- Aug 18, 2005
- 6,527
- 267
Premier League preview No17: Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs are blessed with a plethora of attacking talent, and if they can keep their defenders injury-free, they could be unlikely title contenders
guardian.co.uk writers' prediction: 5th Odds: 66-1
The first weekend of a new season is not unlike the first day back at school after the summer holidays. There are a few new kids to bully, and everyone wants to see what everyone else has been up to during their break. Most haven't changed much at all, save for an expensive new coat, a snazzy new haircut or a new pair of brogues from Clarks. But there's always one who comes back having had a major makeover; who is a different, barely recognisable person, and the talk of the playground.
This year, that team is Tottenham. After taking a good look at what he had last season, the impressive Juande Ramos has overhauled a decent but ultimately inadequate squad with decisiveness (seven of the side that started the first game of last season have gone, and an eighth, Paul Stalteri, was last seen scrubbing toilets), imagination (Luka Modric, Giovani dos Santos and possibly Andriy Arshavin) and audacity (Modric, Dos Santos and possibly Arshavin).
As a consequence Spurs are surely the most interesting of the 20 sides we will see for the first time in the league this weekend: partly because of their unpredictability, partly because they have bashed 33 goals in eight pre-season games, partly because they may have lost the Premiership's best strike pair and actually improved, but mainly because of the talent they have assembled.
There should be no assumptions of hegemony among the also-rans: too often in the past Spurs have presented a brilliant trailer, only for the actual movie to suck. But on paper Spurs are the best of those competing for the hallowed fifth place – and, if they get Arshavin and a proper replacement for Dimitar Berbatov, arguably even better than Arsenal and Liverpool. Certainly it's Spurs' best array of attacking talent since 1986-87, when Clive Allen scored 49 goals and Chris Waddle and Glenn Hoddle ran amok.
One thing's for sure: they should be great to watch. Of their three marquee summer signings, it's hard to know which represents the biggest coup: Modric, the Croatian schemer whose wit and grace sent English football into a prolonged bout of navel-gazing last November; Dos Santos, one of the world's best teenagers, who scored a hat-trick in his final game for Barcelona and whose signing, for a maximum of £8.6m, is a remarkable steal; or David Bentley, the best emerging player in England, followed by plenty of daylight, and someone who will surely be playing for a top-four club within two years, whether at Tottenham or elsewhere.
While Bentley is close to a banker, the Rule of Rebrov provokes legitimate concerns as to how the physically light pair of Modric and Dos Santos – and Arshavin, if his move is resurrected – will handle the muck and bullets of English football, although Modric is a deceptively tough nut. There are also issues about how the new players will gel and fit in tactically. Spurs have so many options that a best XI might not even exist. Modric, a very modern kind of playmaker, could play alongside either Tom Huddlestone and Jermaine Jenas in an orthodox 4-4-2, or wide left in the same system, or in the Deco role in a 4-2-3-1, with a combination of Dos Santos, Bentley, Aaron Lennon – whose directness offers an important complement to the patient craft elsewhere – Gareth Bale or Benoit Assou-Ekotto in the wider positions.
If only they had such depth up front. The first-team squad page on the club's official site lists only three strikers: one of those is Dimitar Berbatov, apparently about to leave, and another is Dos Santos, who is more of a second striker than a first. That leaves Darren Bent, who is seemingly about to become the first player to win an England call-up based on form in pre-season friendlies (12 goals in six games), but who surely lacks the subtlety to play up front on his own for an extended period. It would be a major surprise if Berbatov was allowed to leave without a replacement having been lined up. A big man capable of linking play, and taking advantage of Bentley's consistently outstanding crosses, would seem the most desirable option. And if they keep Berbatov? Bloody hell.
For the big man in midfield, Huddlestone, this is a huge season. He is still only 21, yet it feels like he has stagnated for the last 18 months. Excess weight should no longer be an issue now that Ramos has seemingly banned everything except water from the training ground, but the lack of bite within this gentlest of giants is still a concern. If he can add that, Huddlestone can achieve anything, because he is a brute of a man and a simply exquisite passer of the ball, particularly short- and mid-range.
Alongside him, Jenas seems to have convinced his manager of his worth: Ramos made him vice-captain, a role that has more significance than at other clubs in view of Ledley King's injury problems. Jenas hinted at the addition of the most important ingredient – authority – to his game last season, but there are still many fans who wonder what he actually does in the grand scheme of things; 12-15 goals from midfield, an achievable target for someone with his energy, timing of runs and coolness in front of goal, would be a good place to start.
