Deadwood?

[eddiebailey]

By my reckoning we have around 50 professionals on our books, not including Academy players. Harry complains of insufficient strength in depth, and his first team pool seems to consist of just 19 players: Gomes, Gunter, Hutton, Corluka, Woodgate, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekottu, Bale, Bentley, Lennon, Zokora, Jenas, Huddlestone, O'Hara, Giovanni, Campbell, Bent, Pavyluchenko. Outside of this group he has tended to draw on Academy players. That implies that we have accumulated a lot of deadwood.

PLAYERS DISCARDED BY RAMOS
Stalteri has been sold to Gladbach, and Rocha and Ghaly are surely also on their way. Alnwick has failed to impress on loan or to displace Sanchez as second choice keeper, while Taarabt continues to frustrate. Only Boateng seems to be in contention, and he has made no secret of his desire to leave.

PLAYERS DISCARDED BY HARRY
Gilberto has had his runes read, while Sanchez, though continuing to be selected for the bench, has failed to come into contention despite Gomes erratic form.

MOST EXPERIENCED RESERVES
Mills, Daniels, McKenna, Maghoma, Barcham and Dawkins must all be in their final season at Spurs, and the same is possibly also true of Dervitte.

LESS EXPERIENCED RESERVES
Pekhart and Archibald-Henville have failed to make the hoped for impression on loan at Championship clubs, but are young enough to persist with. Rose and Livermore may struggle to recapture their promise after injury, but again are worth persevering with. I am not so sure about our other long term injury, Hughton, and unfortunately I doubt we will be seeing any more of Hamed. I have no idea how Button is doing on loan in the Conference, but keepers mature late, and he is on a very long contract. (Tony Parks appointment should not hurt his prospects.)

LEAST EXPERIENCED RESERVES
Olsen is off to Valencia, and it would not be a surprise if Berchiche was off to join him. Mtandari, Hutchins, Hutton and Fraser-Allen must be looking over their shoulders at the Academy lads, who have been preferred to them for UEFA games.


By my reckoning, we will be looking to move on around 20 players between now and the end of the summer.

 

[Dan Ashcroft]

I think we actually now have one of the smallest squad in the country. Even by the Mourinho/Ramos philosophy you need 22 senior players + 11 top kids. Write our squad out like that and you get something like this:

GK - Gomes, Sanchez + Alnwick
RB - Hutton, Gunter + Smith
LB – Bale, BAE + Gilberto
CB - King, Corluka + TAH
CB - Woodgate, Dawson + Dervitte
RM - Lennon, Bentley + Kasim
LM/10 - (?), Dos Santos + Rose
DM - (?), Zokora + O'Hara
CM - Jenas, KPB + Bostock
AM - Modric, Huddlestone + Taarabt
Striker - Pav, Bent + Campbell

IMO that's a good squad (when the two ?s are filled). We are not over abundant though by any means.

I think Ghaly and Gilberto will be the only departures this window, with perhaps Rocha and Sanchez to follow in the summer.

 

[riversmonkey]

I think you can add four or five first teamers that will move before the end of the year that Harry doesn't fancy and at least ten more if we were heaven forbid to get relegated.

 

[eddiebailey]

I think we actually now have one of the smallest squad in the country. Even by the Mourinho/Ramos philosophy you need 22 senior players + 11 top kids. Write our squad out like that and you get something like this:

GK - Gomes, Sanchez + Alnwick
RB - Hutton, Gunter + Smith
LB – Bale, BAE + Gilberto
CB - King, Corluka + TAH
CB - Woodgate, Dawson + Dervitte
RM - Lennon, Bentley + Kasim
LM/10 - (?), Dos Santos + Rose
DM - (?), Zokora + O'Hara
CM - Jenas, KPB + Bostock
AM - Modric, Huddlestone + Taarabt
Striker - Pav, Bent + Campbell

IMO that's a good squad (when the two ?s are filled). We are not over abundant though by any means.

That does not look much of a squad to me. Some of those in your 22 are little more than kids, and certainly not reliable Premiership performers, e.g Gunter, Bale, KPB, Dos Santos. And some of your kids really are kids, who have not yet proven anything, e.g. Smith, TAH, Rose, Kasim, Bostock. And including Gilberto is just getting desperate!

 

[General Levy]

That does not look much of a squad to me. Some of those in your 22 are little more than kids, and certainly not reliable Premiership performers, e.g Gunter, Bale, KPB, Dos Santos. And some of your kids really are kids, who have not yet proven anything, e.g. Smith, TAH, Rose, Kasim, Bostock. And including Gilberto is just getting desperate!

Agreed. And Campbell Bent and Pav are a poor striking trio imo

 

[striebs]

If Spurs were looking to build something then there are only 3 players which should be in contention as starters :-
- Corluka
- Woodgate
- Lennon

O'Hara , Huddlestone are Bent are decent squad .

