Have Tottenham fallen foul of the ‘Big Fish in a Small Pond Syndrome’ again?

Say the names David Bentley, Darren Bent, Sergei Rebrov and Bobby Zamora to any Spurs fan and they’re likely to either a) laugh in your face or more likely b) give you a response along the lines of ‘what a waste of money’ (probably with a few expletives thrown in for good measure).

Both responses are completely valid for two reasons; Bentley, Rebrov and Bent arrived at Spurs with reputations bigger than their transfer fees warranted, and Zamora came with the tagline ‘double promotion winning wonder striker’ (I paraphrase). But what all 4 have in common is they were massive flops at White Hart Lane; with all 3 of the strikers barely making it to double figures goals-wise, and Bentley providing little to get excited about (bar that goal against the goons).

The worrying scenario unfolding at The Lane this season is that we’ve done it again, gone out of our way and paid too much for more big fish from small ponds. The players in question are Sigurdsson and Dempsey. You may be drawn into thinking Sigurdsson hasn’t had the opportunities afforded to Dempsey, but Gylfi has made more appearances than his American colleague (GS 29 and CD 28). The fact remains that compared to their respective 2011/12 seasons both players are under performing.

What could the reason for this drop in form be? Both players haven’t been injured, both seem to have integrated into the squad OK. Could it simply be they were never good enough in the first place? Could Levy have been duped into thinking they were worth the fuss? With Liverpool sniffing around both players during the 2012 summer transfer window it could easily be theorised that Spurs simply got caught up in the press furore about two good, but not exceptional, players.

You may think I am being harsh with Dempsey, after all he has scored very important goals this season (I direct your attention to both games v Man Utd), but when you look at his chance conversion rate it’s simply not good enough (vs Leeds in the FA cup at least 5 chances for his 1 goal, one chance being an open goal). When Dempsey gets the ball in the box he displays as much composure as a teenage boy about to get lucky for the first time, he simply rushes and ends up spurning chance after chance, until he simply cannot miss. When you consider Swansea signed Michu for £2m, we could’ve done better.

What results from our solid start to this season remains to be seen; will we bring in one of the big name strikers we’ve been linked with this January, or will we be made to make do with the mishmash of Defoe, Dempsey, Adebayor (who looks like he’s only here for a holiday) and Sigurdsson? I trust in AVB, and at the moment I trust in the Chairman, but that trust could quickly evaporate if we fail to make the Champions League for the want of a striker.

[author name=”Rob Apple” avatar=”https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/1167669498/210494189.jpg” twitter=”bobby_apple” tag=”RobApple[/linequote]