Yet for all the thrilling attacking permutations on the tactics board, the key might be in the treatment room, and the presence (or absence) of King and Jonathan Woodgate. Both are top-class centre-backs, who might be inferior only to Rio Ferdinand among English defenders. But King's painfully protracted rehabilitation from a serious knee injury means it is difficult for him to play two games in a week; and Woodgate, ironically for someone who increasingly looks like he's just shambled out of a caravan park, seems to have had a curse put on him. If Spurs could keep them both fit for an entire season, they might even be title contenders.
The probable absence of one or both puts pressure on the talented but fragile Michael Dawson, who seems half the player when King is not there to prop him up mentally, and the likes of Huddlestone and Didier Zokora, who may have to fill in. No wonder they are so keen to sign the impressive and versatile Vedran Corluka. Alan Hutton and Bale are an excellent pair of attacking full-backs; and even if the new goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes has a minor shocker it will be an improvement on last season's Paul Robinson/Radek Cerny show, although for £7.8m Spurs will expect a genuinely safe pair of hands.
They certainly have that in Ramos, behind whose inscrutable phizog lies a furious, bubbling intelligence. He has experience of gatecrashing an apparently exclusive club, when he almost led Sevilla to the title in Spain, and he has skilfully built not only for the present but also the future: a possible starting line-up of Gomes; Hutton, Woodgate, King, Bale; Jenas, Huddlestone; Bentley, Modric, Dos Santos; Bent has an average age of just 23. Ramos is in this for the long haul, but that's no reason not to tick off a few ambitions in the short term.
In: Luka Modric (Dinamo Zagreb - £16.6m), Giovani dos Santos (Barcelona - £4.7m), Paul-Jose Mpoku (Standard Liege - free), Mirko Ranieri (Perugia - undisclosed), John Bostock (Crystal Palace - £700,000), Heurelho Gomes (PSV Eindhoven - £7.8m), David Bentley (Blackburn - £15m)
Out: Robbie Keane (Liverpool - £20.3m), Paul Robinson (Blackburn - £3.5m), Teemu Tainio, Pascal Chimbonda, Steed Malbranque (Sunderland - undisclosed), Radek Cerny (QPR - free), Joe Martin (Blackpool - nominal fee), Tommy Forecast (Southampton - undisclosed), Younes Kaboul (Portsmouth - undisclosed)
Spurs are blessed with a plethora of attacking talent, and if they can keep their defenders injury-free, they could be unlikely title contenders
guardian.co.uk writers' prediction: 5th Odds: 66-1
The first weekend of a new season is not unlike the first day back at school after the summer holidays. There are a few new kids to bully, and everyone wants to see what everyone else has been up to during their break. Most haven't changed much at all, save for an expensive new coat, a snazzy new haircut or a new pair of brogues from Clarks. But there's always one who comes back having had a major makeover; who is a different, barely recognisable person, and the talk of the playground.
This year, that team is Tottenham. After taking a good look at what he had last season, the impressive Juande Ramos has overhauled a decent but ultimately inadequate squad with decisiveness (seven of the side that started the first game of last season have gone, and an eighth, Paul Stalteri, was last seen scrubbing toilets), imagination (Luka Modric, Giovani dos Santos and possibly Andriy Arshavin) and audacity (Modric, Dos Santos and possibly Arshavin).
As a consequence Spurs are surely the most interesting of the 20 sides we will see for the first time in the league this weekend: partly because of their unpredictability, partly because they have bashed 33 goals in eight pre-season games, partly because they may have lost the Premiership's best strike pair and actually improved, but mainly because of the talent they have assembled.
There should be no assumptions of hegemony among the also-rans: too often in the past Spurs have presented a brilliant trailer, only for the actual movie to suck. But on paper Spurs are the best of those competing for the hallowed fifth place – and, if they get Arshavin and a proper replacement for Dimitar Berbatov, arguably even better than Arsenal and Liverpool. Certainly it's Spurs' best array of attacking talent since 1986-87, when Clive Allen scored 49 goals and Chris Waddle and Glenn Hoddle ran amok.
One thing's for sure: they should be great to watch. Of their three marquee summer signings, it's hard to know which represents the biggest coup: Modric, the Croatian schemer whose wit and grace sent English football into a prolonged bout of navel-gazing last November; Dos Santos, one of the world's best teenagers, who scored a hat-trick in his final game for Barcelona and whose signing, for a maximum of £8.6m, is a remarkable steal; or David Bentley, the best emerging player in England, followed by plenty of daylight, and someone who will surely be playing for a top-four club within two years, whether at Tottenham or elsewhere.