Gomes , Pav - not quite good enough
King - you can't build anything with a CB who can only manage 1 in 3 .
Bale is a sicknote .
Jenas is brilliant on his day but a perpetual disappointment
Modric is a wasted as we cannot attract the personnel to build a team around him.
Bentley has no balls .

We have gone from where Villa are now to the embodiment of mediocrity in 18 months and spent a lot to assemble our mediocre squad .


Well done Messrs Comolli and Levy .

 

[General Levy]

lol at Gomes not being "good enough"

 

[southlondonyiddo]

I think we actually now have one of the smallest squad in the country. Even by the Mourinho/Ramos philosophy you need 22 senior players + 11 top kids. Write our squad out like that and you get something like this:

GK - Gomes, Sanchez + Alnwick
RB - Hutton, Gunter + Smith
LB – Bale, BAE + Gilberto
CB - King, Corluka + TAH
CB - Woodgate, Dawson + Dervitte
RM - Lennon, Bentley + Kasim
LM/10 - (?), Dos Santos + Rose
DM - (?), Zokora + O'Hara
CM - Jenas, KPB + Bostock
AM - Modric, Huddlestone + Taarabt
Striker - Pav, Bent + Campbell

IMO that's a good squad (when the two ?s are filled). We are not over abundant though by any means.

I think Ghaly and Gilberto will be the only departures this window, with perhaps Rocha and Sanchez to follow in the summer.

Jesus Christ If you think that's a good balanced squad mate can I have some of what your on! That is a lower - mid table prem squad, at best.

 

[Dan Ashcroft]

Jesus Christ If you think that's a good balanced squad mate can I have some of what your on! That is a lower - mid table prem squad, at best.

Do the same exercise with the Villa and Arsenal squads and I think you'd be surprised. Fill those two ?s with the right players and it's easily a top 6 squad, if not more.

 

[PT]

In stead of the "Alelluhiah - Glory Glory" type that we've grown up to expect to see grace the hallowed turf, expect Harry to give us some "Treadmill - Bread n Butter" types that will actually bind the team and make us hard to beat.

Some of those players who hardly get a game have been given no opportunity because of the climate they get to go out and play in. If we were top six positioned, the confidence players would be on top of their game. Instead, they are not the types to be seen without their gloves and muddy knees are a big no - no.

 

[striebs]

Dan , take out :-

- the permanent sickies (King , Bale , Hutton) .

- those for who there is no way back (Gilberto)

- not even squad quality (KPB , Taraabt )

and we are left with the following .



GK - Gomes, Sanchez + Alnwick
RB - Corluka + ???? + Gunter + Smith
LB – ???? + BAE + ????
CB - Corluka + ???? + TAH
CB - Woodgate, Dawson + Dervitte
RM - Bentley + ???? + Kasim
LM/10 - Lennon , Dos Santos + Rose
DM - Zokora + O'Hara + ????
CM - Jenas, ???? + Bostock
AM - Modric, Huddlestone + ????
Striker - Pav, Bent + Campbell

Bentley has no balls , GDS is unproven , Campbell is innexperienced .

We are really missing the likes of Malbranque as well as the spark of Keane and Berbatov .

Looks to me that what we have got in practice rather than when everyone is fit will struggle against squads which are set up specifically to avoid relegation .

A couple of injuries and we could go into freefall as badly as any other club in the division .

 

[theaman]

Gilberto, Rocha, Ghaly and Boateng should/will be gone in Jan window.

Might get £6m back from those as well.

Then comes Pav and Zokora - £20m back from those two.

And then we have under-performing players - step forward Bentley and Jenas. Again, we could get at least £20m back from those.

Cesar and Campbell will go back to their clubs, and it's unclear what is happening with Hutton. leaving us with about 7 new players to bring in over the course of the next two windows.

 

[guy]

surely ghaly deserves one run out to show what he can do before we ship him out? he cant possibly play worse than our MF

 

[Spurs_Q8]

funny, i just remmeber i manager said that three weeks ago, some of Tottenham bencher can be starters for a lot of the second half teams in EPL. Now some people saying don't blame the manager because there are not depth on the squad.

yes the squad lack of striking power, but Redknapp is a joke with his team selections, tactics and subs. He was lucky to get a lot of results and he is not any better than Ramos. I said it even when we were in good form, In a time Ramos blames for too much changes, tactics and surprise subs, Redknapp doing the same mistakes. but ''results people'' defended him by saying that '' he is right, using the players in more positions to get out the best of them '' and .. they didn't believe me it was turn around just because some of better luck and improvement on morale.

Now, let's take it, Those past results by Redknapp are followed by poor one. Until now he proved he isn't more than average/decent Manager. I won't wait for Transfer window to change my mind even if we improved later, We have good 14-15 players in the squad should be good to produce good football and decent results, with Redknapp some of decent results but very poor and boring football. If he is going to depends his results on players/transfers, then he is good DOF not manager.

 

[fieryjack]

In stead of the "Alelluhiah - Glory Glory" type that we've grown up to expect to see grace the hallowed turf, expect Harry to give us some "Treadmill - Bread n Butter" types that will actually bind the team and make us hard to beat.

