Player Watch: Emerson Royal

[Mattspurs1982]

Thinking of all the major Spurs RB’s in the EPL - Walker, Corluka, Walker-Peters, Trippier, Austin.. it’s that bad when you miss the likes of stalteri, Aurier, Hutton, chimbonda, naughton. I think Emerson is up there with one of our worst in recent history

 

[glacierSpurs]

This place seems calmer than I expected. Might just be a sign that there isn't much need to comment anymore.

He sucks, he's rubbish, he's a waste of space, Conte shouldn't play him any more.

Repeat this for over 100 pages ?

 

[DiamondLites]

Surely this is the end of Emerson as our first choice RWB. Conte cannot continue to cut his nose off to spite his face. I don’t really care who he starts there whether it’s Doherty, Spence, Sessengnon, Lucas it cannot be him. Nothing against him personally, he seems like a nice bloke and is good for the vibes in the squad but he is a black hole when we go forward. For such a key position it’s tantamount to negligence to play him

 

[Matrix]

Tbh it’s the equivalent of putting Skipp as a second striker. You’ll be able to get away with it one or two games in 38, but it’s not going to work no matter how much you persist.

 

[Serpico]

Ive defended him on mamy occasions and try to see the positives. Ive now had enough. He is a thick football player and will never inprove. You've either got it or not and he has not.

 

[SPURSLIFE]

Ive defended him on mamy occasions and try to see the positives. Ive now had enough. He is a thick football player and will never inprove. You've either got it or not and he has not.

But I bet he plays the rest of the season.

 

[Bobbins]

I still find the whole situation of us paying Aurier to leave a strange one. He's better than any of the replacements we've tried to bring in since, but then has somehow ended up at Forest.

Can only assume it's off the pitch stuff.

 

[septicsac]

Whether he is a full back, wing back or centre half, he is of no use to us. Inept defensively, offers nothing going forward and pairing him on the right side with Sanchez is asking for trouble.
I really wonder if AC wanted another right wing back in the summer and got Spence instead and is digging his heels in and not playing him because of this, as I see no reason for starting Royal week in week out over Doherty or Spence?

 

[yusrisafri]

Thinking of all the major Spurs RB’s in the EPL - Walker, Corluka, Walker-Peters, Trippier, Austin.. it’s that bad when you miss the likes of stalteri, Aurier, Hutton, chimbonda, naughton. I think Emerson is up there with one of our worst in recent history

Corrected

 

[mdharris]

How bad does he have to be to get dropped. He was very very poor going forward and was at fault for Moore’s second goal. Sessegnon greatly improved that side when he moved over.

 

[allatsea]

So sad. He plays his heart out but just doesn't have it to be a good attacking RWB.

 

[TropicalYid]

Ive also had i with emerson. Sorry to say he is not good enough.

 

[Serpico]

But I bet he plays the rest of the season.

There are aspects of his game which are good, he's just a thick football player. He's trying and you can see the improvement, its just that team is moving forward quicker.

January is looming.

 

[midoshairband]

major issue going forward, and not good enough at the back.

he really is a massive part of why our attacking play break down. he really must be dropped, presumably Doherty is still getting up to fitness.

real shame that Spence isn't good enough.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

major issue going forward, and not good enough at the back.

he really is a massive part of why our attacking play break down. he really must be dropped, presumably Doherty is still getting up to fitness.

real shame that Spence isn't good enough.

Agree on the first two paras. I have no way of knowing re the last, which is crazy

Spence should have been given time. It’s an overt ‘fuck you’ to someone, or at least that’s how it feels to me. Either the player, or the club. Just weird

 

[$hoguN]

I don’t want to pile in on him but I just don’t understand what he adds. He has been poor defensively and tragic going forward. At the end of last season at least he was defending well but he is constantly losing his man and being beaten

 

[midoshairband]

Agree on the first two paras. I have no way of knowing re the last, which is crazy

Spence should have been given time. It’s an overt ‘fuck you’ to someone, or at least that’s how it feels to me. Either the player, or the club. Just weird

agreed - I don't know either, I'm just judging by the fact that he has been given the sum total of 5 mins or so action that he must be awful given how bad Emerson is.

it's a puzzle, his performances against PL opposition for Forest last year suggest he really can't be that bad.

 

[spids]

RWB is the position we need to upgrade more than any other it the team. 1 assist and 0 goals from our RWBs (primarily Royal) in 1/3 of a season is terrible for a team that relies on WBs to create width, chances and goals. The fact we have two other RWBs already at the club who are much better offensively than Royal makes it even more frustrating. Whilst I do not want to blame Royal - he was bought to play a more defensive role in Nuno's 4-3-3 and ultimately it is Conte's fault for picking him - any professional footballer should be able to whip a first time cross into the corridor of doubt between the oppositions' GK and the defensive line. Especially if they practised it for 30 minutes every day at the end of training. And yet he can't. He always takes a touch, he rarely even looks up, before lofting a high cross over everyones heads.

I also cannot stand Royal going down pretending he is injured and leaving his team mates to defend with a man short for 2 minutes when he tries unsuccessfully to buy a cheap foul after losing possession.

 

[ultimateloner]

Emerson Royal is the weakest link in our starting 11 and I think most of the criticism coming his way is fair. He might be ok in defence (even that is debatable) but certainly bad going forward.

With this in mind I just want to point out a few points in relation to the bigger picture:

1) Every team has a weak link and having it at the RB/WRB position isn't the end of the world. It could be worse (e.g. if in CB, in the shape of Maguire for Man Utd or in striker as per Arsenal last year).It's not a fatal position, regardless of which system you play.

2) It's also one of the easiest position to play on the pitch. It's not like in striker, AM or CB where on top of technical and physical qualities you also need tactical awareness.

3) The last ready-made RB we bought was a flop, in the shape of Matt Doherty. To add to this, we have a bad track record of buying ready-made full-backs.

From the above points it would follow that ER is a strategic/calculated risk, in terms of using our transfer budget. He is intended as a plug, and not someone to hold this role for the long term. I think this is why the club bought Spence, with the hope that he could grow enough to challenge for the spot.

Meanwhile I still haven't lost hope on ER. I don't expect his attacking output to increase drastically, but I do expect his ability in the air and general ball-keeping to improve. Given what's been reported in the press, it seems he is aware of this too, so I don't think it's all hopeless with him (unlike with Ndom back in the day).

 

[stevespurs]

have a little sing a long fellas….


Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best?