lukespurs7
Well-Known Member
- Feb 21, 2006
- 4,833
- 4,259
awsome thread!
Opinions on squad (with smilies)
- Thread starter NickHSpurs
- Start date
southcalispur
New Member
- Jul 27, 2005
- 462
- 0
Robbo, Hutton, Woody, King, Dawson, Chimbo, Bale, Gunter, Jenas, Lennon, Hudd, Keane, Bent, Berby, Zokora, steeeed, gilberto.
the above should all play a part in next season.
Signings
GK
CB
CM
CM
LW or RW
CF
the above should all play a part in next season.
Signings
GK
CB
CM
CM
LW or RW
CF
- Oct 2, 2004
- 48,263
- 47,343
- Staff
- #24
For me the only definites are...
Hutton
Woody
King
Bale
Gunter
Keane
Berbatov
Steed
Gilberto
Of the others you listed...
Robbo - Just not up to it anymore and won't stick around to be second fiddle
Dawson - Getting back to his best and could stay as one of 4 centre backs but that is far from guaranteed.
Chimbonda - Off hopefully. I used to rate him but over time his defensive shortcomings have become more apparent and by all accounts his attitude stinks.
JJ - On his day he's fantastic and I think he'll stay but his far too frequent 'off days' mean that he could be under threat.
Lennon - Same as JJ really. Great when great but useless when not. Should stay but needs to work hard.
Hudd - Perhaps his saving grace will be the 7 subs rule that is coming in. For me he should never start as his defensive frailties are too much to accomodate in central midfield. As an attacking substitute though maybe he can still be used.
Zokora - I just don't rate him I'm afraid. Slows play down, poor positionally and offers nothing in attack. Has improved this season but frankly that's not hard.
Bent - Should stay but if a big offer comes in and we've got someone else lined up I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves. Would be a shame though.
Sorry that isn't in smilie format :grin:
SpurSince57
Well-Known Member
- Jan 20, 2006
- 45,213
- 8,229
Hmmm. Not entirely sure I'd agree with that. Our defence was as sound as Spurs defences ever are in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006, and Jol massively improved Waalwijk's defence. The problem has been our inability to field the same back line consistently (plus Robbo's slump in form, the loss of Carrick, etc.).
I think Bale will eventually become our first-choice LB, but I'd sooner he was gradually introduced to the role. His tackling is nowhere near good enough at the moment, and I have unpleasant visions of the idiots turning on him.
Disconosebleed
Well-Known Member
- Dec 22, 2005
- 2,553
- 2,569
Paul Robinson - it depends on him - if he's happy being second choice then by all means keep him, he's a decent keeper and a long period out of the spotlight would probably suit him, I imagine if we signed a top keeper and Robbo only had to come in every now and then, he'd get the last couple of years out of his head with the pressure off and probably be more like his old self.
Radek Cerny - the loan's ending, we shouldn't be looking to extend it. Decent keeper, but not good enough for where we want to be. That said, if we sign a new keeper and Robbo leaves, keeping Cerny as backup wouldn't be the worst move in the world - although I'd like to think that Alnwick is highly-rated enough to make that position his next season.
Pascal Chimbonda - I'd keep him, if he can wind his neck in and keep his mouth shut. IMO there's nothing wrong with his performances, it's his attitude that is a problem. He's certainly a handy player to have around, seeing as he can play across the back four. It's unrealistic to expect Bale to come back after a year out and play every game in (hopefully) a 50-60 game season - having Chimbonda around would allow us to rest Bale or Hutton when needed. That said, the valuations put on Chimbo's head by other teams seem mental, and he certainly has his price - if we got a good bid for him, of course we should take it.
Alan Hutton - Keep him, obviously. If we can - wouldn't surprise me if United go in for him. Looks a real talent, one of the few plus points this season.