Some of those players who hardly get a game have been given no opportunity because of the climate they get to go out and play in. If we were top six positioned, the confidence players would be on top of their game. Instead, they are not the types to be seen without their gloves and muddy knees are a big no - no.

You trying to cheer me up?

surely ghaly deserves one run out to show what he can do before we ship him out? he cant possibly play worse than our MF

Cant do any worse.

The real reason i replied to this is that one of my pals is called Deadwood and i thught it was about him.

 

[The Apprentice]

Ghaly would at least give us a bit of bite in midfield.

Bring Hossam, Hossam back I say.

 

[jondesouza]

By my reckoning we have around 50 professionals on our books, not including Academy players. Harry complains of insufficient strength in depth, and his first team pool seems to consist of just 19 players: Gomes, Gunter, Hutton, Corluka, Woodgate, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekottu, Bale, Bentley, Lennon, Zokora, Jenas, Huddlestone, O'Hara, Giovanni, Campbell, Bent, Pavyluchenko. Outside of this group he has tended to draw on Academy players. That implies that we have accumulated a lot of deadwood.

Typically thought-provoking post Eddie. I make it 49 pros that we've got at the moment. And I've thought it was strange myself that Academy players have been used ahead of young pros - especially someone like Hutton who has had such good reviews the last couple of years.

Of the young pros I believe that Daniels, McKenna, Barcham and Pekhart have their contracts up in June (although we have the option of a two year extension on the latter). I haven't a clue about most of the other young reserves though (e.g. Alnwick, Mtandari, Hughton, Dervite, TA-H, Mills, Hutton, Fraser-Allen, Hutchins, Livermore, Rose, Maghoma, Dawkins, Hamed).

 

[LLPaulJ]

The only time ive noticed youngsters earning themselves a place on the bench is when we are playing in Europe. And that is due to the fact that the likes of Ghaly, Stalteri (when he was here), Taarabt, KPB etc etc were not registered in the squad by Ramos.

Apart from that the likes of Obika have managed to get a call up on to the bench in the league mainly because we have sometimes been short of players to play upfront.

For me the only players you can generally see pulling their weight at the moment are Corluka, Dawson, Ekotto, Lennon and argubaly Modric.

I didnt think King looked that great against Fulham in the last game but there is no doubt in hes talent and ability when he is playing at hes best.

The rest of the first teamers need to seriously buck there ideas up before its bye bye time at the end of the season. Especially for the likes of Jenas, Huddlestone, Bent and Zokora who have now been at the club for a while now.

Pavy, modric, and Bentley will have a bit more time to improve i feel and im quite positive in thinking that these 3 will be good in 2009.

 

[Dan Ashcroft]

The only time ive noticed youngsters earning themselves a place on the bench is when we are playing in Europe. And that is due to the fact that the likes of Ghaly, Stalteri (when he was here), Taarabt, KPB etc etc were not registered in the squad by Ramos.

Apart from that the likes of Obika have managed to get a call up on to the bench in the league mainly because we have sometimes been short of players to play upfront.

For me the only players you can generally see pulling their weight at the moment are Corluka, Dawson, Ekotto, Lennon and argubaly Modric.

I didnt think King looked that great against Fulham in the last game but there is no doubt in hes talent and ability when he is playing at hes best.

The rest of the first teamers need to seriously buck there ideas up before its bye bye time at the end of the season. Especially for the likes of Jenas, Huddlestone, Bent and Zokora who have now been at the club for a while now.

Pavy, modric, and Bentley will have a bit more time to improve i feel and im quite positive in thinking that these 3 will be good in 2009.

No - it's because you are only allowed to register 17 non-home grown players for your UEFA cup squad. To include Ghaly, KPB etc we would have had to drop other senior players such as Gunter or Huddlestone. It's part of UEFA's plan to promote home grown talent. It's nothing to do with Ramos not rating them - any manager would have had to leave them out.

 

[eddiebailey]

No - it's because you are only allowed to register 17 non-home grown players for your UEFA cup squad. To include Ghaly, KPB etc we would have had to drop other senior players such as Gunter or Huddlestone. It's part of UEFA's plan to promote home grown talent. It's nothing to do with Ramos not rating them - any manager would have had to leave them out.

Sorry, but that is not correct. The UEFA A list has to include four players trained at the club for three years (continuously or otherwise) between the ages of 15 and 21, and four players trained in the national association for three years between the ages of 15 and 21.

Our four club trained players were King, O'Hara, McKenna and Barcham.

Players trained in the national association include Bentley, Bent, Jenas, Dawson, Huddlestone, Woodgate and Campbell (assuming Bale and Gunter do not also qualify).

So it was up to us who else we put on the A list. Ramos chose Jansson, Rose, Parrett and Bostock in preference to Alnwick, Stalteri, Rocha, Ghaly, Boateng and Taarabt.