By Phil Gregory
While “Sky Sports understands…” may or may not ever be true, it seems Spurs are closing in on their new manager which could well be Andre Villas Boas of Chelsea acclaim. This got me thinking about their squad and chances for next season, particularly with Gareth Bale signing a new contract recently.
When researching for this article, I was surprised to find that Spurs only released two senior first teamers this summer, Nelsen and Saha, both of whom arrived in January on a Redknapp flight of fancy. To me, this seem utterly bizarre, given they have about a hundred players who can play in central defence (ever seen Khumalo play for Spurs? Me neither) not least a few ageing, injury prone names such as Gallas and King. I’m not sure about Gallas’s contract situation – surely they can’t be daft enough to give him a long term deal? – but extending Ledley King’s deal on anything but a pay-as-you play with a basic wage of £10k/week would be pure folly.
While with the latter you can understand a certain amount of nostalgia given he is club captain, you’ve got to have consistency in your defensive players -particularly centreback partnerships – which we found out to our cost last season with a range of injuries to Koscielny, Vermaelen and Mertesacker.
Vertonghen would be a cracking signing for them but it seems a contract dispute may mean the Belgian is forced to run down his final year rather than leaving Ajax this summer, which would surely mean Spurs miss out next year on him.
Central defence is certainly an area they need to work on, you can perhaps justify having one ageing, injury prone centreback but two is just foolish, and I bet their wages don’t reflect their lack of appearances either.
There are some good players in there like Kaboul and Bassong (I think Arry’s “legendary” man management didn’t quite work out with this fella, but a new manager should get him involved) and Dawson is capable of playing at this level, even if eulogised a little too much by Spurs fans, possibly because he’s English.
Caulker had a cracking season on loan at Swansea and should probably start for them if a new manager wants a decent passing style of football. If they could shift some of the extras and secure Vertonghen it looks like they’d be good to go for central defence, but instead they might be relying on unreliables for another season. Caulker could prove key.
The likes of Ekotto and Walker are good players, but there is a certain lack of depth at full back. Again, poor man-management may be to blame here: Corluka is a good Premier League defender but has been shipped off after not getting a sniff under Arry. If he wants first team football then it is understandable, but it seems strange they can’t keep solid backups happy. Danny Rose popping up at left back is also a sight that only Arsenal fans want to see really. Some depth at fullback needed here.
Bale’s new contract is certainly an interesting one; from what digging I did it seems the new deal only adds an extra year onto his deal compared to his last extension, so it seems likely he’s been given a bit of a raise to secure his continued loyalty. I think he’d do well to stay at Spurs and not buy into his own hype: he’s a good player no doubt but when he’s talking of Real and Barca… he needs to get a grip really.
It seems also that Modric may be leaning towards an exit, but big money will likely be required as the dozy sod signed a long term back in 2010 despite eyeing the exit. Levy may be tempted to take £30m if he gets an astute manager in – you only have to look at Newcastle to see what a difference a few intelligent, mid-priced players can do for you.
Van Der Vaart is neither here nor there, he seemed a real fan of Arry so may now be unsettled, but I imagine the new manager could be decisive here. If they want to challenge for the top four they’ll need a quality replacement for Modric and some more depth in central midfield as Huddlestone is not going to cut it.
The surely soon to be announced signing of Sigurdsson is a good move for them. A bit of quality on the right wing wouldn’t go amiss either, with Lennon not reaching that early career potential. Solid Premier League players are good, but as regular starters they won’t get you to the top four and Scott Parker is simply not a Champions League (or indeed international) player . Perhaps a new manager could get more out of Steven Pienaar for them. Similar to the defence, they could do with getting deadwood such as Jenas and Bentley (cheers for the sell-on cash by the way Spurs!) on their bikes.
Like it or not, Adebayor is a great striker and was a cracking loan signing for them last season. There’s been a lack of noise on that front in the last few weeks, no doubt a new manager will be keen to see if City mind subsidising his wages again. If not, they need a top class centre forward to score goals for them. As it stands, their only striker is Defoe who while handy off the bench, is never going to fire them into consistently competing for the top four. Perhaps a big centre forward with VdV buzzing in behind would lessen the need for a shopping spree of strikers, but at least one to start and another for squad depth would be needed.
