"The Llorente Project" - Has having a 'target man' option worked?

[teedee]

Llorente has a place in the squad for me but I think the service we give him is crap, our set pieces corners free kicks are incredibly poor and our crosses (more so lack off) are just unbelievable for a team in the top 4,
yes you can just lump the ball up to him but if no runners are coming to help what's the point.
I have to say I like Llorente, yes he is getting older but we really need to improve the service to him when he's playing.

Why is it that:

a. our goalie cannot kick a ball for toffee, and

b. our corner kick takers cannot deliver a decent corner kick

What is wrong with these people, who are being paid a king's ransom, to be unable to do such things?

 

[Donki]

He's lost any explosive power that he had as he's at the arse end of his career, and is too languid at times and not busy enough. However saying that, tactics are pretty wrong to get any use out of him.

We seem to ping straight balls at him from deep with like one runner half going off him. I have seen many fans last night going why was he heading it backwards where it came from, well there was no one to flick it to running ahead, so where else is it meant to go?

This is all happening about 40 yards from goal as well, so any knockdown isn't going to be putting us in a promising area. It should be getting utilised in and around the penalty area. He's not going to be the main attacking threat, he's going to be a support player, a lay off guy, that brings others into play.

If you're going to use a target man I think as a unit you have to be high up the pitch and committing numbers/runners to the box. We largely don't do this and when in wide positions are reluctant to deliver crosses/stand balls up, and any delivery is usually of low quality.

Nail on head, the guy lives in crosses and people running past him. Something we fail to provide him him with. I actually remember a game where were crossing loads of balls and when we brought him on we suddenly stopped. The only players at the minute who do run in behind are Son and Dele, Ali for some reason (probably injury) seems to have stopped doing this. Everything is a bit of a mishmash for us in midfield lately, we’re just lucky that the other teams around us have been as shite as we have been.

 

[brendanb50]

Llorente has a place in the squad for me but I think the service we give him is crap, our set pieces corners free kicks are incredibly poor and our crosses (more so lack off) are just unbelievable for a team in the top 4,
yes you can just lump the ball up to him but if no runners are coming to help what's the point.
I have to say I like Llorente, yes he is getting older but we really need to improve the service to him when he's playing.

This is it for me as well. Can't expect a 34year old to adapt his game drastically to fit in with the team. He can't magically get quicker or improve his touch. His game is largely based on physicality and heading. We don't play enough decent crosses into him and often haven't played him with a strike partner to work off/flick on to.

He wasn't a bad buy as cover and he's clearly a solid pro, just not ideal for our needs if we're being 100% honest. A more mobile, flexible attacker with some strength on the ball would have been a better choice but hey, we didn't end up with him because we had a lot of choices. I hope this summer we can do a bit better.

 

[HodisGawd]

No.

It's like playing with 10 men. Llorente was clearly a player but so many times I've seen us break forward and someone like Eriksen see an acre of space and Llorente behind it and decide "no, what's the point he can't run". I think it happened once on Tuesday, and if Son - or in fact anyone with any speed - had been there we would have had a chance. But no, the break fizzled out because we had to slow it down.

I don't dislike the guy and he was clearly a very classy player, once, but Llorente is not working for us.

 

[Lighty64]

no

to be honest if we struggle to sell Janssen in the summer and find a back up/competition for Kane, I'd rather have him on the pitch, faster and better movement and just needs a goal to bounce in off his arse

don't know if the disagrees are to do with the Janssen comment, well I know if we was left with a choice of keeping Llorente or Janssen as we decided not to buy, I'm going with Janssen. just like Sissoko he deserves another chance from what I know personally

 

[brendanb50]

This is probably an all-round play issue rather than a FL issue but is it just me or do we never seem to get in behind the fullback and get crosses in from there thesedays?

Something which frustrated in the West Ham game was just how often we played in front of their defence. Very little stretching with runs in behind and no getting beyond the fullback for a cross. Give our forwards nothing to attack (which is what Llorente is on for surely?) and gives the defenders a very easy game IMO.

 

[midoNdefoe]

Rondon has actually been known to sprint on a football pitch, something Llorente, in his infinite refinement as a hold up man, doesn’t feel the need to do.

Wow!
You know shit is getting desperate when people start mentioning Rondon.... Fucking Rondon???!!

Please please please Mr Levy, never sign that meatball-headed, pretender of football....

 

[John48]

He's not mobile enough, but we keep being linked to Mitrovic (I think that's how it's spelt) & I don't rate him as much better & not a great scorer either.

 

[King of Otters]

Wow!
You know shit is getting desperate when people start mentioning Rondon.... Fucking Rondon???!!

Please please please Mr Levy, never sign that meatball-headed, pretender of football....

I agree, but it illustrates how poor Llorente is that Rondon would represent an immediate upgrade.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

I liked the guy and his passion, he still cares. Signing Llorente was correct, his contribution this season has been good for a back-up, but once signed, how we utilised him has been farcical.

 

[Locotoro]

apologies I replied to the title, after reading some of your post, what game was you watching last night? his hold up play was crap, he looked like he had 2 left feet when trying to take on their defenders, and de Ligt had him in his back pocket most of the night

Fun fact about the game: Llorente won the most duels (16) and made the most dribbles (3) of any player in the game

 

[andy00900]

Fun fact about the game: Llorente won the most duels (16) and made the most dribbles (3) of any player in the game

Guessing this doesnt account for the second ball? Dont know if its poor awerness/ability/chemistry but the knockdowns rarely reach a spurs player

 

[lol]

problem is not about the tactic. problem is that hes not good enough. our back up should at least be giroud level. llorente is fucking swansea level come on

 

[Locotoro]

Guessing this doesnt account for the second ball? Dont know if its poor awerness/ability/chemistry but the knockdowns rarely reach a spurs player

I believe that all types of duels, first balls, second balls.

Incidentally, he also lost the most duels on the pitch (19). But I don't think that is entirely negative. He made 35 duel attempts whereas his opposite number (Tadic) only made 12 in total and won 3.

 

[Twizzle]

his lack of mobility has cost us in a few games, I'll go with no

 

[Lighty64]

I believe that all types of duels, first balls, second balls.

Incidentally, he also lost the most duels on the pitch (19). But I don't think that is entirely negative. He made 35 duel attempts whereas his opposite number (Tadic) only made 12 in total and won 3.

Tadic fell over the other 9 and got soft free kicks too often

 

[Paolo10]

All in all he averages a goal/assist every 86 minutes played (8 goals and 5 assists in 1117 minutes of football), he's a model pro, happy to play back-up and gives us something different than the options we have.

We also wouldn't currently be in the Top 4 or the Champions League Semi-Final without him.

Some of you need anti-depressants tbh.

 

[Gbspurs]

I believe that all types of duels, first balls, second balls.

Incidentally, he also lost the most duels on the pitch (19). But I don't think that is entirely negative. He made 35 duel attempts whereas his opposite number (Tadic) only made 12 in total and won 3.

Probably more reflective of the fact that our only attacking tactic was lumping it up to Llorente.

 

[slartibartfast]

You can give as many stats as you like, I know what I see and imo no, he hasn't worked. Too slow and immobile. We could have bought any number of players who would have done a better job imo. He's past it unfortunately.

 

[isaac94]

A lot of negative comments, but he has had some high points, the 2 hat-tricks, winner against Watford, goal against Dortmund, and of course City