If Harry stays or Harry goes, whomever it is in charge needs to look at our squad and work out what is going on with it. There are too many players that are either left our, not used in rotation or not good enough: Jermaine Jenas David Bentley Niko Kranjkar Huelho Gomes Vedran Corluca Jermain Defoe Giovani Dos Santos Danny Rose Seb Bassong Carlo Cudacini There are probably others, but these are the main ones. If Harry is to stay, then he needs to clear these guys out as he obviously doesn't fancy them. They are costing us money and are never being used. I think some should stay as I genuinly believe Charlie and Niko when fit and confident are class. They could add variety, and Charlie links up superbly with Lennon, which would allow Bale and Walker a rest (should we be going with some peoples perfurred 4-2-3-1 with one winger) and possibly VDV is Niko hits form again. At the very least they can be used as game changing tactical subs. Talent aside, Harry is not using his full squad, which at the moment is causing massive burn out imo. We may not get champs league, but we deffinatly do have a squad capable of going for the Europa League...and so we should! Gomes is fine as a number 2, and for the CC and Europa league (if we don't sell him) especially for those long trips to Russia etc. But bringing in players that have been playing as numbers 2's is a far better situation then saying "oit Niko, I and the first teamers don't really fancy this trip abroad, so you n the kids are going...good luck". Even this year we only just went out, playing kids and squad players. What is the point of qualifying of we are not going to fight for it? Better to win Europa leagues and Carling Cups, then qulify for the champs league and get beaten in my opinion. Anyway, I know there is still a way to go this year, but whoever is in charge needs to revamp the squad regardless of this years finish. there is alot of potential, and even if we lose bale and Modders, the money can be re-invested (look at L'pool buying Enrique and Suarez and Newcastle buying Cabaye, Ba and Cisse) but we need to start acting like a big team and going for every competion not just the ones we fancy.
As I've said in another thread, if we're going to clear out the squad - Bentley, Jenas, Bassong, Dos Santos and Gomes certainly seem set to leave, with the possibility of King, Gallas, Corluka and Defoe joining them - we should bring up a couple of youngsters (especially Caulker and Townsend), as well as signing some young talent who won't go directly into the squad in August, but can come into the squad in March to give the team an adrenaline boost when they need it most. Squad rotation was a problem last season, and continues to be this season - we've totally mishandled Sandro and Kranjcar this season, and probably would have done the same with Huddlestone if he was available. The irony that the time when the squad players would've been most likely utilised, the Europa League and early stages of the Carling Cup, coincided with a whole swathe of them being injured meant we fielded a lot of Academy players. Seriously, how many players made their debuts in those competitions this season?
I'd love to see Caulker replace Ledders. I think Gallas and Defoe still have a role to play. Gallas in the CL/EL especially.
Agree with the list Guru bar Rose and Defoe. Defoe, in my opinion is a great finisher and has been really unlucky this season to not get more time and Rose has been handy to have as an understudy to Benny and can also fill in on the wing if needed. I'd add Pienaar on the list to ship out too, he's proved great at Everton but he's been cack for us and providing we keep our main players, will never really get much game time in the squad.
We've been trying to sell some of those players for over two years now, we'd do well to sell half of the players that are deemed surplus. Anyway, it still looks like 'Arry may be leaving in the summer so no doubt any new manager brought in will be given the chance to run the rule over the players 'Arry didn't rate, before selling.
I wasn't saying they should all go, just that something needs to be decided on them. Is Rose a LB or a winger? because he is not really being utilised as either at the moment. Yid, completely agree. Been saying the same thing for ages now, but if we dont use players their value drops or people don't want them. So we are stuck with them.
I'd keep most of them unless they are demanding first team football. The reality is that Jenas and Bentley will still be Tottenham players when Modric has gone.
See where we finish and who the manager is first, for me. If we were to nick a CL place and Moyes were to take over from Redknapp, for example, then I couldn't see us moving Pienaar on.
A couple of seasons ago, our push for fourth was boosted when a couple of players - Pavlyuchenko and Kranjcar - hit a vein of goalscoring form when they were given a run of games. Yet somehow this hasn't been taken on board by 'Arry, leading to the issue that the first team is burnt out whilst their replacements are rusty. As for Rose, he's a utility player - he can play on the wing, at left back, or in central midfield.
Best possible team: -------------Friedel--------------- Walker Kaboul Vertonghen BAE Hazard---Modric---Parker---Bale --------------VDV----------------- -----------Llorente--------------- Worst possible team: ---------------Friedel--------------- Naughton---Kaboul---Gallas---BAE -------Sandro----Parker------------ Lennon------Kranjcar---------Pienaar -------------Defoe-------------------
To a large extent it's Levy who decides who gets 'cleared out'. An example is GDS who I'm sure Harry wanted 'out' but, AFAIK, Levy refused to sell him 'on the cheap'.
We could've sold him to Udinese last summer, but GDS was holding out for a move to Sevilla that never materialised. Then, in January, Villarreal offered £6.5m - which is a profit of £2m on what we paid for him - but we rejected the offer, possibly because of a selling-on fee.
Possibly. But I think we would be able to hold onto them. That first team should seriously challenge for the title on paper, but it never seems to work like that does it.
Football isn't played on paper. If it was, the FA would scribble all over your work and write "We say Man Utd will win the title and there's nothing you can do about it" in marker pen over it...
Yep. And then if you go down to the worst possible team, I haven't included any of those, for exactly that reason. 4th is so important to us this year.
We've been in discussions about Vertonghen since January and, in theory, the move will take place in the summer. For a change, can we sort it out early, rather than at the last possible moment?