On the whole, Spurs are in fairly mixed condition. They’ve a serious deficiency in that they only have one striker in their squad, but provided they fix that and replace Modric adequately, they don’t have a bad first eleven at all.
The problem lies however in depth. Spurs could not cope with three first choice centre backs or four fullbacks being injured like Arsenal suffered last season. If they get a manager in who can perform a Pardew-esque job of buying five or six players for reasonable value that all do very well they could well be up there challenging for the top four for seasons to come. Another look at them come the close of the transfer window would be wise, but a transitional season of challenging-but-not-quite for the top four seems likely, but with stability going forward and investment in youth for squad depth and development there’s no reason they can’t keep themselves at the head of the Liverpool/Newcastle/Spurs pack. A rebuilt Chelsea side could concern Spurs fans.
If you don’t mind my innane ramblings, feel free to check out my economics blog
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- Stewart Houston – managed Arsenal twice
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Just an arsenal fan being negative about everything spurs after being rattled last season.The fear of losing rvp and a lack of top quality signings don’t help.As for Bale believing his own hype you should look no further than the most overrated player in the premiership ( just because he’s young and English) Jack Wilshere.
I quite agree, however my take on it DL is waiting and working with AVB to get players that suit him. Ledley is unlikely to be part of the 25 man squad and possibly take on a defensive coaching role. Gallas may be a last resort in a similar role to Nelson last year and we will play a generally a younger side under AVB. One improvement I am looking forwards to is rotation, if we have a few more mid priced players added to the squad we will not slow down towards the end of the year as we have recently and then be capable of competing for the higher places comfortably.
Nice to see a well reasoned commentary by an Arsenal follower, thank you.
As Hawksbee and Jacobs would say ‘what a waste of ink’. Congratulations on the most pointless article on an Arsenal website ever. Why oh why are we so obsessed by the lot down the road just because they have caught us up.
(spurs fan) I agree with alot of the article but i think Hudd could become a big player for us he is one of the most technically gifted players i have ever seen play for spurs. His range of passing is immense! Also when you mentioned that Parker is not CL quality which i agree with you failed to mention we have Sandro who is better than him and will probably be are next Managers first choice! Other than that a quite interesting read nice to see an Arsenal blog that isn’t just all negative about spurs…..
Who gives a f*#k about the spuds …. The previous sentence I the only thing you should by typing about them on an Arsenal blog !
You worry about woolwich you mug.COYS
Overuse of the cracking…..woolwich nerd
Although you make some good points, as a spurs fan i find some of them misleading/incorrect.
Dont get how bassong and pienaar were mismanaged but good enough but lennon and parker plain arent. VDV despised HR as he was spurs most subbed player. Bales contract extension athough is only a year more takes him through to 2016 and ala modric last year if youve got years on your contract with levy you aint going anywhere unless the club are shipping you out. Dont you wish that your chairman had done something similar with rvp?
I do agree that we have holes vertongen will be first choice cb and replace benny at lb. Pienaar and lennon for rw. I think that only leaves us light up top we’ll have to see what the window brings there.
I would worry more about Mertersackers return…what a donkey
Probably the most realistic analysis of Spurs situation. I would add the return of Kyle Naughton and we also need a goalkeeper. So let’s see; Modric replacement, ship out dead wood (Jenas/Bentley/Dos Santos etc), a goalkeeper, two strikers, a central defender and we could do with cover at left back – oh, and a new manager and a new stadium. Not much to work on there and we’re all set to compete for 4th without those pesky CL games to worry about.
Not too sure why this has appeared on the Spurs media page so don’t be surprised to see a lot of comments from Spurs fans. I must say though its nice to read a refreshingly mature article from an Arsenal fan! I am slightly worried about the lack of squad depth in the positions you mentioned but still cautiously optimistic that the new manager will bring a fresh feel to the squad.
A challenge for the top four must be the aim again and I would also include Arsenal in that little pack of Champions League chasing teams you mentioned with Chelsea strengthening significantly it will be much more difficult this season.
Nice to see an arsenal fan with a clearly excellent handle on premier league football outside of your own club. A very interesting read as a spurs fan, and almost all entirely accurate in my opinion. Ashame that your fellow fans feel the need to criticise you, not much comradery evidently.