Gareth Bale - Another no-brainer, we should look to keep him at all costs. Hopefully this lad is the future of our club, and he was looking absolutely brilliant for a while before his injury. Three or four games in a row he was our best player around the time of Fulham away. Will be interesting to see whether he's used at full back or on the wing.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto - if he ever recovers from this injury, I think he showed enough in the few games he played for us to make him worth keeping. I'd certainly prefer to see us keep him than Gilberto, although part of that is down to the fact that selling Gilberto would bring in more money.
Ledley King - Keep him, and hope to God he doesn't snap again. Assuming he can make a full recovery, he more than anyone is key to our progression as a club, the best player we have.
Jonathan Woodgate - Again, keep at all costs. It seems odd to rate all of our first-choice back line when we're so poor defensively, but we'd be so much worse without Woody and Hutton, and would have been much better if Bale and King had stayed fit all season. If Ramos decides that we can't rely on King's fitness, Woodgate would be my choice for the new captain.
Younes Kaboul - Send him out on loan. He's occasionally looked decent this season, but mostly looked out of his depth and unacclimatised. A year at a lower-level Premiership club would give us the opportunity to see how good he can be without risking him for our own games.
Michael Dawson - Depends on who we bring in during the transfer window. My guess is that we'll look to sign a top defender who can fight with Woodgate and King for a starting place. If that's the case, I'd be happy for Dawson to remain at the club as our fourth-choice centre back. The alternative is we sign one or two squad players to back up Woodgate and King, in which case I'd hope that they would be better than Dawson and we can try and flog him for a decent price. I don't want rid of him as such, but he's one of a number of players who we should be looking to improve on, and who should be available at the right price.
Anthony Gardner - Get rid. He's not shit or anything, but he's not good enough either. Flog him to Portsmouth or something.
Ricardo Rocha - Same as Gardner...we just don't need him.
Young-Pyo Lee - Solid, but with Bale, Gilberto and Chimbonda around we don't have any real need for him now, and could probably make a couple of million on him. As decent as he's been, it'll be a relief to know that I'll never have to endure him going on a good run down the wing only to cut back onto his right foot EVERY FUCKING TIME again.
Gilberto - He could leave at the end of the season and I don't think anyone would remember he'd ever played for us. He's got such calibre that there MUST be more to come from him, so it might be worth hanging on to him - or bite the bullet, look for a replacement, flog him for whatever we paid for him and put it down to experience.
Chris Gunter - Depends on who leaves in the transfer window. If Chimbo stays, then send Gunter out on loan for the season - whether it's a Championship or Premiership side, I dunno. If Chimbo goes, Gunter seems good enough already to be a backup to Hutton IMO. One for the future, certainly.
Didier Zokora - Get rid, if possible. Not that I think he's terrible, but he's not good enough for where we want to be - we need two quality midfielders brought in, with Jenas, Huddlestone and O'Hara as squad players ideally. We can't expect to keep all our midfielders, and Zokora is both expendable and (probably) reasonably valuable, if we can get 4-5m for him that will help us bring in more quality.
Teemu Tainio - If possible, I'd like him to stay but in a lesser role at the club...I know he doesn't play regularly as it is, but in a perfect world next season he'd be a last resort for the midfield - a loyal club man who will never get a game under normal circumstances but will come in and do a job if needed. Wouldn't begrudge him a move away though, and I doubt we'd get much for him - a couple of million maybe.
Jermaine Jenas - it's all about what he's willing to accept. I'd like us to keep him, but if he's still a first-choice midfielder come the start of next season then Commolli and Ramos will both have failed, as we need better. We want to be a top-four club, and Jenas is comprehensively not a top-four player. Squad player for a top-four club, sure, but nothing more. That said, if we spent money on one absolute top quality midfielder (Veloso, say) rather than two very good ones, I think Jenas could look a better player than he does when he's alongside Zokora, Huddlestone and the like. Jenas' energy coupled with a quality technical midfielder could work.
