- May 2, 2005
- 8,780
- 9,287
So Harry says he has to find a team amongst the group of players to go win the next game. Trouble is, with injuries and a failure to recruit back ups after letting numerous players go in January, where do we find these "players?".
I mean, goalkeeper we have Friedel again, let's be fair Harry is obsessed with Friedel carrying on his run, so keeper is sorted and Cudicini will drop back to bench. Right back, we have no cover I believe? What happened to that Corluka fella? Oh that is right, we let him go on loan despite not having a back up to Walker, Naughton? Season long loan, to be fair that probably did him good as at the time we had Walker and Corluka. Left back we have Ekotto and err Rose? Who seems to have been injured for most of the season anyway.
Now the interesting one, CB, Kaboul could be out for the rest of the season? Dawson is out for the rest of the season? Bassong loan, Caulker loan.....leaves us with Gallas, King and Nelsen? All of which are experienced yes but can these 3 manage to stay fit for five more games and put in a shift?
Midfield we have Parker, Livermore, Modric, Sandro. That is about it, for me Sandro and Parker would need to start every game together now, don't care if they are not as creative as Modric, what exactly has he created in the second half of the season? VdV to go infront of those two who will have to do the creativity from the middle.
Out wide we have errr Lennon and Bale, I believe we let the only "three" wide players we had in the squad go out on loan in January? Townsend, Pienaar and Falque? Bentley might be back fit but when was the last time he played a game? Kranjcar is also out for the rest of the season....I guess we have dos Santos but he has hardly ever done anything of note in a Spurs shirt has he, maybe he deserves a chance but not sure he is what we need.
Up top we have Adebayor and I have no problem with him, he needs to start as he can be key, his hold up play is vital especially against the relegation fighting teams we have to play. Saha looked decent back up until his last few performances where he seems to have slipped into his recent Everton form. Defoe can't lead the line and I would not sacrifice VdV and go to the dreaded "4-4-2" just to get him in the team.
So I would go for the remaining five games assuming everyone can stay fit:
Friedel, Walker, Gallas, King, Ekotto, Sandro, Parker, VdV, Bale, Lennon, Adebayor.
Now it is a pretty normal team isn't it? We can't really "change" it much because we simply do not have any options, we struggle to pick a bench week in week out and this is pathetic for a team who at Christmas were being touted as the "team" to challenge the two Manchester clubs to the title. How have we let ourselves get in this position?
I think Nelsen is the worst signing of all for me, nothing against him but when you have King and Gallas and recently Dawson at the club, you want a reliable defender who can stay fit and is hungry for games, why did we not get a CB in? The bollocks with Cahill in the summer, yeah he might be greedy but why did we not have a back up plan? Also, we have one on loan striker, a short striker who doesn't work in a 4-4-1-1/4-5-1/4-2-3-1 formation and a striker who signed on a 6 month deal, what the hell is going on? Unless we are saving for a world class striker I am failing to see the logic behind not having any strikers at the club. What happens in pre season? We are known for doing late deals, fucking shoot me if we go into the season with Defoe as the only striker.
I mean, goalkeeper we have Friedel again, let's be fair Harry is obsessed with Friedel carrying on his run, so keeper is sorted and Cudicini will drop back to bench. Right back, we have no cover I believe? What happened to that Corluka fella? Oh that is right, we let him go on loan despite not having a back up to Walker, Naughton? Season long loan, to be fair that probably did him good as at the time we had Walker and Corluka. Left back we have Ekotto and err Rose? Who seems to have been injured for most of the season anyway.
Now the interesting one, CB, Kaboul could be out for the rest of the season? Dawson is out for the rest of the season? Bassong loan, Caulker loan.....leaves us with Gallas, King and Nelsen? All of which are experienced yes but can these 3 manage to stay fit for five more games and put in a shift?
Midfield we have Parker, Livermore, Modric, Sandro. That is about it, for me Sandro and Parker would need to start every game together now, don't care if they are not as creative as Modric, what exactly has he created in the second half of the season? VdV to go infront of those two who will have to do the creativity from the middle.
Out wide we have errr Lennon and Bale, I believe we let the only "three" wide players we had in the squad go out on loan in January? Townsend, Pienaar and Falque? Bentley might be back fit but when was the last time he played a game? Kranjcar is also out for the rest of the season....I guess we have dos Santos but he has hardly ever done anything of note in a Spurs shirt has he, maybe he deserves a chance but not sure he is what we need.
Up top we have Adebayor and I have no problem with him, he needs to start as he can be key, his hold up play is vital especially against the relegation fighting teams we have to play. Saha looked decent back up until his last few performances where he seems to have slipped into his recent Everton form. Defoe can't lead the line and I would not sacrifice VdV and go to the dreaded "4-4-2" just to get him in the team.
So I would go for the remaining five games assuming everyone can stay fit:
Friedel, Walker, Gallas, King, Ekotto, Sandro, Parker, VdV, Bale, Lennon, Adebayor.
Now it is a pretty normal team isn't it? We can't really "change" it much because we simply do not have any options, we struggle to pick a bench week in week out and this is pathetic for a team who at Christmas were being touted as the "team" to challenge the two Manchester clubs to the title. How have we let ourselves get in this position?
I think Nelsen is the worst signing of all for me, nothing against him but when you have King and Gallas and recently Dawson at the club, you want a reliable defender who can stay fit and is hungry for games, why did we not get a CB in? The bollocks with Cahill in the summer, yeah he might be greedy but why did we not have a back up plan? Also, we have one on loan striker, a short striker who doesn't work in a 4-4-1-1/4-5-1/4-2-3-1 formation and a striker who signed on a 6 month deal, what the hell is going on? Unless we are saving for a world class striker I am failing to see the logic behind not having any strikers at the club. What happens in pre season? We are known for doing late deals, fucking shoot me if we go into the season with Defoe as the only striker.