Harry Winks - Leicester City

[DanielJohnCosta]

for me it's not that Winks is a bad player it's just that he should never be in line to be ahead of ndombele and lo celso in the rotation

 

[Haddock]

He’s basically Modric lite. Really nice on the ball and carries the ball very well, but that’s where it ends. Modric on the other hand would offer so much defensively and offensively, which is the difference between a real top class midfielder with ability, to an average midfielder with ability. Harry Winks has the ball ability, but just doesn’t offer any threat whatsoever and doesn’t offer any protection either. Not good enough boys sorry.

Sorry but that's like comparing Antonio with Ronaldo because the former scores a goal now and then in and around the box.

 

[jonnyp]

He was very poor but he was also alone because Sissoko had to cover for Aurier all the time. The lopsided fullback tactic is not the way to go away against the better teams. It's fine for home games where we have 70+% possession but suicidal in a match like this with pacey forwards.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Plenty of bollocks being written in here as usual.

 

[mpickard2087]

Singling Winks our after every player bar possibly Sanchez was poor is agenda driven nonsense. When Jose’s tactics are basically to bypass the midfield by making the centre backs and goalkeeper hoof the ball at every opportunity I really don’t understand what Winks is supposed to do. He’s a player who is ideal for a team that wants to keep possession not for watching the ball going over his head and fighting for knock downs.

Comparing his performance to NDombele who came when the match was already lost and there was more space on the pitch is ridiculous as well. And despite this Tanguy still looked like he fucked after 10 minutes!

Yeah agree with the sentiments here. The main problem for our midfield was they were completely outnumbered from the off. Lingard was always in the pocket to draw attention and make it 3 vs 2 in United's favour, plus Rashford or Greenwood drifted infield to increase the numerical advantage at times. When Rashford was wide it seemed to be Sissoko's role to go and help, but that's crazy when you're already outgunned in the centre of the park, now just leaving one man, and competent recycling of play will just get the ball around anyone in there - Winks, Ndombele, Dier, prime Makelele or Busquets or whoever.

I actually thought Winks was one of our better players in that spell before half time where we got a foothold, strung some possession together and eventually got the equaliser. He was frequently there to snaffle back a loose ball as United half cleared their lines, and was there moving the ball quickly and joining play together. This also shows that he is fine 'defensively' when we're on the front foot and high up the pitch being proactive, because he can nick in and disrupt play. The second half we never got going as a team, even then though there were half a dozen I'd point fingers at before him. And this part of the game showed he isn't the best at sitting and being positionally disciplined and acting as a destroyer when we drop deep, but in fairness he usually has to do this and constantly make decisions with very little help......

But yeah, I do agree that fans default aversion to Sissoko + Winks as a cm2 comes to the fore, plus the fact we lost meant it must be there (his) fault. And when they're (he is) keeping the shiny new signings and supposed superstars in Lo Celso and Ndombele out of the team getting the blame is inevitable.

 

[Japhet]

He was very poor but he was also alone because Sissoko had to cover for Aurier all the time. The lopsided fullback tactic is not the way to go away against the better teams. It's fine for home games where we have 70+% possession but suicidal in a match like this with pacey forwards.

Neither is the double pivot midfield with the players we have. Without a decent, athletic DM in there we're awful. It only works against the worst teams and our midfield players are all getting hung out to dry by continually using a setup they're not equipped for. Until we sort the issue we have at DM we should be using a 3 man midfield. Simples.

 

[JR1994]

All winks fault we got dominated in the middle though yeah

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

All winks fault we got dominated in the middle though yeah

Your wasting your time mate. The agenda has already been set against Winks...

 

[SpursD22]

I still don’t think Winks is as bad as everyone says he is. But IMO Winks can only be good in a system where he has one ball winning DM behind him and a creative player besides him. So we need to buy a DM and have Winks & Ndombele but then I would rather play Lo Celso.