Tom Huddlestone - Keep him unless a good bid comes in. Certainly wouldn't want him to be a first-choice player based on how good he is right now, but he offers something none of our current midfielders can and he's really improved in the past few months since Ramos has arrived. If the rumours are true that Ramos didn't rate him and thought he was too fat, then it says a lot for Huddlestone's character that he lost a lot of weight in a small amount of time and has quickly got himself back in Ramos' good books. Unless we have a complete overhaul with three centre mids coming in, Huddlestone is one I'd like to see us keep.
Jamie O'Hara - Like Huddlestone, he's one I think we should keep. He's shown a lot of promise in his first season and has a bit of everything about him - tons of energy, uses the ball well, offers us something different in centre mid simply by virtue of being left-footed...possibly ship him out on loan to a Premiership club for the season to give him experience and allow him to truly prove himself at this level, it could do him the world of good.
Steed Malbranque - it's a weird one...he's been one of our best players this season, but I'd be gutted if he was starting many games next season. By all means keep him as a backup for either wing, but we MUST get a genuine left winger in before the start of next season. If a good bid comes in for Malby then accept it, otherwise keep him as a squad player...anything more and we should not be happy.
Kevin Prince Boateng[/n] - Dunno. Seems like teams would be willing to offer good money for him, which I don't think he's warranted thus far. More hype than substance certainly, but Ramos obviously rated him enough to try to sign him for Sevilla so maybe it would be worth keeping him for another season, sending him on loan and seeing how he does.
Aaron Lennon - Tough one. He's been crap this season, frankly. He's still a kid, of course, but he's not shown any real sign of developing his game the way top players like Giggs and Ronaldo have had to do over the years. I'd like to think that we would be in the market for a better player than Lennon, but if no move transpires then I wouldn't be devastated if he was our first-choice right winger next season...if we do sign someone, then I think we should take the money for Lennon, there's no sense in leaving him on the bench to decrease in value. For whatever reason he's still very highly rated by a lot of teams, and we could get a good price for him.
Adel Taarabt - I desperately want him to come good, but he's no better now than he was this time last year. Considering the general consensus is that he's brilliant but needs time to develop, the fact that he hasn't developed whatsoever in the last twelve months is worrying. It would be jumping the gun to sell him when he's got so much potential, I'd say keep him at the Lane (I don't see what use it would be to send him to a lower-level Premiership club on loan where he'll never get the ball, I think I'd rather see him at a good Championship side showing what he can do) for another year, and if he still doesn't look like he's going to mature, bin him. For all his potential, right now he's nowhere near good enough for us.
Darren Bent - Definitely keep him. He's been unfairly criticised all season despite playing well for the most part, he's not complained once and in all the interviews I've seen he says all the right things. With Berby gone (and assuming we don't find someone equally as good), you must assume that Bent will play more regularly even if he's still third-choice - and you won't get many better third-choice strikers than Bent IMO. Next year could be his year.
Robbie Keane - Obviously keep him. Let's just hope we bring in a player Keane can gel with as well as he did with Berbatov. I think we definitely would have to go for a top striker to replace Berby rather than hope Bent can come good, as I've not seen enough to suggest that Keane and Bent will ever be a truly great partnership. But keep Keane at the club whatever it takes. Another couple of years like the last two and he'll go down as a Spurs legend.
Dimitar Berbatov - he's gone. Let's just hope Levy works his magic and gets an absolutely disgusting price for him. 30m has been touted - if it's true and that money is spent well, there's no doubt in my mind that we will have a better team than the one we have right now, Berby or no Berby.
Radek Cerny - the loan's ending, we shouldn't be looking to extend it. Decent keeper, but not good enough for where we want to be. That said, if we sign a new keeper and Robbo leaves, keeping Cerny as backup wouldn't be the worst move in the world - although I'd like to think that Alnwick is highly-rated enough to make that position his next season.
Pascal Chimbonda - I'd keep him, if he can wind his neck in and keep his mouth shut. IMO there's nothing wrong with his performances, it's his attitude that is a problem. He's certainly a handy player to have around, seeing as he can play across the back four. It's unrealistic to expect Bale to come back after a year out and play every game in (hopefully) a 50-60 game season - having Chimbonda around would allow us to rest Bale or Hutton when needed. That said, the valuations put on Chimbo's head by other teams seem mental, and he certainly has his price - if we got a good bid for him, of course we should take it.