I say well written by an avid football fan, you have moulded my perception of arsenal fans to somewhat more intelligent.
Good luck for next season (not too much though!)
From A. Spursfan
I do not consider your team until reminded, i.e. your idiotic ramblings appearing on a Spurs site or that moment you look down before reaching for the Andrex. Why are Arsenal so obsessed with our attempts at parity? Are we not allowed to compete? Is it our fault the Wenger magic is wearing a bit thin? Life tends to go in cycles, perhaps you and Liverpool are heading in the same direction.
Tottenham fan in peace. Very good article. I think you’ve underrated Kaboul – the guy is class – whilst overrating Bassong who will be sold and Dawson who is massively limited (if in doubt hoof it out type defender).
If/when Vertoghen signs, we will have a superb (BAE mood pending) defence. Steven Caulker will either be given a chance this season or loaned out again, but he looks like a fantastic prospect. King will be given either a pay-as-you-play or made a coach depending on his ability to move! Gallas will be moved on.
Also agree about cover at full back. Rose is poor. But we have Naughton who can play RB or LB, and a youngster called Adam Smith who is a RB.
Agree about Bale, but this season he may be given more free reign by AVB if he’s our new boss. Modric will go and go abroad which is fine. Huddlestone could potentially replace him, but his fitness and weight is a problem. A replacement needed. Sigurdsson may be the chap.
No need to worry about Parker, we have Sandro who is his ready-made replacement. Even if he is a bit mental.
We did have many injuries last season, we had the 2nd highest injury list behind Man Utd, but Harry had his favourites. The new boss needs to rotate more, something Harry had no clue about. Hence why Pienaar looked to leave, Corluka was loan out and Niko has now been sold.
If we get that top striker in then who knows. 3rd place next season is going to be even harder for us and you. But I look forward to it.
Well done on a very good article. Refreshing.
I guess the word Spurs in the blog title gets it added to the Spurs lists on the news accumulator sites, no matter, always interesting to read what others think. Good to see the sensible comments far outweighing the abusive – disagreement is fine of course, you watch Spurs more than me so mistakes will be made.
re: obsession – I like football, Spurs play football. I’m doing similar articles on other Arsenal competitors to keep our site ticking over during the off-season. Naturally spurs are the most interesting of them as they are local rivals too.
Pretty reasonable assessment of our squad; Vertonghen deal is very likely to go through next week, even though the finer points of the negotiations have been hugely drawn out, in public. Bassong is definitely not worth persisting with, I promise. His best moments have all been saving tackles after his own mistakes, and he’s terrified in possession.
You’re right about fullback cover, although we have Kyle Naughton back from a decent loan at Norwich last season (cracking nudge on Van Persie at the back post), who can play either side.
We rate Lennon and VdV more than you do (surprise). Lennon brings balance to the midfield, and his end product is much better than commentators who made their mind up about him 4 years ago would have you believe.
VdV has some limitations (usually around 65mins), but is one of the few real driven players in the squad, who never shits it in big games, and often delivers key goals.
Huddlestone isn’t Modric, but he’s not bad either, and was one of the solid premier league players who got us 4th three years ago.
Parker without Modric; who knows. But Sandro will likely eclipse Scott this season anyway.
Big gap at centre forward. You’d presume we’ve got someone in mind to fill it, but we’ve presumed that for 4 seasons now (last permanent striker transfers: Defoe & Keane returning in Jan 2009).
Hey don’t worry about RVP he is going nowhere, I have it from a reliable source he will sign a three year contract before per-season, he has said he is settled, he wouldn’t play for another premiership team as his live for Arsenal is a kin to TH14. Expect also Arsenal to sign another holding midfielder as back up to Song, Walcott will sign 4year deal next month.
Wringer also in negotiations with a young foreign striker who will probably go on loan details secret but watch this space you will be surprised
Bezza aka sportmgt.com
Unfortunately everybody buys a lot of deadwood to unearth a gem. I can run through your team and pick ouut garbage. Come the start of the season we will see who’s got the better squad and even 1st 11
Mind the gap – Spudz.
Good article, obviously disagree with a few points but agree with many! Huddlestone is far better than people remember, he was our best player in the 09/10 season when we qualified for CL, even better then no assists Modric!
