This is the crux SF, most Spurs fans didn't see him as injury-prone, but now PL via an Evertonian tells us he was. I guess some research is needed to establish the truth one way or another. Not that I'm doubting PL's Evertonian relative, but it seems odd how little it was picked up by Spurs fans prior to SP's signing. I never once saw a post or article calling him injury-prone then, even though many didn't want him.
Checking his appearances for Everton during his time there would suggest not. He managed 40, 35 and 38 games during his three full seasons there and 20 in the first half of last season, before joining us.
I think blunt more so than harsh. He signed in Jan, has played a handful of games when fit (most of them he's started), not impressed in the time he has played, been injured for too long and too frequently - it's just negative after negative. I haven't seen anything positive from the guy to even suggest that given time, he'll come through and show he's a good player and that he's worthy of a place in the squad, that's why I'm coming across abrupt. Add the fact that Townsend and Carroll, who play left wing and attacking mid repectively, both positions that Pienaar is known for (I think) have looked far better when called upon, the fact they're also products of our academy means I'd rather see them get the chances now over him to aid their development and help us in the long run, lets not forget Pienaar is nearly 30 now, he's not going to be part of our long term plans and at his age, I don't see there being much room for improvement. Anyway rant over I'm off for tonight, time for a little evening run (oh how I love the cold nights!!!) night folks!
Cheers for the info PNP, so I guess PL needs to talk to his Evertonian relative At east it backs up my and most Spurs' fans feeling that he wasn't injury-prone and therefore, for me anyway, it was a good purchase. Quite why we have such an injury 'curse ' on us baffles me.
Have we missed him?...no...has he brought anything to the team when he has played...no...I have no idea why we bought him.
I think he performed an important role in both legs against AC Milan. He has a work rate that we simple don't get with Niko and his versatility is useful too.
If he can actually get fit and put in some game time, then we might be able to render a meaningful judgement on him. At the moment he's just using up space in our squad, though. The competition for the left wing spot is extremely fierce, so he'll have to do a hell of a lot to even get into contention for a regular starting place. A few games in the Europa League would be a start.
He was a mild improvement on what we had at the time, Jenas, Bentley etc. I don't think thats the case any more...just my opinion.
Adding to the Everton comparison, Arteta was a standout player for them, but looks abit lost in a Goon shirt. Didn't realise he was 30 in March either, its possible his best days are behind him. I agree a few seasons ago he was decent, the harsh reality just maybe...was. Wouldn't be the first time we bought a player at the wrong end of his career.
Have we missed him?...YES...has he brought anything to the team when he has played...YES... We bought him because he was a good, Prem-proven player at a cheap price.
Pienaar was only effective because of his work rate, he's nearly 30, injured alot, body can't keep up perhaps? If he's not injured and not being picked, just might it be he's not good enough at the moment in training. You can wobble on about one decent game last year all night, that was then and I'm not disagreeing either, but its about now. If you're refusing to acknowledge any of the above as even a remote reason for the OP's question, then we'll just leave it there.
Hi Notso, I can see the point you're making to SF (presumably). However, don't you think it would be strange if SP was fit, that he couldn't even make the bench v Rubin? Maybe Pienaar has been so hopeless in training that he couldn't be picked, but it's hard to see how a Prem-proven player like him, could go downhill so quickly, unless he was having fitness problems. I wouldn't rule out your hypothesis and it would certainly explain the OS silence, because obviously they're not going to say, 'Pienaar is fit but has become useless'. However OS silence on injured players is fairly common, so it's so hard to know what's going on, which I find irritating.
In response to the statement I made previously re fitness issues. I contacted the Evertonian in my family - apparently SP used to play quite a few games when injured, not enough to sideline him though. Maybe this is the reason he has always been injured at Spurs the previous injuries hadn't had time to heal properly or caused other areas to weaken. He said his versatility should be his plus and when fully fit a good team player. Hope that clears it a bit.
Morning all! For some reason David Bentley just springs to mind after I read that sentence G10 . Also not sure if anyone else has seen this, but on the 28th Sept, Pienaar said on his twitter account: "Training went excellent today and I'll be in the squad for tomorrow's game! Hopefully I cam get some minutes" Meaning he was hoping to be selected for the Shamrock game, after that, there was Arsenal, Newcastle, Rubin and Blackburn. He hasn't mentioned anything about another injury (not that he has to either) so perhaps there is a possibility that he's just not being selected. There are no other "tweets" after that one that suggest he's still injured, he just talks about Bafana Bafana. Here's his account for anyone who's interested: http://twitter.com/#!/therealstevenpi **Just for the record I do NOT follow him, nor I do even have twitter , just thought I'd search him and see if he could shed any light on his absence.