Alan Hutton - Keep him, obviously. If we can - wouldn't surprise me if United go in for him. Looks a real talent, one of the few plus points this season.
Gareth Bale - Another no-brainer, we should look to keep him at all costs. Hopefully this lad is the future of our club, and he was looking absolutely brilliant for a while before his injury. Three or four games in a row he was our best player around the time of Fulham away. Will be interesting to see whether he's used at full back or on the wing.
Benoit Assou-Ekotto - if he ever recovers from this injury, I think he showed enough in the few games he played for us to make him worth keeping. I'd certainly prefer to see us keep him than Gilberto, although part of that is down to the fact that selling Gilberto would bring in more money.
Ledley King - Keep him, and hope to God he doesn't snap again. Assuming he can make a full recovery, he more than anyone is key to our progression as a club, the best player we have.
Jonathan Woodgate - Again, keep at all costs. It seems odd to rate all of our first-choice back line when we're so poor defensively, but we'd be so much worse without Woody and Hutton, and would have been much better if Bale and King had stayed fit all season. If Ramos decides that we can't rely on King's fitness, Woodgate would be my choice for the new captain.
Younes Kaboul - Send him out on loan. He's occasionally looked decent this season, but mostly looked out of his depth and unacclimatised. A year at a lower-level Premiership club would give us the opportunity to see how good he can be without risking him for our own games.
Michael Dawson - Depends on who we bring in during the transfer window. My guess is that we'll look to sign a top defender who can fight with Woodgate and King for a starting place. If that's the case, I'd be happy for Dawson to remain at the club as our fourth-choice centre back. The alternative is we sign one or two squad players to back up Woodgate and King, in which case I'd hope that they would be better than Dawson and we can try and flog him for a decent price. I don't want rid of him as such, but he's one of a number of players who we should be looking to improve on, and who should be available at the right price.
Anthony Gardner - Get rid. He's not shit or anything, but he's not good enough either. Flog him to Portsmouth or something.
Ricardo Rocha - Same as Gardner...we just don't need him.
Young-Pyo Lee - Solid, but with Bale, Gilberto and Chimbonda around we don't have any real need for him now, and could probably make a couple of million on him. As decent as he's been, it'll be a relief to know that I'll never have to endure him going on a good run down the wing only to cut back onto his right foot EVERY FUCKING TIME again.
Gilberto - He could leave at the end of the season and I don't think anyone would remember he'd ever played for us. He's got such calibre that there MUST be more to come from him, so it might be worth hanging on to him - or bite the bullet, look for a replacement, flog him for whatever we paid for him and put it down to experience.
Chris Gunter - Depends on who leaves in the transfer window. If Chimbo stays, then send Gunter out on loan for the season - whether it's a Championship or Premiership side, I dunno. If Chimbo goes, Gunter seems good enough already to be a backup to Hutton IMO. One for the future, certainly.
Didier Zokora - Get rid, if possible. Not that I think he's terrible, but he's not good enough for where we want to be - we need two quality midfielders brought in, with Jenas, Huddlestone and O'Hara as squad players ideally. We can't expect to keep all our midfielders, and Zokora is both expendable and (probably) reasonably valuable, if we can get 4-5m for him that will help us bring in more quality.
Teemu Tainio - If possible, I'd like him to stay but in a lesser role at the club...I know he doesn't play regularly as it is, but in a perfect world next season he'd be a last resort for the midfield - a loyal club man who will never get a game under normal circumstances but will come in and do a job if needed. Wouldn't begrudge him a move away though, and I doubt we'd get much for him - a couple of million maybe.