Also, Sandro is going to be one of the best players in the League next season, he is utter class!
We are incredibly light at fullback, as you say, no thanks to Harry’s famous man management!!!
Nice mention of Caulker, he has a big future, and is much better than Chris Smalling, who is overhyped as he is English and at Man U.
Arsenal and Spurs are much closer now for two main reason, the Billionaires ruining the game and thus buying all your players, and Spurs having a settled long term owner with a vision. Both sets of fans should remember that Arsenal are the 4th and Spurs the 11th wealthiest clubs on earth! Increadible to think that we both exists in little old north London together!
P.s. I dont hate Arsenal, but god do I hate Chelsea!
An interesting analysis. Though an Arsenal supporter since 1971, I have appreciated the good football that Spurs played last season. Nothing wrong with a bit of rivalry – it keeps both teams on their toes to some extent – but when it spills over into what appears close to hatred on the part of some Arsenal and Spurs fans then it is absurd.
I have heard that RVP is DEFINITELY off and that’s why Arsene is buying forwards.
From the comments, I can concluded that tottenham lack fans… all around the world. And of course fansites LOL.
The old or new big 4 has no place for spuds.
I SHOULDN’T EVEN BE HERE
But as a Spurs fan I must admit the majority of Arsenal fans are knowledgeable and the write of this article makes so many valid points, especially considering that Spurs are not your club.
Danny Rose is crap your right, Parker is soo over rated its unreal, and I am sure you know that Sandro is 10x the player, the fact Redknapp picked Parker over him is one reason I am happy he is gone.
Caulker will be great and would suit an AVB system.
One thing I will say is any KNOWLEDGEABLE football fan would much rather have AVB tactically setting up a side than Harry Redknapp and I am sure if the choice to replace Wenger was a choice between both then you guys would pick AVB, what happened at Chelsea to him was unfair and he isnt the first guy to be screwed by JT.
I should have thought the biggest concern that the owner and management team have is in terms of funding the stadium development at the same time as attempting to be competitive for a top four slot. That’s a fine balancing act. Arsenal had the benefit of loose credit, quality financial management team and prime land to sell to help fund the deal. Tottenham have, at best, only one of the above. Even with Boris’s scandalous decision to give public money to them, it’s going to be investing watching how they get on over the next two or three years.
BTW its a football site, speaking about another club shows a greater range in knowledge than just speaking about is RVP staying or going and how Arsenal is the bestest team in the world even though they are being caught by the shit lot down the road
Decent summary from the ol’ enemy.
With Wilshere fit you will do well but unless the two new strikers bed in well (and I see no reason why they wont) you could still be too RVP dependent but it will bwe an interesting next season.
I just hope that the real enemies have bad seasons.
Chumming up to you lot? Not really but you lot don’t pimp your way to the PL unlike certain other teams (2 wear red and two wear blue) and hate it or not, we have quite a lot in common although we seem to have more faith in Wenger than a lot of you do.
Agree with you about Rose: a head far bigger than his ability and if you lot did not bribe the WBA GK ( I doubt that you had to as he doesn’t like us) you probably made afortune backing him to screw up when it counted. We actually do have young depth at FB with Adam Smith a very good RB while the other Kyle can play effectively at LB although I would prefer a left footer there even if he did do well there in all teams.
Our biggest lack is a striker as IMHO Defoe is well past useby date and apart from him we …err have…an 18yo and ***all else. Oh well it wont change much as our shot conversion is always poor no matter who pretends to be up front.Gotta love those crosses raining in and no one but the GK there, unless you count the puffing midfielder who was a second too late
Maybe you should do more research as your efforts to give a reasoned point of view are off the mark. King is most likely to be given a role on the backroom staff and Khumalo is off to play in Greece by the look of it. Verthongen is more than likely to sign and has said if he doesn’t he will run down his contract and then sign for us for free at the end of the season and he only wants to play for spurs-how does this translate as we’d surely miss out on him next season? When he does sign he offers cover at left back along with the returning Naughton who did well at Norwich who can cover both right and left back. Bale can also fill in if necessary. So full back is not an issue.
Dawson is not eulogised by spurs fans and most see him as a liability but is, along with Gallas good cover for Vert, Kaboul and the impressive Caulker.
