Harry Winks - Leicester City

[SamR]

I was on the sell Winks side, but i think he just needs a DM as much as Ndombele does to thrive.

 

[rossdapep]

I just don't think you should sell 'Tottenham' boys' so easily.

Look at United for an example, they are now keeping younger players and selling others instead. You need to keep as many of your players who bleed for the club. They don't necessarily have to start but they will be happy to sit on the bench and give 110% to the cause. Fergie understood this,it helped him win and maintain stability.

Not saying we should have 5 or 6 in the squad if they aren't up to standard but Kane, Winks and Skipp are pretty much off the table for me.

 

[agrdavidsfan]

The thing is with Harry winks we all want him to be great because he’s spurs and we all want him to do well!

But he’s sadly not a starting 11 player but he is still valuable to us just like Ryan Mason was.

He’s homegrown he’s at the club he loves so he should be a fantastic squad player and you never know when he gets demoted to that he may kick on a few levels and surprise us all when he gets returned to his actual roll in the team not being asked to play DM.

 

[danielneeds]

The thing is with Harry winks we all want him to be great because he’s spurs and we all want him to do well!

But he’s sadly not a starting 11 player but he is still valuable to us just like Ryan Mason was.

He’s homegrown he’s at the club he loves so he should be a fantastic squad player and you never know when he gets demoted to that he may kick on a few levels and surprise us all when he gets returned to his actual roll in the team not being asked to play DM.

No, I don’t think it’s fair to say he’s not starting quality. We’ve seen him put in some great performances. What he cannot do is run a midfield single-handed like a prime Dembele, Keane or Vieira. He needs the right player(s) alongside him in the middle, there needs to be the correct blend in there which we’ve missed for a while.

He also needs to improve against teams who sit back in a low block. It’s no coincidence that most of his signature performances have come against bigger sides who push up against us and leave space to exploit once he can beat a press. He needs to be braver in his passing choices in these other matches and get the ball forward quicker.

 

[yusrisafri]

Winks is a classy player with a quality first touch who needs someone who has the same ball-retention quality to play alongside him. That player is GLC. Play them together more often and we will see a midfield that resembles a ball-playing midfield.

Add a Wanyama or Palacios kind of player next to both of them, and we will reap the benefits.

He passes forwards more than you think, and his passes are crisp and builds up play. Sadly, when it reaches his teammate, the pace of the build up is then slowed down, or loss of possession after that.

It's not Winks thats the problem. Its the other slow-thinking, slow-to-release-the-ball players that weaken the midfield.

 

[fortworthspur]

Ive come to the conclusion Winks isnt going to develop the skills in the final third like a lot of us hoped. He's still pretty good at what he does. Sort of an upgraded Scott Parker to me. He's got good defensive discipline and always shows for the pass. He's still young, too.

 

[fortworthspur]

Well then I saw him 9 times in 90 mins. Thanks for confirming it for me.

still has the highest completion rate of any of our midfielders. Less likely to pass back than Lo Celso too.

 

[NickHSpurs]

No-one going to mention how good he was yesterday then ?

 

[BringBack_leGin]

No-one going to mention how good he was yesterday then ?

If you look at the ratings thread basically everyone is ?

 

[TheRevolution]

Getting better with each game

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

He just cannot defend. He has zero defensive awareness and positioning and leaves the back 4 badly exposed. He also gets beaten way too easily.

He cannot play as the DM in our team and if he is going to play it should be alongside a DM, where he can hopefully start to be a bit more confident and progressive with the ball.

I like Winks and I think he has a lot to offer as a squad player but his defensive deficiencies mean he is ill suited to the holding role he is often used in.

 

[gavspur]

A midfield of:

Hojbjerg
Winks LoCelso

is a very good midfield. If Tanguy stays he can swap in and out for either of Winks or LoCelso. Skipp can get time in for Hojbjerg, there’s options there. That’s without adding other midfielders in to the equation.

 

[Havre]

He just cannot defend. He has zero defensive awareness and positioning and leaves the back 4 badly exposed. He also gets beaten way too easily.

He cannot play as the DM in our team and if he is going to play it should be alongside a DM, where he can hopefully start to be a bit more confident and progressive with the ball.

I like Winks and I think he has a lot to offer as a squad player but his defensive deficiencies mean he is ill suited to the holding role he is often used in.

Holy hyperbole.

He is no Makelele and he obviously can't defend 1 on 1 like Dembele (or Dier used to), but he is definitely far from having "zero defensive awareness".

Right now I think the biggest "problem" with Winks is that he is in my opinion good at a lot of things, but not very good at much. He can't carry someone like Lo Celso defensively and someone like Dier offensively. He almost needs another Winks next to him.

That said I like how he is clearly trying to be more productive with his passing. Even if he isn't very young any longer he is still quite inexperienced. I think he still got quite a lot of untapped potential.

Worst case he is a hard working loyal squad player.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

Ok, I'll rephrase, he has poor defensive awareness.

 

[DannyNZ]

Credit where credits due, he was solid today and can’t remember him losing possession. Think he’s forming a good pairing with Le Celso and while he might not be a natural DM he’s doing a good job and is a valuable player to have in the squad.

 

[spurslenny]

If youre a club with ambitions of playing CL every season, and to occasionally go deep into said competition every now and then, or a club that has ambitions of winning an FA cup here, or a League cup there, or even occasionally challenge for the Premier league itself, then Winks is not a player you would have as a regular first XI starter.

He's a squad player at best.

We are at least 2 starting midfielders short of that required ability to achieve the above, in my opinion.

 

[EQP]

Winks is another one of our CM's who would greatly benefit from having a defensive minded CM next to him. He's being asked to hold down a role that doesn't suit his skillset, which is why we see the occasional defensive lapse. He's definitely shown improvement but I feel Jose and the coaching staff would have an easier time developing his attacking prowess than trying to turn Winks into a true DM. What comes naturally to him is receiving the ball in tight spaces, turning away from danger and pushing the ball up the field.

Watching this compilation reminded me how underrated his acceleration and close control are.





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[Cochise]

He is defensively aware, but his instincts sometimes catch him out. There were a few occasions against Newcastle where he charged out too soon and just got stepped around leaving a massive gap, or just got rolled around by someone. It's these instances which he could do with really improving.

 

[DJS]

Ive come to the conclusion Winks isnt going to develop the skills in the final third like a lot of us hoped. He's still pretty good at what he does. Sort of an upgraded Scott Parker to me. He's got good defensive discipline and always shows for the pass. He's still young, too.

He’s no way an upgraded Scott Parker. At least not at the moment anyways.

Parker could absolutely dominate midfields and was option the best player on pitch during his Charlton (when he was actually a playmaker as had Matt Holland holding beside him) and West Ham days.

And form us in his first season he did so much work it allowed the attacking players more freedom.

We took far far too long to sign him and didn’t get enoughnof his good years sadly.

 

[DCSPUR]

really good player. Funnily enough
needs a DM behind him.
Three of DM (Declan Rice), Winks and GLC - quality