Throughout my life Tottenham have never had a properly rounded squad. I’m approaching thirty now, and ever since I can remember there have been gaping holes in the first team and yet some positions have experienced overcrowding akin to rush hour on the Victoria Line. We are talking real feast and famine, and I cannot […]
Why can’t we get a squad together?
Throughout my life Tottenham have never had a properly rounded squad. I’m approaching thirty now, and ever since I can remember there have been gaping holes in the first team and yet some positions have experienced overcrowding akin to rush hour on the Victoria Line. We are talking real feast and famine, and I cannot fathom why.
Back in the mid-nineties the squad was, to be honest, s**t. Then, when David Ginola left, we had no left winger pretty much until Gareth Bale arrived. Under Martin Jol, when the team started to pick up, we had no left side, with the right footed Lee Young-Pyo literally covering the entire left side on his own, both offensively and defensively. Then there were the four out and out strikers (Berbatov, Keane, Defoe, Bent), only two of whom could realistically could start, which led to Defoe leaving the season before Berbatov and Keane buggered off, with Bent leaving once Defoe and Keane had returned.
We’ve had four right backs, only two strikers, and earlier this season four number one keepers! Right now we don’t have enough strikers or wide men, but plenty of central midfielders. We are never short on numbers, just short on the right numbers, and all in all it is a bizarre way to run a club.
This is hardly a secret, either. All Spurs fans, give or take, can agree that we need at least one more striker and a wide man, and quibble over other places. What I cannot understand is how someone like Daniel Levy, with his business acumen and awareness of making full use of the options available to him (okay, being a stingy bugger) can see us through window after window when there are massively obvious flaws in the team.
[linequote]We’ve had four right backs, only two strikers, and earlier this season four number one keepers![/linequote]
Last year we were in the title picture for about six months of the season. This season we have beaten City, United, Arsenal, Liverpool, come within minutes of beating Everton at Goodison Park, and, god willing, will beat Chelsea at the Bridge for the first time since God was a child. AVB has the tactical acumen that we lacked last year under Harry, while there is generally a good mix of youth and experience in the side and we have a good group of academy players coming through. However, while I believe we have players who can challenge for the title (if not win it), we don’t have the squad.
Let’s take the goalkeeping situation we had earlier in the season. We sign Lloris (the French captain, plenty of medals etc etc), and we have Friedel, the elder statesman, established Premier League keeper, coming to the end of his career. That’s grand, covers the bases. Great number one, reliable back up. Then you have Carlo Cudicini, okay, personally I don’t believe you need an experience number 3 keeper, if the youngsters aren’t good enough to sit on the bench in an emergency then why are they at the club, but whatever. Then you have Gomes as well! At best two of the four will play, and even then that causes problems with the media and fans (I think Lloris should have come into the Europa League side after the Lyon games). The other two don’t get a look in, they sap wages, and divert valuable resources away from areas of the squad that need addressing.
[linequote]While I believe we have players who can challenge for the title (if not win it) we don’t have the squad.[/linequote]
If we offload Gomes in the summer then that situation will be resolved, but the fact is it should never have happened in the first place! Take our midfield conundrum – AVB could name more central midfielders in our squad than Harry Redknapp could (and does) blame for QPR’s demise! You’ve got Sandro, the backup to Sandro, Scott Parker, the backup to the backup Jake Livermore, then Tom Huddlestone, Mousa Dembele, Lewis Hotlby, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Tom Carroll, even Dempsey and Vertonghen could play there in an emergency. Then beyond that you have Massimo Luongo and other young players – how are those players ever going to get an opportunity at the club with a plethora of established pros ahead of them? And that’s without considering an additional playmaker that we have clearly lacked this season.
We all know the issues up front, and a team of our quality and ambition should never have to resort to playing Clint Dempsey as the only striker. As honest and determined as the American, and as crucial as some of his goals have been, he is not of the required quality to be the lead striker, and his signing smacks of the kind of panicked/opportunistic transfer policy we sometimes see from Levy.
By not committing himself and the club to sealing the final piece of the jigsaw, we always end up having to fix a leak rather than plumb in the en suite. We didn’t strengthen last year and we lost van der Vaart and Modric. Instead of adding a world class striker to the team (in addition to keeping Adebayor or signing another forward) we have to address the lack of creativity in midfield (which we did not truly do, as great as Dembele has been). By the time we get round to signing that terrific number 9 we’ll have to find a replacement for Bale, then when we get that replacement Lloris, Vertonghen, Kaboul, or Sandro will have moved to one of the world’s great teams and we will forever be playing catch up.