While Bentley is close to a banker, the Rule of Rebrov provokes legitimate concerns as to how the physically light pair of Modric and Dos Santos – and Arshavin, if his move is resurrected – will handle the muck and bullets of English football, although Modric is a deceptively tough nut. There are also issues about how the new players will gel and fit in tactically. Spurs have so many options that a best XI might not even exist. Modric, a very modern kind of playmaker, could play alongside either Tom Huddlestone and Jermaine Jenas in an orthodox 4-4-2, or wide left in the same system, or in the Deco role in a 4-2-3-1, with a combination of Dos Santos, Bentley, Aaron Lennon – whose directness offers an important complement to the patient craft elsewhere – Gareth Bale or Benoit Assou-Ekotto in the wider positions.
If only they had such depth up front. The first-team squad page on the club's official site lists only three strikers: one of those is Dimitar Berbatov, apparently about to leave, and another is Dos Santos, who is more of a second striker than a first. That leaves Darren Bent, who is seemingly about to become the first player to win an England call-up based on form in pre-season friendlies (12 goals in six games), but who surely lacks the subtlety to play up front on his own for an extended period. It would be a major surprise if Berbatov was allowed to leave without a replacement having been lined up. A big man capable of linking play, and taking advantage of Bentley's consistently outstanding crosses, would seem the most desirable option. And if they keep Berbatov? Bloody hell.
For the big man in midfield, Huddlestone, this is a huge season. He is still only 21, yet it feels like he has stagnated for the last 18 months. Excess weight should no longer be an issue now that Ramos has seemingly banned everything except water from the training ground, but the lack of bite within this gentlest of giants is still a concern. If he can add that, Huddlestone can achieve anything, because he is a brute of a man and a simply exquisite passer of the ball, particularly short- and mid-range.
Alongside him, Jenas seems to have convinced his manager of his worth: Ramos made him vice-captain, a role that has more significance than at other clubs in view of Ledley King's injury problems. Jenas hinted at the addition of the most important ingredient – authority – to his game last season, but there are still many fans who wonder what he actually does in the grand scheme of things; 12-15 goals from midfield, an achievable target for someone with his energy, timing of runs and coolness in front of goal, would be a good place to start.
Yet for all the thrilling attacking permutations on the tactics board, the key might be in the treatment room, and the presence (or absence) of King and Jonathan Woodgate. Both are top-class centre-backs, who might be inferior only to Rio Ferdinand among English defenders. But King's painfully protracted rehabilitation from a serious knee injury means it is difficult for him to play two games in a week; and Woodgate, ironically for someone who increasingly looks like he's just shambled out of a caravan park, seems to have had a curse put on him. If Spurs could keep them both fit for an entire season, they might even be title contenders.
The probable absence of one or both puts pressure on the talented but fragile Michael Dawson, who seems half the player when King is not there to prop him up mentally, and the likes of Huddlestone and Didier Zokora, who may have to fill in. No wonder they are so keen to sign the impressive and versatile Vedran Corluka. Alan Hutton and Bale are an excellent pair of attacking full-backs; and even if the new goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes has a minor shocker it will be an improvement on last season's Paul Robinson/Radek Cerny show, although for £7.8m Spurs will expect a genuinely safe pair of hands.
They certainly have that in Ramos, behind whose inscrutable phizog lies a furious, bubbling intelligence. He has experience of gatecrashing an apparently exclusive club, when he almost led Sevilla to the title in Spain, and he has skilfully built not only for the present but also the future: a possible starting line-up of Gomes; Hutton, Woodgate, King, Bale; Jenas, Huddlestone; Bentley, Modric, Dos Santos; Bent has an average age of just 23. Ramos is in this for the long haul, but that's no reason not to tick off a few ambitions in the short term.
In: Luka Modric (Dinamo Zagreb - £16.6m), Giovani dos Santos (Barcelona - £4.7m), Paul-Jose Mpoku (Standard Liege - free), Mirko Ranieri (Perugia - undisclosed), John Bostock (Crystal Palace - £700,000), Heurelho Gomes (PSV Eindhoven - £7.8m), David Bentley (Blackburn - £15m)
Out: Robbie Keane (Liverpool - £20.3m), Paul Robinson (Blackburn - £3.5m), Teemu Tainio, Pascal Chimbonda, Steed Malbranque (Sunderland - undisclosed), Radek Cerny (QPR - free), Joe Martin (Blackpool - nominal fee), Tommy Forecast (Southampton - undisclosed), Younes Kaboul (Portsmouth - undisclosed)
