Harry Winks make the Invisible man look like Sir Les Patterson after his third bottle of table wine. When Winks is criticized, it is frequently the case that his ‘safe pair of hands’ defense is raised, which invariably includes a successful passing accuracy that routinely hits the 90th percentile. Regrettably, this is merely a distraction, because as defensive midfielders go, his defending is close non-existent.
If we look at the Carabao Cup Final as a big game, a game by which Winks could use to prove how mistaken Mourinho had been in marginalizing him, then what did we actually get in return for his 90-minutes?
If we look at Harry’s heat map above, it tells us absolutely nothing worth knowing.
Just one defensive challenge – which Winks won.
Just one loose ball duel – which Winks lost.
The closest thing to a high point was the 5 recoveries across the whole 90 minutes.
This performance was not atypical and reflects that at Tottenham, there are several safe berths so players that don’t offer very much.
Today’s Tottenham teaser: Just how many Tottenham managers has Harry Winks manage to hoodwink during his 8 seasons at the club?
Hear hear.
“Southgate likes him for England”is all you need to know.We don’t want either of them at the club.
Talk to Frank
Totally agree, and if he picked Winks for extra defensive midfield cover then i think Ndombele should have got in ahead of Locelso
Does Winks win a lot of tackles? Is he strong and aggressive and bullies the midfield? Is he a technical player, that can ghost past opponents? A great header of the ball? A creative spark, with lots of assists? Does he take deep runs and score goals? Is he an excellent long range shooter? Is he a player who can take control of games? An intelligent passer of the ball?
Not sure one could answer “yes” to any of those questions. In that case, what does Winks really bring to the team?
And will perhaps soon be behind Skipp as well.
Winks is not good enough for this current Tottenham team, how he is picked over Ndombele is beyond belief, the stats don’t lie.
Ryan Mason the current manager was not good enough for Tottenham as a player and was sold to Hull, he was an underachieving player not at the same level as the first squad, exactly the same as Winks.
I think Mason has reflected on his career and picked Winks over Ndombele as this has nothing to do about footballing ability. Ndombele is our most expensive player at 53m, Ndombele was linked with PSG, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Winks at his height was linked with Man City. What manager leaves his most expensive player, the teams only player who can control the ball in tight positions and play forwards on the bench in our biggest game of the season.
If Winks was picked so he improved and his game went to the next level like Bale, Son and Kane, yes he deserves a place in the squad. Winks current level is third choice as a DM, behind, Ndombele, hojbjerg and Sissoko.
The Hoodwink gang, I like it.
One of my loudest shouts at my TV on Sunday came when we actually managed to string a dozen promising looking passes together and then Winksy lobbed it out wide, 3 feet over Aurier’s head.
He is a classic sideways and backwards merchant and a wage thief better suited to a championship club, how he managed to get an England cap is an absolute mystery.
We all like Winksy – nice lad, you’d have a kick around and a pint with him. But then my mate Andy is the same and i wouldn’t play him in CM for Spurs
He’s regressed significantly as a plater this last 3 years, as has Dele. Is that the club’s fault? Or the player’s?
PEH has a purpose he stops play he covers the defence he’s a very good one of the best DM’s in the league. As for winks he’s a neat little player but he’s not DM he’s not an attacking mid, so what is he?
Harry Hoodwinks. I like it. I think Harry’s future lies outside of the PL. He’s not commanding enough to be a holding midfielder and not skilful enough to be an attacking force. I can see him tip-tapping his way to Villareal or somewhere of that ilk.
Bale, Winks and Alli in that same picture, probably because they were all benched. Sharing a joke too? Let’s put 2+2 together and make 15? The evil axis in the Spurs dressing room… ta da!
Winks brings far more to the team than the extremely negative Hjobjerg, who is completely lost iif venturing over the halfway line.
Southgate likes him for England etc so I think there’s something he offers that you can’t always see in a dysfunctional side that doesn’t know it’s ar*se from its elbow.
He’s also just had a manager who’d just keep dropping players until he’d run out of them rather than coach them into some kind of form. He might not be a world beater but again, the reason behind all of our woes and Jose’s sacking? Probably not.
One of the Alli gang. Mag to grid get rid.