We as a club have done so much right but we always come up short just when it matters. There is always an area of the first team that needs fixing, but instead we spend our resources on stop gaps and short term fixes, forever chasing the Promised Land.
We have a talented, young manager. We have a player in Gareth Bale who is on the cusp of being one of the best players in the world. We have some star players like Lloris, Vertonghen, Sandro, Lennon, and with some very strong players supporting them. We have exciting young players too. All we need is one summer with purposeful investment, not half measures. Get rid of the remaining dead wood, invest in a top striker and perhaps a winger or true creative playmaker. You can probably add a left back in there as well given the question marks over Benny at the moment.
This is the moment. This is our chance. If we are serious about taking the next step then we need to, finally, get together a squad, full of quality and with the full range of options. It will not take much and I believe if we can do that, if we can add the one or two unique players we need, then we can fulfil our potential and bring back glory to the Lane. If we don’t, then come 2014 we may well be waving goodbye to a star player or two and waving goodbye to our chance to really become a top team.
To Dare is To Do, and this summer Levy needs to dare a little more. If we come up short this summer then I fear we will forever be just outside the elite. I do not want this to be as good as it gets. As a wise man once said: ‘It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory.’ COYS!
[author name=”Alan Frost” avatar=”https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-lnU2nXBuXxY/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAACI/wVVWZD5QOWA/s250-c-k/photo.jpg” twitter=”AlanFrost_HT” website=”block31.blogspot.co.uk” tag=”AlanFrost[/linequote]
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12 Comments
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01/05/2013 @ 9:40 pm
“Get rid of the remaining dead wood, invest in a top striker and perhaps a winger or true creative playmaker” If only it was that easy to get a 50k a week Bentley of the books if only someone would buy Gomes If only we could get a £20 million pound striker to come to a club without champions league football and without giving him top dollar that other clubs will offer them. You make out it is easy, you talk about how unbalance our squads have been in the past 20 years and you are right they have been but we haven’t got the money a Manchester United have just to spend £15m here and £15m there just in case someone gets injured.
It will never change and until the new stadium is built and we have a sugar daddy owner we will never have a United squad who can challenge for the title and that I just a fact. I’m sure Levy would spend these so called millions on a great striker but clearly he hasn’t got the money to do that. If any of this could come true what you have been talking about in this article we need the money from the champions league which is unlikely in my opinion so I wouldn’t expect and unbelievable players this summer and if Bale does leave don’t be surprised to only see half of the money reinvested.
We will never be a major force until we have been taken over and that is just some us the fans have to accept.
02/05/2013 @ 10:17 am
sad, but true…
02/05/2013 @ 1:47 pm
To be fair with the money situation, the owners are amongst the richest in the league but choose to invest little into the club especially with the Northumberland Project and the new training ground
01/05/2013 @ 10:57 pm
Levy and enic simple as that. Just look at the way bayern have been building this team, if they need a defensive mid they pay the 40 mil for martinez, if they want another attacking mid they pay the 35 mil for gotze. Now obviously we can’t pay that but there ain’t no excuse for a club like spurs to pay 25 mil every summer for one top player in a position we need to strengthen even with the new stadium. And levy won’t do that he’d rather get two 10 mil players who are quick fix or sell on potentials
01/05/2013 @ 10:57 pm
Ahahahaha
We will never stop tapping up your players
Carrick, Berbatov, Modric and now Bale
Who will we choose next?
02/05/2013 @ 2:30 am
How’s Modric doing over at United these days? Oops FAIL! Carrick and Berbatov? Let’s be clear Levy had Fergie for lunch, getting 50 million for the pair. Berba was a flop and Carrick has taken an age to bed-in. When it came to Modric you couldn’t even get close to affording him and even now it’s the same talk when it comes to Bale…begging with scraps and offering a whole sack load of players in exchange. 20 million for a 30 year old with a year on his contract? Do the math on Bale and then remind yourself you’ll have to pick up the phone to Levy lol. Stick to dreaming about signing Falcao this summer…who you also can’t afford ;-)
02/05/2013 @ 12:51 am
bale didn’t play as a winger under martin jol. i couldn’t read any more of your article after this.
