have a good enough sense of humour to insist on wearing the number 40 shirt tells you something about him too.
Harry Winks has been carried far enough by his Spurs team mates. Along with Lamela he has always been part of Spurs recent problems. I’d rather we gave game time to Harvey White or another young player than waste game time on Winks when we know what the outcome will be.
Easy to see you aren’t a fan. Seems a shame you gloss over the fact he’s had an England call up. You make it out he’s the only MF in a Spurs shirt. I’ve recognised he’s had a down turn in form. As has he. However, to not give the lad any credit for buckling down and turning round his form but instead comparing him to a cone is nothing short of disingenuous to a player who as well as being a player is a life long Spurs fan too. And on that note I’m out of this debate with you.
We do have the resources. We just don’t deploy them.
My point is that Winks isn’t even a squad player on a serious team.
“Winks has had a downturn in form”
Harry Winks Premier League form is two goals and two assists in 116 games. When you consider that Winks has more often than not had Harry Kane and Son to supply with chances how could his ‘form’ be any worse?
Kane and Son are two of the most prolific scorers of Premier League goals yet Winks has only managed to assist a Spurs goal on two occasions in 116 appearances.
I would suggest that this statistic alone should lead any objective critic to question how it is possible for Winks to have been selected on 116 occasions when his contribution to the attacking play has been so paltry.
I would go as far as to say that if Poch, Jose, Nuno and Conte has selected a large traffic cone instead, on those 116 occasions that Winks has been selected to play for Spurs, then the ball would probably have hit the cone on more than two occasions and led to Son or Kane scoring a goal.
Likewise; I reckon the traffic cone would have proved to be a more troublesome obstacle to opposition midfield and attacking players if it had been strategically placed in a central position; 10 yards outside the Spurs penalty area.
The trip hazard of the cone would have been equally as effective as Winks attempts to block, tackle and intercept the opposition.
I want the cone on the pitch.
Every team needs what you might call the average Joe’s. Apart from HK we’ve not had a wealth of world beaters in our shirt in decades.
I think too many Spurs fans have this idea that every player should be the best of the best. Whilst that’s the dream we dont have the resources like the City’s and Chelsea’s of this world
I think that’s entirely correct. He has shown improved form under Conte and whilst he’s no world beater, we don’t have many, he’s certainly good enough to be in and around the first team. Added to that he is English and bumps up our home grown quotient. I was there yesterday and was by and away our best player. There are others whose performance yesterday warrants scrutiny more that Winks
But he’s not there. None of our MF would get in, in front of them so it’s a moot point you make.
Both Skip & Winks are products of the academy. It’s true to say Winks has had a downturn in form. He’s the first to admit it. His previous foils in MF were Dembele & Eriksen. Both a far cry from N’Dombele. Skips in his first season and has Holjberg as a partner. Again, very different from having N’Dombele alongside you.
Winks has had an international call up and albeit that he lost his place it still has to be recognised that he has represented his country. His recent form suggests that he’s turned a corner and is re discovering the form that saw him a regular starter for Spurs and getting his England call up.
Its wrong to say he’s not good enough for what Spurs want to do. Too many fans are quick to jump on a players back, forgetting in Winks case that he was very much part of Poch’s reign and our tenure finishing in the top 4 and playing in the CL in a regular basis. Winks was the stand out player at the Bernabau. Players don’t become crap overnight.
Its clear Winks is responding to Conte’s coaching. This benefits the club to have a player who only wants to play for Spurs and give 100% for them. I’d take that over the N’Dombele’s of this world any day.
Sure Winks is playing ok now but on Chelsea he’d be behind Kovacic, Kante, Jorginho, Mount, Saul, Pulisic, Barkley, Loftus-Cheek, Ziyech, Havertz and maybe some lads from their academy so that about sums it up for me.
A note of caution regarding Winks. The current Spurs midfield is the Kingdom of the Blind. Oliver Skipp has walked into the Spurs midfield and is without doubt the best midfield player on Spurs books. That tells you something.
The real story here is that Lo Celso, Ndombele and Winks have been collectively and consistently so unfit for purpose, over a sustained 3 year period, that Spurs performances and results have suffered massively. There has been a limited supply to the forward players and the defenders have often been left exposed.
Poch, Jose, Nuno and now Conte have tried different tactics and operated a revolving cast in midfield but the same recurring problems are evident; especially when Spurs come up against a decent team.
When Winks plays for Spurs, against an elite team, it is a bit like watching the football equivalent of a giant placing the palm of his hand against a midget’s forehead; whilst the midget swings punches that never land.
Spurs played Morcombe yesterday. A League One side. When Wink’s has done well, it has often been against inferior opposition in the Europa League or domestic cups. The Winks ‘renaissance’ is one of the more unfortunate consequences of Spurs improvement, in terms of performance and results, under Antonio Conte.
Harry Winks is not the answer. Those who think he might be need to ask themselves what the question is. Winks has scored 2 goals and contributed 2 assists in 116 Premier League appearances. His statistics on winning 1v1 duels make dismal reading. Winks does not win the majority of his tackles. This is a player who does not score, create or stop goals. I have been baffled about what Winks is bringing to the party from early on. Without wishing to be unkind; it’s not enough.
Spurs is as good as it gets for Winks. He knows it. He knows that a significant minority of Spurs supporters also know it. He is embracing the reprieve that has come his way due to the utter uselessness of N’dombele and Lo Celso. Conte will Tolerate Winks for a while; but not for long.
Hojbjerg and Skipp are the only current midfield survivors of this disaster.
It looks like Digne is on his way to Vill,so I suspect Matt Target will be a bit p*ssed off.We should have gone for Digne at 25M.
I have to reluctantly agree and I think he is under instruction from Conte to be more offensive in his play.He is one of the very few to improve under Conte.
He’s obviously impressed the manager given his recent comments & when called upon he has out-performed others.
Deserved his motm yesterday, not that there were too many candidates.
I see improvements in Winks. He was the only one looking to move the ball forward and quickly.