Why everyone thinks Modric is a done deal is beyond me, while obviously it is a possibility do people not remember the stance Levy took last year, one he has verbally repeated already this Summer. Nothing has changed except we no longer have a manager who didn’t seem to agree with this stance cos he was a mercenary himself,the ball is in Levys court not the players, as he has a backbone unlike other clubs who continually sell their best players(I wont name and shame these clubs as I’m on one of their fans websites).
Lennon is a top player but injury prone, so cover is needed whereas Siggi will be a good signing to cover or hopefully replace the over rated Van der Vaart.We certainly need the striker situation resolved which Im sure will be a priority for the incoming manager
The majority of Spurs fans are very excited about the movement so far with the problems of past years being addressed with the moving on of deadwood and the incoming of players in positions that need to be improved.
‘A rebuilt Chelsea should concern Spurs’ I think you writing this article proves that its Arsenal who are concerned and also if RVP signed a one year extension to his contract like Bale has Im sure you’d be more than happy.
A well written article! .. from a Spurs fan!
You don’t support Spurs, so you probably won’t have been across all the ins and outs as we are. First of Vertonghen is a virtual certainty, we can’t quite count our chickens, but I’d be stunned if it it didn’t happen. Expect it announced on Monday. Then we also have Siggurdson looking very likely. On the down side, we can equally count Modric as gone. Gallas looks like going to West Ham, Ledley to be given a coaching role. So with this in mind, and assuming we have AVB in place as coach here’s the team,as things stand, we have for next season:
Friedel (Gomes)
Walker (Naughton) Kaboul (Dawson) Vert (Caulker) BAE (Rose)
Sandro Parker Huddlestone
VdV (Sigurdsson) Defoe Bale (Lennon)
The worrying positions then are at GK, the Modric replacement, and in particular striker. I’m pretty confident that we’ll sign a decent target man, but until we do it’s a worry, and we don’t have anyone who can play the Modric role. Huddlestone would be a decent enough back-up, but that’s about it. Of course there’s also the likes of Pienaar and Gio Dos Santos on our books, but I’m not sure they’ll find a place in the squad.
Over all it’s a mixed bag, and next season will probably see us in transition. My hope s that we challenge for top four, and from that platform push on the following season.
Dan your a comic, we have never heard that one before. Phil good post – a few things Vertongan deal is pretty much done and he can play left back also Gallas will be sold and king coaching role so Vertongan/Kaboul/Caulker/Dawson. Full back’s as mentioned Vertongan cover for BAE and Naughton good back up for Walker we also have Smith who is a great young player. Centre Mid is fine even if we sell modric we have Sandro/Parker/Hudlestone/Livermore Jenas possibly unless we sell him Bale left Lennon right i would like wing cover then we have VDV and the incoming Sigurdson to play of the front man. Defoe impact player so a couple of good strikers and were pretty formidable hopefully we re-sign Adebeyour either permanent or on loan
Some of the article has reason to it, but a lot doesn’t – although that is expected when Spurs aren’t your club (they’re not, right?).
We need a young goalkeeper, but if needs be that reliable Brad is alright for another year. At RB we have Walker, Naughton and as another poster mentioned Adam Smith. As for the other side I’d expect Rose to be loaned out and when Vertonghen comes in he can play equally well at centre-back and left-back. I’d imagine we will line-up (injuries permitting) on the first day of the season: Brad, Walker, Kaboul, Vert, BAE. Caulker will be next in line (rotation) along with Dawson. Gallas will leave and King will stay at whatever capacity he wants.
As for midfield, with AVB, that means a solid 3-man midfield. Sandro is sure to start more next year and I’m sure Parker will be alongside him too (how is Parker not “International class” by the way? When we played Spain in a recent friendly at Wembley he was the MoTM – not bad against the current Euro and World Champions). We can put Gilfy in there too, a little more advanced. Bale on the left, Lennon on the right. Pienaar is good cover for both wings and once the likes of Bentley and Gio are off the wage bill, I’m sure top quality competition for Lennon and Bale will be brought in (although if VdV and Modric stay, they could play in either position, as well as that of Gilf).
As for strikers, well, no shit. We have Defoe. I would imagine that Adebayor will be brought back as City want to bring in RVP (ironically) and freeing Ade from their wage-bill is a necessity. I would expect that maybe even Damião could be brought in too.