02/05/2013 @ 1:36 am
It is funny that, how we always have four keepers and no defence, or a dozen midfielders and no attackers. Saying that, I think we have a few decent looking players ready to break through during pre-season and challenge the first-team for a regular run. The last couple of seasons, Kyle Walker and Steven Caulker have emerged. This next season, I think it’s time for Ezekiel Fryers, Danny Rose and Andros Townsend. To have so much youth and energy to fill the gaps of the squad up will do nicely overall, but we’re obviously still in need of a few transfers both in and out of White Hart Lane.
02/05/2013 @ 7:45 am
I think we are getting there. I believe Andros needed a loan to get some games, and he has been the rose in the heap of sh*t that QPR currently are. The hope is he comes back a better player for it. You add the “rumours” of tom Ince, we suddenly have great cover with four wingers. A striker is needed, as someone above mentioned, Rose will hopefully return looking more accomplished, basically, the signing of a striker and winger leaves us with two players for every possition all of a sudden and a young abitios squad to boot. We will probably see the back of Gallas, Gomez and Bently, I think their contracts expire in the summer, the three are big earners. Jenas has gone (although we are still paying part of his wages.).
If the money was mine, I would buy a top quality striker and a wininger that is either young or can play either striker or winger in the mould of a Remy/Hulk. Perhaps swap BAE for an alternative left back if the rumours are true, but that is it. I’d rather Carrol play a bigger part in midfield next season as the creator than spend crazy money on a 26 year old Moutinho, I think he would be excellent in a three with Sandro and Dembele – I would even like to see a midfield three of Parker, Holtby and Siggy – those 6 players have youth on their side (leaving aside Parker) and I beleive are creative and combative enough, there are excellent options in there. Leaves Hudd and Livermore to perhaps move on.
I think, we are the closest we have ever been to the complete squad you want
02/05/2013 @ 9:14 am
I agree that there are areas that clearly need strengthening, but the areas you identified aren’t really as big a problem as perhaps you suggest.. Cudicini was transferred and Gomes went on loan to Hoffenheim, so neither sapped wages. The four right backs you’re referring to I assume were Walker, Naughton… Kaboul maybe? Adam Smith? Kaboul can play right back, but let’s be honest, that’s not his primary position. Adam Smith is a youngster, coming through the ranks, sent out on loan, Naughton is a great option on the bench as he can come on for left or right back and Walker is the first choice starter. I don’t see how that is too many. It seems adequate cover to me. In terms of strikers, you say we only have two, but we only play one out and out striker anyway, then have a deep lying striker, like Dempsey, or Bale, or Siggy behind. Chelsea have only two strikers, and earlier this season only had one. They even sent out Lukaku on loan and Torres had to cover the first half of the season by himself. When you only play one out and out striker, leaving two out is just going to cause problems. I think the biggest problem is the lack of cover for Lennon, but to be fair I think our squad, despite being smaller than last year, is more rounded and dynamic and flexible. Everyone swaps positions constantly.
02/05/2013 @ 9:34 am
it seems some of us Spurs fans have short memories. Just a few years back we were struggling to finish mid-table, and now we want the world and we want to spend big to get there. I’m kind of proud of the way our mishapen squad battles through to finish fourth and fifth, despite our lack of resources. I don’t want to see our club turn into a Chelsea (who we finished above last season, lest we forget) Money doesn’t make a winning squad. Man Utd never spend anywhere as much as Chelsea and City and look what they’ve achieved. Let’s just focus on playing great football and enjoy it, there’s plenty of time to evolve as a club.
08/05/2013 @ 6:51 am
The only thing is …. we aint playing great football by any stretch of the imagination – in fact there is no imagination in our football. Two seasons ago everyone was referring to the strength in depth of the spurs squad but look at us now …..
No strikers, no left back, lack of pace in CB positions, lots of midfield players – little quality (Dembele – great to watch but effective?).
But we haven’t got the money …. neither have Swansea but look at the football they can play
To Dare Is To Do – we have lost our mojo. The players heads are filled with tactics and positioning – they have forgotten to go out and express themselves.
I am spurs through and through but on the evidence of the last two seasons we are going backwards – don’t let the league position fool you.
Without Bale just do the math.