"the reason I'd like to see GDS is because I think it would be fun to see him playing with the first team" Haha! Yeah - I can sympathise with that. We all like to play with our new toys. It's always fun to see a new face in the team and to have that extra excitement to see what might happen. Maybe he's the new Ronhaldinho! Hmm - I'm pretty sure I'd have spotted it by now if he was, though.
One thing I hope we don't do is have Modders playing in the VDV role. We tried playing him off Bent in his first season, and it wasted his talents - Defoe, Kranjcar, Dos Santos, Pav, Coulibaly, Kane, Falque (in that order) are better options.
Oh - and one other thing. International records don't say anything about players' ability to cope with the EPL. You're average mid-table club in the EPL would probably be a relatively high-ranking international team. And international teams (especially ones that are fairly good for their region) rarely play other decent international teams. Mexico, this year have had the majority of their games against footballing giants such as El Salvador, Cuba, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Guatemala (the actual last five teams they played, along with a Colombian league side who they drew with). Someone could tell me that a player has played every game for, say, Japan or Australia in their recent ten-match undefeated streak and in all honesty I would still have no idea if they were good enough to play for a very good Championship team. International football is, for the most part, not terribly high quality compared to major European club leagues.
Yeah - but at the start of his first season pretty much everyone's talents were wasted, weren't they? Different players around him now, different coach, more used to the league and his teammates. In all honesty I've got very good reasons to think Modric could work in that role. I've only got pure optimism when it comes to GDS. Mind you - Modric doesn't really make/score many normally, does he? Maybe being further up the pitch and having Parker and Sandro behind him will change that.
Yes - it's a bit weird. Hang on a minute, though - you'd seriously rather have Coulibaly, who I personally have never seen play, or Falque, who's not looked terribly special against weak EL teams or PAV(!) (no description of that lump necessary) ahead of Modric behind the striker! Seriously? I'll give you this - I might want to start GDS ahead of Pav. Cos you definitely, definitely know what you're gonna get with Pav - sod all for 90 minutes. And maybe an excellent goal.
GDS is not good enough ATM for the Prem, and I think points are too important to let him have a run out 'for fun'. JD Livermore Pav and Sandro are in front of him currently from those who didn't start at Fulham, Niko will be presumably when he returns from injury, ditto Pienaar as he hits full fitness, it's a long way back for GDS now. It might be that Rose and Townsend might also get the nod in the front 6 ahead of him.
HD. I think GDS probably has a fair idea that he is way down the ranking order at Spurs. It's a shame we couldn't shift him out in the summer and get someone else instead, maybe this January?
We need to loan GDS to another PL side maybe someone like Bolton so he would get more games like what Arsenal did with Wilshere and Chelsea did with Sturridge.
I seriously hope Redknapp doesn't consider moving Modric forward to replace VdV. He's the heartbeat of the team and needs to play centre mid where he can influence the game as much as possible. I'd rather give him a rest than waste him by playing him out of position. I think that would be more beneficial to us in the long run. It should be 442 against Villa at home and if he's fit then Krancjar as a straight swap for VdV in away games or against the top teams at home.
I'm not a fan of 4-4-2, I'm looking forward to a 'loose' 4-2-3-1. I'd like to see Luka pushed forward a bit with Sandro and Parker being the key central mids.. If we go 4-4-2 v Villa, fine, I won't complain, but we risk getting swamped in mid, depending on how they line up, but also without Sandro, I fear we may be fragile at set plays.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...-vaart-confident-hell-be-fit-to-face-villa.do Rafael van der Vaart is confident he will be fit for Tottenham's game against Aston Villa on Monday despite injuring his hamstring while playing for Holland. The playmaker has been in outstanding form for his club this season and it was feared he might face a significant spell on the sidelines after he sustained the damage in a friendly against Switzerland last Friday. He will certainly miss Holland's clash with Germany in Hamburg tonight. Van der Vaart has suffered hamstring problems before, and missed Tottenham's 2-0 win over Wolves early in September after picking up a similar injury in the 5-1 thrashing by Manchester City in August. But the 28-year-old is optimistic about an instant return ahead of a scan this week. "We'll have to wait and see but it doesn't feel too bad," said Van der Vaart. "It feels like a tiny muscle rupture. I hope I'll be fit soon and I expect to play against Aston Villa." The Dutchman has scored six goals in Spurs' last six games, contributing to a run of seven wins and a draw in eight matches that has lifted Harry Redknapp's team to fifth in the table. Redknapp underwent heart surgery two weeks ago and missed his team's 3-1 victory at Fulham on November 6. It is thought a final decision has still to be taken on whether he will be present at White Hart Lane on Monday night. The 64-year-old is determined to return to work as quickly as possible but doctors' initial advice was that he rest for four to five weeks. Spurs, meanwhile, hope to have defender William Gallas available to make his first Premier League appearance of the season following calf trouble, while fellow centre-back Michael Dawson's Achilles problem is not as bad as first feared and he might return early next year.
Given van der Vaart's record against Villa, it's no surprise that he wants to play. Played 2, won 2, scored 4.
He plays in the same position, by and large - although I'm not sure how they accomodate Modric and Milan Badelj in the same team, given they're the exact same type player so one of them would have to take an advanced role. If VDV does play against Villa even with a knock, he probably shouldn't complain about being subbed after 60-odd minutes...
Quite surprised Badelj hasn't been snapped up already. We made a great bit of business getting Modric before the Euro '08 tournament and I'll be surprised if a club doesn't do the same with Badelj before the 2012 one (Should Croatia qualify that is, though it's doubtful they won't after the 3-0 win in Turkey).
One possibility is that the anti-GDS crowd knows more than I do about football. It is, I admit, a tempting conclusion, seeing as I'm a new fan. And it's probably quite correct. But there's something about seeing the way he toyed with Tim Howard and Dani Alves, and the way he was used as a poster boy for some Beeb column bemoaning the lack of creative British players like him that makes me think I might be right. That, and my excessive self-regard.
