If it’s a start, it’s a Very Good™ one

The stench left behind by a collection of disagreeable results lingers in our nostrils, and the sound of the January transfer window rumour mill slowly churning back into life is already humming in our ears. For many, this smoggy atmosphere seems to have inspired a bit of soul-searching – or squad searching, if you will. Are our players really good enough to achieve what we want them to? Do we expect too much from what are actually mediocre players? Who or what is missing?

Much of the discussion I’ve observed has focused on the previous window, where AVB got his first opportunity to de-weed Harry’s ageing squad and start planting his own fresh crops (well, that was the theory). It’s now mid-November, and it’s still too early to make a definitive judgement of our dealings during that window, but I can say with clarity now that we definitely sold Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart. That happened. Trust me. How much choice AVB or indeed the club as a whole realistically had over these sales is up for debate, but one way or another two of the three Spurs players most likely to be called ‘World Class’™ moved on.

Fine. Well, not ideal really, but we can look past that if they are replaced properly. João Moutinho was… never mind; to cut a long and well-known story short, neither Modric nor van der Vaart were replaced with players of similar class. That left Gareth Bale as our only World-Class-or-near-enough player, prompting some fans to wonder: maybe the squad isn’t all that great anymore?

Maybe. But it’s very good, and likely to get better. I mean, it’s nice having lots of certified World Class players in the squad but let’s be honest, Tottenham Hotspur’s current aim is to cement itself as a top four club. And that target allows a little bit of leeway: you can finish in the top four without lots of World Class players as long as you have plenty of Very Good™ ones. That’s enough for now. And once you have assembled such a squad you can then think about upgrading it.

[linequote]During rocky spells it’s easy to doubt the ability in the squad, and to overstate the influence of departed players. But I don’t think it takes Lilywhite-tinted goggles to see that the raw ingredients are there[/linequote]

The squad certainly seemed to be at that level under Harry. We were ready to push on, to improve. To add to our World Class triumvirate, dammit, not break it up! Unfortunately, that squad of last season was never going to be sustained. It was a short-term fling, y’know? Ledley’s career was in its twilight; Modric was on borrowed time; Adebayor was only on loan; squad depth was provided by elderly stop-gaps. And, most crucially, the manager seemed to be operating on a season-by-season basis in the eyes of the chairman. Whether the end came via the England job, the court case, the wrath of Levy of simply old age, you never felt Redknapp was destined to be here for years to come.

And so it falls to the much younger Villas-Boas to restart the process. The mission: build a squad of Very Good (or better) players capable of finishing in the top four, before attempting to take the next step. But, this time, give yourself long enough to do so before the squad falls apart. We have good reason to believe (and certainly every reason to hope) that Daniel Levy has appointed a manager that he will back for the long haul, and the playing staff being assembled seem to have the long-term in mind too.

Let’s look at some of the players we did sign in the Summer. Lloris, Vertonghen and Dembele were all signed to be able to play in the first team for many years to come (they’re all 25) in positions that had been or would soon be weakened by the loss of first team regulars. The hope is that they can progress into world beaters in the coming seasons, but they are already at such a level (i.e. Champions League quality) that we ought not to worry about filling these three key positions next season, or the season after, or the season after… save for serious injury or ‘throwing-a-Modric’, of course.

Three Very Good players, then, to add to those of similar ilk left over from last season. Sandro, Kaboul, Lennon, and the permanently-signed Adebayor are all young enough to be around for the next few years at least. Add in Gareth Bale and that makes eight pretty formidable, Champions League quality players I’ve just highlighted, and I feel like even that’s being pretty stingy. In fact, most of the players who contributed anything significant to last season’s top 4 finish remain: BAE, Walker, Parker, Defoe… When you consider the exciting possibility that the Caulkers, Naughtons, Carrolls and Falques of this world might yet turn out to be Very Good, there is a strong argument that this team has enough quality in it to be top 4 contenders for years to come.

During rocky spells it’s easy to doubt the ability in the squad, and to overstate the influence of departed players. But I don’t think it takes Lilywhite-tinted goggles to see that the raw ingredients are there – there are enough Champions League quality players in this squad if you look for them (if you’re still struggling, try the treatment table).

[linequote]I can say with clarity now that we definitely sold Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart. That happened. Trust me.[/linequote]

Of course, the current first team certainly lacks a bit of sparkle compared to last year’s.
The decrease in World Class talent is noticeable, and the creative midfield area has not been replaced by a Moutinho-like mega-signing. What the Summer transfer window did do, however, with a little help from our improving youth policy, was fix the other holes in Harry’s short-term squad pretty damn quickly and efficiently. We might be a bit worse off in terms of sheer quality, but we gained significantly in youth and longevity (which incidentally puts 29 year-old Clint Dempsey’s arrival at odds with the general trend happening at White Hart Lane – perhaps it’s no wonder he’s struggling to fit in at the moment).

And here’s the exciting part: with longevity comes the chance to genuinely improve the squad in the coming transfer windows. There will always be holes in need of plugging (cough STRIKER cough), as is the case with any team. But the holes at goalkeeper and centre back, for instance, have been sealed for the long-term, not just patched up. Which means that bringing in World Class players rather than serviceable good or Very Good ones in problem positions starts to become a priority, not a luxury.

It’s a regeneration process, and the phrase ‘two steps forward, one step back’ comes to mind. The Harry Redknapp era regeneration began after the sales of Berbatov and Keane, but he still inherited a stronger squad than Martin Jol did, and went on to achieve great things. The AVB era regeneration began after the sales of Modric and van der Vaart, but he still inherited a stronger squad than Harry Redknapp did, and there is no reason why he can’t go on to achieve even greater things. If (and it’s a big if) everyone at Spurs is serious about progressing, then the squad we were left with at the beginning of September was just the start. And if this squad is just the start, it’s a Very Good one, don’t you think?

[author name=”BoxBat” avatar=”https://www.thefightingcock.co.uk/forum/data/avatars/l/0/263.jpg?1349590890″ twitter=”” website=”” tag=”BoxBat[/linequote]