Player Watch Player Watch: Destiny Udogie

[Timbo Tottenham]

Kid had no preseason and is working up to match fitness.

I hope so!

 

[Yid121]

I think Destiny has been awful in our 2 away matches. The number of completely unnecessary free kicks he gives away are ridiculous, especially bearing in mind our set piece weakness. He was roasted in the second half by an average winger against Leicester and was nowhere to be seen yesterday for the 2nd goal. And going forward he has offered very little. He was ok against Everton but we all know how good they are.
I know he is still young and learning and that he came into the season lacking matches but the only cover we have for him is Spence playing on the wrong flank or moving VDV .Reality is whoever we play at full back is going to be exposed time after time and the physical demands of playing there make injuries extremely likely. Not getting in cover on that side was a mistake ( amongst others in the window. ) Davies certainly is no longer an option there.
if we were playing a 3-5-2 Odogie and Porro would be great there. Not to mention Son being much more comfortable in a front two.

He's technically very sound and good physically but it's as though he constantly plays in a gear or two lower than Porro.

The difference between him and Porro is looking almost like night and day at the moment, so hoping he starts contributing more but ultimately he isn't really with one of the main problems we have at the moment.

 

[Johnny J]

Hes still so young and quite raw, though incredibly talented. Could use some competition for his development, but in our infinite wisdom we didn't bother with that this window.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Hes still so young and quite raw, though incredibly talented. Could use some competition for his development, but in our infinite wisdom we didn't bother with that this window.

Agree, I said exactly this in another thread earlier.

 

[bubble07]

He is quality. He is least of our problems

 

[ajspurs]

His impact in the final third has felt diminished for quite a while now. I like Udogie and think he’s pretty solid, but I feel like the energy and intensity from his game when getting forward has somewhat lessened a bit.

Like mentioned by others, decent competition for his place could be really beneficial.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

Really don’t think he was awful against Barcodes. Yes he made a silly foul which led to their first goal but other than that he had a pretty good game for a player who had little pre season and had been out for 2-3 months prior to that.

 

[easley91]

He's technically very sound and good physically but it's as though he constantly plays in a gear or two lower than Porro.

The difference between him and Porro is looking almost like night and day at the moment, so hoping he starts contributing more but ultimately he isn't really with one of the main problems we have at the moment.

One had a full pre-season, the other is just getting back to match fitness/match sharp after a fair lay-off. Give him time to get up to speed and he'll be fine.

 

[mpickard2087]

He's 21 years old still, dips are expected and I think really we've asked a hell of a lot of him so far.

When it was all fresh and new and good vibes at the start of last campaign he looked impressive. I thought the injury towards the back end came at a good time for him and it was beneficial for him to come out of the firing line - personally I thought he started to find the week to week grind of intense PL matches more of a struggle and his form was much more up and down.

This season so far he looks physically well undercooked and that's being exposed a bit as he tries to get back in tip top shape.

Really we should be protecting him a bit and managing the workload smarter, as you should with all young players really.

 

[Cochise]

His first touch needs some work imo. At times he's the spare man in midfield and when we work it to him he can sometimes take a really heavy touch straight towards the man that is chasing him.

 

[NEVILLEB]

We were tighter when VDV moved to LB last season.

I love this player but he’s better going forward than in defence to me. Same with Porro.

 

[dannythomas]

Reality is no full back can play like an attacking midfielder a la Ange's style of football and not get caught out repeatedly. As I said earlier if we were playing 3 at the back with Udogie and Porro as attacking wing backs that would make more sense. And with all the competitions we are playing to have zero cover for Udogie is not clever.

 

[DeadleyLedley]

As a fanbase we really need to stop being overly critical of players' performances over a small sample size

 

[kernowspurscoach1977]

As a fanbase we really need to stop being overly critical of players' performances over a small sample size

The bigger problem is Johnson played well when he came on so no one could really use him as a scape goat. If you look at various player threads - son, madders, biss, kulu, destiny, drag, Romero, odobert they have all had the boot in on them by some. Damn you Johnson you have upset the apple cart:

 

[dannythomas]

He's 21 years old still, dips are expected and I think really we've asked a hell of a lot of him so far.

When it was all fresh and new and good vibes at the start of last campaign he looked impressive. I thought the injury towards the back end came at a good time for him and it was beneficial for him to come out of the firing line - personally I thought he started to find the week to week grind of intense PL matches more of a struggle and his form was much more up and down.

This season so far he looks physically well undercooked and that's being exposed a bit as he tries to get back in tip top shape.

Really we should be protecting him a bit and managing the workload smarter, as you should with all young players really.

Tough to protect him when our alternatives are playing VDV at LB when we need him at CB and he is injury prone himself , playing Spence on the wrong flank and playing Ben Davies who just cannot play as a full back in Ange’s system

 

[dannythomas]

I’d love to see this formation which has the extra man at the back to provide cover for Porro and Udogie when they charge forward
Vicario
‘Romero Draguisin VDV
‘Bissouma or Bentancur
Porro Kulu Maddison Udogie
Son Solanke

To me this plays to everyone’s strengths ( including Son by the way ) but I guess Ange would never do it. What do people think ?

 

[mil1lion]

I’d love to see this formation which has the extra man at the back to provide cover for Porro and Udogie when they charge forward
Vicario
‘Romero Draguisin VDV
‘Bissouma or Bentancur
Porro Kulu Maddison Udogie
Son Solanke

To me this plays to everyone’s strengths ( including Son by the way ) but I guess Ange would never do it. What do people think ?

Not sure it plays to Udogies strengths as he likes to come inside. It's a shame we don't really have a defensive 6 (maybe Gray will be) as then could stick to back 4 but split the centre backs with the 6. So it's like a back 3 when pressed high. I also don't mind Porro overlapping Kulusevski on the right as he's great at crosses but have a wide left attacker and Udogie infield on that side.

 

[dannythomas]

Not sure it plays to Udogies strengths as he likes to come inside. It's a shame we don't really have a defensive 6 (maybe Gray will be) as then could stick to back 4 but split the centre backs with the 6. So it's like a back 3 when pressed high. I also don't mind Porro overlapping Kulusevski on the right as he's great at crosses but have a wide left attacker and Udogie infield on that side.

Do you think Udogie comes inside by choice or because that’s what Ange tells him to do ?

 

[mil1lion]

Do you think Udogie comes inside by choice or because that’s what Ange tells him to do ?

From what I've read he always played that way for Udinese. I also think it suits him more inside linking up. I can't see him getting on the outside whipping crosses in.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Not sure it plays to Udogies strengths as he likes to come inside. It's a shame we don't really have a defensive 6 (maybe Gray will be) as then could stick to back 4 but split the centre backs with the 6. So it's like a back 3 when pressed high. I also don't mind Porro overlapping Kulusevski on the right as he's great at crosses but have a wide left attacker and Udogie infield on that side.

It would play to Udogies strength as he was primarily a LWB before he joined us.