Jermaine Jenas - it's all about what he's willing to accept. I'd like us to keep him, but if he's still a first-choice midfielder come the start of next season then Commolli and Ramos will both have failed, as we need better. We want to be a top-four club, and Jenas is comprehensively not a top-four player. Squad player for a top-four club, sure, but nothing more. That said, if we spent money on one absolute top quality midfielder (Veloso, say) rather than two very good ones, I think Jenas could look a better player than he does when he's alongside Zokora, Huddlestone and the like. Jenas' energy coupled with a quality technical midfielder could work.
Tom Huddlestone - Keep him unless a good bid comes in. Certainly wouldn't want him to be a first-choice player based on how good he is right now, but he offers something none of our current midfielders can and he's really improved in the past few months since Ramos has arrived. If the rumours are true that Ramos didn't rate him and thought he was too fat, then it says a lot for Huddlestone's character that he lost a lot of weight in a small amount of time and has quickly got himself back in Ramos' good books. Unless we have a complete overhaul with three centre mids coming in, Huddlestone is one I'd like to see us keep.
Jamie O'Hara - Like Huddlestone, he's one I think we should keep. He's shown a lot of promise in his first season and has a bit of everything about him - tons of energy, uses the ball well, offers us something different in centre mid simply by virtue of being left-footed...possibly ship him out on loan to a Premiership club for the season to give him experience and allow him to truly prove himself at this level, it could do him the world of good.
Steed Malbranque - it's a weird one...he's been one of our best players this season, but I'd be gutted if he was starting many games next season. By all means keep him as a backup for either wing, but we MUST get a genuine left winger in before the start of next season. If a good bid comes in for Malby then accept it, otherwise keep him as a squad player...anything more and we should not be happy.
Kevin Prince Boateng[/n] - Dunno. Seems like teams would be willing to offer good money for him, which I don't think he's warranted thus far. More hype than substance certainly, but Ramos obviously rated him enough to try to sign him for Sevilla so maybe it would be worth keeping him for another season, sending him on loan and seeing how he does.
Aaron Lennon - Tough one. He's been crap this season, frankly. He's still a kid, of course, but he's not shown any real sign of developing his game the way top players like Giggs and Ronaldo have had to do over the years. I'd like to think that we would be in the market for a better player than Lennon, but if no move transpires then I wouldn't be devastated if he was our first-choice right winger next season...if we do sign someone, then I think we should take the money for Lennon, there's no sense in leaving him on the bench to decrease in value. For whatever reason he's still very highly rated by a lot of teams, and we could get a good price for him.
Adel Taarabt - I desperately want him to come good, but he's no better now than he was this time last year. Considering the general consensus is that he's brilliant but needs time to develop, the fact that he hasn't developed whatsoever in the last twelve months is worrying. It would be jumping the gun to sell him when he's got so much potential, I'd say keep him at the Lane (I don't see what use it would be to send him to a lower-level Premiership club on loan where he'll never get the ball, I think I'd rather see him at a good Championship side showing what he can do) for another year, and if he still doesn't look like he's going to mature, bin him. For all his potential, right now he's nowhere near good enough for us.
Darren Bent - Definitely keep him. He's been unfairly criticised all season despite playing well for the most part, he's not complained once and in all the interviews I've seen he says all the right things. With Berby gone (and assuming we don't find someone equally as good), you must assume that Bent will play more regularly even if he's still third-choice - and you won't get many better third-choice strikers than Bent IMO. Next year could be his year.
Robbie Keane - Obviously keep him. Let's just hope we bring in a player Keane can gel with as well as he did with Berbatov. I think we definitely would have to go for a top striker to replace Berby rather than hope Bent can come good, as I've not seen enough to suggest that Keane and Bent will ever be a truly great partnership. But keep Keane at the club whatever it takes. Another couple of years like the last two and he'll go down as a Spurs legend.
Dimitar Berbatov - he's gone. Let's just hope Levy works his magic and gets an absolutely disgusting price for him. 30m has been touted - if it's true and that money is spent well, there's no doubt in my mind that we will have a better team than the one we have right now, Berby or no Berby.
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