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Harry Winks - Leicester City

bigfrooj

Well-Known Member
Nov 11, 2011
2,796
8,130
Winks is a decent hard working player, who is badly out of form at the moment. We know he is capable of playing much better than this seasons form, we’ve all seen it. He a top six squad player at his very best.
This season he has infuriated me by not seeing good runs or not having the bollocks to take a gamble going forward. He always seems to turn and play backwards, killing the move. I like the kid but he needs to sort his head out.
 

Mungo63

Well-Known Member
Aug 27, 2020
364
524
Because he’s one of ours I have some sympathy for Winks, he’s clearly a decent lad who loves Spurs. We’ve all played sport and arrived at the depressing conclusion we’re out of our depth, whether it be football, snooker, fighting, whatever.
He’s playing like a bloke who knows the games up and it’s not nice to watch.
 

slartibartfast

Grunge baby forever
Oct 21, 2012
18,320
33,955
Another shit show where Winks plays with a shocking back pass thrown in.
He's not good enough.
Has taken to making stupid fouls around our box in the last month as well.
I suspect down to being told he has to toughen up and is going about it the wrong way.
Isnt an attacking midfielder as hasn't scored in an age and isnt strong enough to be a defensive midfielder.
Not good enough.
A shame but there it is.
 

Thenewcat

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2019
2,970
10,275
Plenty of worse players than him yesterday, he should stop shooting from outside the box though, it will never go in.
View attachment 76730
These kind of stats can be horrendously misleading. They don’t capture errors (like the back pass), appalling positional play (the entire game) and anyway a ‘most progressive passing’ award from last night is like winning ‘tastiest turd’ (not that I can remember any good previews I’ve passed). He was dreadful yesterday
 

spurs mental

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2007
25,075
49,234
Still think he's a decent squad player. He's also been at the club since he was about 8, which counts for something for me.
I don't really care if hes been at the club since he was 8. Yeah hes likely a fan like us, but there is no room for emotions like that if we want to get to the top and win trophies. If you're not good enough you don't play or belong here anymore
 

WiganSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
15,974
32,682
I'm not a fan of Winks by any stretch any more really, but I do think part of the problem is that at the moment he's seen as a deputy for PEH which he's not. The best games he's had are where he's played alongside Pierre in the midfield. He had a good game against Newcastle.
 

The Apprentice

Charles Big Potatoes
Mar 10, 2005
11,143
15,618
Whilst he hasn't been covering himself in glory recently, it is so obvious that he doesn't possess the skillset to be the deep lying CM. You can see that he feels that he has to try and be the hustling, busy 6, but he just ends up being over-exuberant and sprinting around out of position constantly.

He has value as a squad player but really needs to be part of a Cm3 to cover for his deficiencies.


All the above being said, the level of criticism he receives in relation to others is ridiculous. It's not like he's as technically deficient as Sissoko.
 

King of Otters

Well-Known Member
Jun 11, 2012
10,751
36,093
I don't really care if hes been at the club since he was 8. Yeah hes likely a fan like us, but there is no room for emotions like that if we want to get to the top and win trophies. If you're not good enough you don't play or belong here anymore

Having a few players who share something of the core identity of the club is important. For me at least.

And it’s not as if he’s a charity case. He’s a full international with years of experience at the highest level.
 

Real_madyidd

The best username, unless you are a fucking idiot.
Oct 25, 2004
18,792
12,448
...

All the above being said, the level of criticism he receives in relation to others is ridiculous. It's not like he's as technically deficient as Sissoko.

Which makes it more disturbing that Sissoko would be the wiser pick on current form.
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,388
There were a lot of things that contributed to Winks having a bad game. Firstly, he way off form. Then there's having Dele on the pitch who didn't help in midfield and wasn't showng for the ball further forwrd either. We were back to the type of performances with a pivot midfield. When Ndombele was playing the AM role he was also dropping back to help out, but Winks and LoCelso were on their own last night. Bergwijn didn't help either as a passing option. Behind him, Davies was shaky and error prone as he has been so far this season. I'm not making excuses for Winks performance but trying to add a bit of context rather than just saying 'he was shit'.
 