Chelsea and Arsenal should be fearing us because with AVB we have a guy that at least has a clue about tactics. RDM won’t be able to match what he has already achieved and when Pep sounds out coming out of “semi-retirement” he’ll be swept in. And Arsenal have a reputation of selling their stars (with one year left on their contract, so how you can criticise Spurs for only adding a year to Bale’s is laughable – how long do Walcott and Jack Wilshire have on theirs? I’d imagine Theo is only one or 18 months at best, maybe Jack has a couple/three) to City, so the omens are not good.
(spurs fan) Cracking article, thought it was pretty well reasoned, but I agree with others who are saying that the group going for the CL will be Spurs, Liverpool, Newcastle, Chelski and Arsenal. 5 into 2 doesnt go so someone is gonna be disappointed. Disagree with you on Parker thought he was class all season and in the euro’s. Remember Arsenal only finished a point above us and had some terrible form earlier in the season, and it was only RVPs goals that kept you lot going. If RVP does go I don’t think Podolski will be enough to fill the gap, though Giroud looks a good signing. But I think RVPs poor Euro 2012 may put off potential suitors. Just please for the sake of football don’t sell him to City.
Well this article is alrite it makes some sense, spurs have the ball rolling, levy dosnet need 2 over spend cus we have a good squad of players verteloghn will be a spurs player so will siggurdson, we will have a replacement for modric if hes sold and also we will buy a new striker, i have full confidence in that. As for parker, parker was great last season, but if hes not we have sandro and sandro is a soild midfielder and hes quality, top 4 finish again this season.. we are acting slow in the transfer but then everyone knows what levy is like, he needs to find players the new manager wants and i know he will bring in the right ones.. we will be up there… YID ARMY
Don’t underestimate the Thudd, he will be a key player for Spurs & England this year. He makes us tick better than Modric, we need him, and alongside JW he could be key for Roy Hodgson.
Hahahahahahaha….typical bloody Arsenal. I think we will be just fine but thanks so much for your analysis…you must be the brains of your mob…lol…we gave you 3rd spot last season…you didnt win it. Redknapp lst the plot and thats why he’s been sacked. A more focused, tactically aware manager and we all know we would have wiped the floor with you. Good luck next season…but we wont need it thanks..lol
A fair article from an arsenal fan. I would say that lennon and parker were excellent for us last season and without Lennon’s injuries it may have ended differently. Huddlestone will be good to have in the sqaud as he can play the ball around late in the game if we need to keep the ball. I can see the usual morons from both clubs have been responding as im sure you expected. I am now waiting to see if it will be villas boas as manager and expect the media to give him a hard time, helped by our former manager giving interviews outside his sandbanks house from a car window.
Spurs fan here and I have to say this is a good balanced article (in my opinion) and not that far from my own thoughts. Would be looking to fuse Caulker with Kaboul just ahead of Dawson and depending on the Vertongen situation. With regards to Lennon and Huddlestone – a decent coach may actually improve those guys. I really wonder what Harry and his legion of genius’ did at the training ground!
Some spurs fans are stuck up morons but I’ve got a much better opinion of them now I’ve seen how most of them aren’t arrogant and bitter and accept how this article is in fact written impartially and the writer being a football fan and not just focusing his blog completely on Arsenal. Although, these certain moronic fans clearly can’t accept that fans might have an interest in rival clubs.
Arsenal to be relegated and Spurs to win the Treble, i think now i can be the little tots coach ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Cringe ……… Sure you Arse fans would be really understanding if we were to be bothered enough to write a piece about YOUR club …… especially when the writer tries but fails to understand the depth of quality young players Spurs possess but were never played by ‘Arry ……. and to actually call Spurs fans stuck up when writing from the library and eating prawn sandwiches IS a bit rich. I think that you should actually be surprised how even-tempered we are about your ‘interest’. Now, tell us some more about your role as a nursery for Manchester Citeh …………….?
51 years never again!
51 years never again!
51 years never again!
51 years never again!
North London is Red
North London is Reeee-ed
Fuck off to Stratford
North London is Red!
The wanky Tottenham Hotspur went to Rome to see the Pope
And this is what he said..FUCK OFF!!
Whose that team they call The Arsenal…!!