Winks is a a decent squad player, nothing more

 

[Kiedis]

When we have a system that doesn't work, then just about everyone looks bad. United wisely got close to Winks and tried letting us play out through Sissoko. Being wise to Sissoko not being comfortable in those situations, we often opted to bypass midfield entirely, and centre backs worth their salt will generally have a field day with passes like that, and comparing with saturdays match, where can did very well against Steve Cook, he now faced a CB about 10 cms taller than Cook.

There's a reason why we under Poch pressed more to force long balls than actually winning the ball high up field.

 

[Cochise]

I don't blame the lad for how we played, I just don't see how he retains his spot once we get a few key buys in.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

He’s better than Carrol, Cleverley, Noble etc, but he’s also probably not good enough to be first choice. Ndombele should be the one in line to take his place. Then we have the issue of who to pair him up with. We really need an all action not fucks given CM, and I believe we’ll buy one in January. Every single one of our current CM options would benefit from it.

 

[double0]

Winks will be the new scapegoat now Dele has picked Aurier too up until the United game, it's the nature of our fan base.
In all seriousness Moura Son were atrocious, continually going down blind ally headless rans not controlling the ball and not passing.
Toby was very poor imo those diagonal haymakers accumulated to nought and gave possession away more than anyone else people talked of their disappointment with Sanchez giving the ball away he was still our best line of defence.
Kane didn't get any service...I can't believe we still don't play to Kane strengths in certain games.

United were better than us on all fronts

 

[Monkey boy]

What injury did he pick up? Wasn’t watching the game.

 

[jonnyp]

What injury did he pick up? Wasn’t watching the game.

Looked like a twisted ankle

 

[Strikeb4ck]

Some of the comments in this thread are just ridiculous. Can we just stop with the whole scapegoat thing?

 

[dtxspurs]

Some of the comments in this thread are just ridiculous. Can we just stop with the whole scapegoat thing?

Why can’t a player just be playing poorly and not a scapegoat?

 

[ClintEastwould]

All winks fault we got dominated in the middle though yeah

As well as Dele hugging Kane the entire game.

 

[muppetman]

Why can’t a player just be playing poorly and not a scapegoat?

For me, when it's a pile on and over the top - then we are in scapegoat territory. Plenty of players to pick on from last night - Jan at LB, Aurier at RB, Toby looked slow and ponderous, Moura was poor - but some players get more flack than others and for some posters any excuse to dig out Winks is too good to miss.

Mourinho's decision to have Sissoko help Aurier (or fill in for him when he'd gone missing) was a significant part of Winks' problem last night. As I said in another thread somewhere Kante would have struggled to hold the midfield by himself and nobody pretends that Winks is Kante.

Winks primary skill that I've seen is to keep the ball moving, which particularly when you are trying to pull a team out of their shape is useful. He isn't a DM and cannot pass to players who are nowhere near him or hiding - Sissoko frequently hides by standing next to an opposing player and pointing elsewhere for example. I think sometimes he panics and tries to force a pass that isn't on but that's usually down to a lack of options and movement from teammates.

I personally wouldn't play Winks if we are going to bypass midfield and hoof it long at every opportunity (which was the tactic last night as far as I could see) - I think it would have been better to have someone big and strong to win any headers from their defenders, but Dier was presumably not fit enough to start again and Sissoko was elsewhere.

 

[Johnny J]

I still don’t think Winks is as bad as everyone says he is. But IMO Winks can only be good in a system where he has one ball winning DM behind him and a creative player besides him. So we need to buy a DM and have Winks & Ndombele but then I would rather play Lo Celso.

Winks is a a decent squad player, nothing more

I agree with you, but this does beg the question of what the fuck Winks actually does if he's a midfielder who can't create or defend. What's the fucking point of him? He can control a ball and make simple passes. He's a "tidy player". That's it. Every player should be able to do that. He's better technically than Sissoko, sure, but so are 99% of the players in the PL, so that's damning him with faint praise.

This reminds me of when people say a particular full back looks better as part of a back five. Of course they fucking do.