Joshua

Well-Known Member
Jan 31, 2015
2,213
12,952
I don’t prescribe to this notion that we “need” players with “Spurs DNA” or who have been at the club from a young age. It’s nice don’t get me wrong. One of the big reasons we love Kane is that he’s not only world class but also our boy. But is it necessary to have these players to challenge? I don’t think so. Klopp’s dominant Liverpool side have only had one scouser. The only Manc, City have is Foden and he’s only emerging now. Wasn’t a key part of their winning teams. Don’t think someone should get a free ride at a club (especially a big one that wants to compete for titles) because they’ve been around since they were a kid and are a fan. Compare Winks to Højbjerg who’s been here 5 minutes and looks 10x the player he is. He’s the one who gets it and ultimately gives us more chance of success and he had no association with us before his agent told him we wanted him. Emotional attachment isn’t a good enough reason for a player to be retained.
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,388
I don’t prescribe to this notion that we “need” players with “Spurs DNA” or who have been at the club from a young age. It’s nice don’t get me wrong. One of the big reasons we love Kane is that he’s not only world class but also our boy. But is it necessary to have these players to challenge? I don’t think so. Klopp’s dominant Liverpool side have only had one scouser. The only Manc, City have is Foden and he’s only emerging now. Wasn’t a key part of their winning teams. Don’t think someone should get a free ride at a club (especially a big one that wants to compete for titles) because they’ve been around since they were a kid and are a fan. Compare Winks to Højbjerg who’s been here 5 minutes and looks 10x the player he is. He’s the one who gets it and ultimately gives us more chance of success and he had no association with us before his agent told him we wanted him. Emotional attachment isn’t a good enough reason for a player to be retained.

I think it's more to do with home grown quota than emotional attachment. It's bloody expensive to recruit any sort of quality from outside your own development pool.
 

dtxspurs

Welcome to the Good Life
Dec 28, 2017
11,234
46,574
I think it's more to do with home grown quota than emotional attachment. It's bloody expensive to recruit any sort of quality from outside your own development pool.
Buy HG talent from the Championship. We should buy 1-2 players from there every year. They’re cheap and add to the HG quota.
 

Joshua

Well-Known Member
Jan 31, 2015
2,213
12,952
I think it's more to do with home grown quota than emotional attachment. It's bloody expensive to recruit any sort of quality from outside your own development pool.
I get you, but a lot of the defence I see of Winks is “but he’s a Spurs lad” “he loves the club” etc. Nothing to do with his ability.
 

allatsea

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
8,865
16,053
I must be completely out of touch. I see a player that gives his all every game and is a good squad player. We now have three more talented midfielders than him (Lo Celso, Ndombele and Hojbjerg) but he will still get plenty of games because of the sheer number of games, injuries, etc.
 

spids

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2015
6,647
27,841
We need to improve two areas of our squad to be genuine challengers for titles....

CB - we need to replace Toby (past his peak now unfortunately) or Sanchez (still making basic mistakes) with a top tier CB. I am intrigued to see how good a Dier / Rodon partnership can be, with Rodon on the left and Dier on the right. Even if they are amazing, we still need another CB for competition / backup.

CM - we need to replace Winks AND Sissoko with a top tier DCM to partner (tough games) or compete (most games) with Hojbjerg.

The two Inter Milan lads we were linked to over the summer would have been perfect.
 

Wheeler Dealer

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2011
6,863
12,282
m
I must be completely out of touch. I see a player that gives his all every game and is a good squad player. We now have three more talented midfielders than him (Lo Celso, Ndombele and Hojbjerg) but he will still get plenty of games because of the sheer number of games, injuries, etc.
A squad player at best.. I also think Mourinho believes this now and is reluctant to start Winks as a CM pairing.
 

dtxspurs

Welcome to the Good Life
Dec 28, 2017
11,234
46,574
I must be completely out of touch. I see a player that gives his all every game and is a good squad player. We now have three more talented midfielders than him (Lo Celso, Ndombele and Hojbjerg) but he will still get plenty of games because of the sheer number of games, injuries, etc.
But what is he actually good at?

Like I said I genuinely believes he drags the level of the team down when he's on the pitch.

I'm not saying that this is 100% the reason but look in every game Winks has been a part of vs decent opposition this season... The only game we've won was Southampton. He started the Everton game, Antwerp, Newcastle and was on the field for all 3 goals vs West Ham. He causes chaos for us defensively and totally softens us up in the middle of the pitch.
 
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