Where’s your man-ager
Where’s your Manager?
Arsene Wengers Red and White Army
We hate Tottenham!!
Forever in our shadow
Mind the Gap
A little early to analyse the spurs squad surely, with a new manager not being appointed yet? A similar look over Arsenals quad could suggest the same frailties of last year, however they have potentially just replaced their main striker who carried the team with two lesser ones, albeit who could both be assured players. The problem with Harry Redknapp, and why he had to go, was with his “season by season” transfers that didn’t particularly build for the future, and the majority of key players were already at the club before he came. So in some regards Damian Commoli’s hit and miss transfer policy was behind this, and even though he failed terribly at Liverpool, a return for a Director of Football system seems to be the answer for Spurs.
Interesting article. AVB will now be at a side where presumably player power will not be as destructive as last time out – so we will be able to assess how good he really is. A real gamble by Levy, who knows what the outcome will be. Replacement of Modric will be key.
Another season ahead for Spurs fans to say “We nearly…”
Though in the past it was “We nearly signed Rivaldo” and “We nearly signed Arshavin” or “We nearly finished above Arsenal.” – next season it will be “We nearly got into the Europa Cup” and “We nearly kept Modric”
Decent piece.I do love the banter but stopped punching gooners when I was in my twenties LOL.Agreed with a lot of what you wrote however we seem to have nothing but full backs out on lone.I can see Caulker with us next season and the other Kyle(who is predominantly right back tho’ he can do left)showed he’s ready for Spurs imo(the boy done good against your lot)Huddlestone is a lot better than you give him credit for,he was great a couple seasons back when we finished fourth and it was harder that year as the chavs were right up there and we were basically fighting for 4th with money bags,tbh ‘Arry fucked it up royally for us in the end with his lack of squad rotation and dodgy tactics accompanied by his thinking more about the National team.Vertonghen looks more likely to happen than not,I don’t see Ajax losing 10mill for the sake 1.5 and I can’t blame the lad for not having it.However if Luka does go he WILL need replacing but his fee should take care of that and at least some of our striker problems.Siguardsson is a good positive move which will give us more options on the right when Azza isn’t fit,notice how shyte we are when we lose our width.Van Der Vaart will probably go and if he doesn’t all the better.Gio would probably do better with a new manager ‘if’ he stays,he has got the skills,you only have to see how he plays for Mexico,obviously another product of ‘Arry’s selective man management abilities.It looks like Spurs will be playing in that 4-3-3 formation that AVB is so fond of and to be fair I think he’ll be able to get Spurs pulling it of a lot quicker and easier than the chavs(Sturridge could be on the cards too)It’s clear to see that Levy has good long term plans and ambition not to mention a spine that can more than stand up to the likes of Roman Abramovich.Cheers for the refreshing view point now you have my 2 penn’eth worth COYS!
Wonderful to see a few articles on Arsenal sites analysing Spurs in such a detailed manner. Does this show a lack of charisma in theior own team?
“kampala gun
June 30, 2012 at 10:59 am
Arsenal to be relegated and Spurs to win the Treble, i think now i can be the little tots coach ha ha ha ha ha ha ha” I quoted this as it must be so embarrassing to be an Arsenal fan with cretins such as this thinking it’s a grown up comment!!
Can understand Spurs fans reading this article as it clearly refers to their side but oh so many infantile and moronic posts from arsenal fans. Can this site please inform them how to get a life or out more often. Seems the regulars can be referred to as billynomates. Must find out if there’s a collective noun for them. perhaps it should be a pillock of billynomates.
@Totspurs
A bit like you jokers hey?
Van Persie this wenger that, Sagna this, Jesus that Moses this. Who gve a shit about who leaves. Everytime we had an amazing player we did so well after they left. So it really makes no difference for wenger, he will utilize whatever he has in his hands and get us above spurs all the time, which is the minimum requirement.
And then to think that in the next article the name Tottenham also will appear amongst other names… 🙂
Thanks to the Tottenham supporters who came here with reasoned arguments. The others well.. we all have them don’t we 😉
What those last didn’t know is that I had the choice of an article about Liverpool and Tottenham (thanks Phil for both of them) but thought that the Tottenham article would be nice on a sunny Saturday afternoon… well over here it is sunny.
Untold Arsenal has since its start always looked further than just Arsenal. Check us out in a few days (from Monday) when we start our full analysis of the refs in the PL.
We hate Spurs – from an Arsenal fan can I ask 2 things – how old are you (please say below 10 which is certainly your IQ) and what possessed you to embarrass yourself and our club by writing that when most on here are having a sensible discussion. What an idiot you are.
Mark – bet you loved reading it tho. So just for you
ALL TOGETHER NOW!!!
51 years never again!
51 years never again!
51 years never again!
51 years never again!
North London is Red
North London is Reeee-ed
Fuck off to Stratford
North London is Red!
The wanky Tottenham Hotspur went to Rome to see the Pope
And this is what he said..FUCK OFF!!
Whose that team they call The Arsenal…!!
Where’s your man-ager
Where’s your Manager?
Arsene Wengers Red and White Army
We hate Tottenham!!
Forever in our shadow
Mind the Gap
Why not read the article and make a sensible comment that isn’t embarrassing (if indeed you can read). What’s more they are not going to Stratford and they are glad their manager is leaving. Don’t care that you are an Arsenal ‘fa’. you are an idiot and judging by the fact that you didn’t say how old you are I assume you are old enough to know better and your IQ is in single figures. Grow up.
Nicely balanced post Phil. I always rated the Spuds as they try and play real Football like us and have the potential, still unrealized, to remain in the top 4 for years to come. Their squad always seemed to be disrupted and fluid, preventing them from building on their successful seasons to reach the top. Last season I though they had finally done it but I didn’t count on Redknapp’s disloyal and demeaning lack of commitment to his team. They are better off without him and maybe , as you say, a new manager will finally pull it all together. They do need to keep a manager as long as we have and that can be a problem, and they must promote youth talent like we do since they can’t expect to beat Cheatski and Shitty at their moneybags auction approach. I would love to see them come ahead of Cheatski,Liverpool,and Newcastle next season but behind us….the question will be whether United and City can repeat their success of last season.
I’m looking forward to the ref analysis whereby we ‘prove’ that Spurs were cheated out of third place by the referees. I have a gut feeling on that one but only because I think Arsenal were cheated out of second by the referees too!
Why bother with Spuds? Ain’t there something more interesting for you to write about? Come on, how about the fact that RVP is rubbish out of Arsenal.
Some intelligent and balanced analysis. Nice. As a spurs fan I would agree with most of that, except to say that I think Lennon and Huddlestone are underrated. I would certainly put them both on the walcott/arteta level (Huddlestone is simply not the all round defensive midfielder he is often billed as, he is a top class passer of the ball from deep..and not too much else)
Some of your THFC supporters are an embarrassment.
Go below if you wish to see some real gooner crap and leave this bloke alone: at least he tried unlike the moron below:
http://arsenalanalysis.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/tottenhams-breakdown-already-beginning.html
@Will
Ouch that analysis is bloody awful. Embarrassing in fact. Of course, we can but hope he’s right? 😮
@Will,
That’s not analysis, that’s just opinion. Analysis would be looking at the ‘Redknapp’ effect, their reliance on players who may/may not be there next season and the possible improvements the closest competitors could make.
For instance, Arsenal were over-reliant on RvP to secure 3rd, so we’ve gone out and bought two reliable goal scorers to add to our attack. Tottenham were perhaps over reliant on Adebayor (not a contracted player for next season yet) and so far not much has happened to change that but it’s a long window and anything can happen.
Last week at halftime of the Messi & Friends charity match, the local network played a telephone interview they conducted with Tottenham goalkeeper Huerelho Gomes.
Gomes said that he wanted to leave Tottenham and return to Brazil. He said that he thought he should be able to go for 1 or 2 million pounds, but that Tottenham would probably want 3 or 4 million or something closer to the 8 million they paid for him because they were desperate for cash.
Gomes said that Brazilian clubs wouldn’t be able to afford what Spurs would be asking for him, but he expressed his desire to leave, and hoped they would accept less.
The article is sound and well argued.
My view, however, in answer to the question,
“Spurs will be Spurs will be Spurs – but what exactly will that mean next season?”
is, a relegation battle.
Spurs, the team that likes to call itself the original north London team who last won the league when they were in Middlesex…