Spurs & Ledley King 2004-05 to 2010-11 Spurs With Ledley King Premier League 2004-05 to 2010-11 Played:138 Won: 66 Drawn: 33 Lost: 39 Record: 59.78% Goals Conceded: 160 Average Goals Conceded per Game 1.16 Points Won: 231 Average Points Won per Game: 1.67 Spurs Without Ledley King Premier League 2004-05 to 2010-11 Played: 128 Won: 45 Drawn: 40 Lost: 43 Record: 50.78% Goals Conceded: 166 Goals Conceded per Game: 1.3 Points Won: 175 Average Points Won per Game: 1.37 The difference in having Ledley King in the team adds about an extra 14 points and saves around 18 goals conceded over an entire season. And this doesn't take into account that generally, Ledders is saved for the most important matches. I have absolutely no doubt that if it wasn't for Ledley King's well documented injury problems, he would have established himself as one of England's finest ever central defenders. Full season by season details here... Ledley King
Its amazing how he can consistently go 6 months without playing a game and then turn in a performance that looks like he has never been away. How much are you paying him though?
The man is a freak according to Harry Redknapp, like Robin Van Fiberglass says to go months without playing to being man of the match on his return is amazing.
A fully fit Ledders & Woodgate would have been the England CB pairing stamped in gold - without doubt!
Such a shame. Without the lack of cartiledge in his knee he'd be the greatest English defender of the era.
I hate to agree with Lidls, but I think he's right. We have to think of the squad rules now and both King and Woodgate are essentially using up two places for very little return. They're both outstanding players when fit, but they're not available to play often enough to justify their places any more, sadly.
If only - we could have got 30 games a season out of him - can you not have players on a match by match fee who dont use up your "quota" ?
I agree, even if he plays just 5 leagues games, he will gain us points that we wouldn't get without him.
He'll also lose us points in games that we need a reliable centre-half for and don't have one, because he's used up a squad place and is injured.
We had them this season and yet we ended up with Bassong and Huddlestone playing at centre-half against Villa at WHL (though we still won), Bassong and Corluka against West Ham at the Boleyn and Bassong and Caulker v Arsenal in the Carling Cup, for example.
I see what you mean in the fact that if we have King and one of the others gets injured then we are in the sh*t but a fit Ledley King is head and shoulders above any of our other defenders. His performance against Liverpool shows the class of the man.
Is it worth having a player for a couple of games a season though, even if he is outstanding in those games? I don't think so. With the possibility of a large number of Europa League games and a larger focus on the domestic cups, with no CL to play for, you'd think that we'd need to get the most out of our 25 man squad. I think that Bale and Sandro now take up places, so we need to make some changes. For me, King and Woodgate should be let go, Kaboul needs to be seen as a centre-half first and emergency back-up for right-back and Bassong needs to be replaced. I'd like to see us go for an experienced Premier League defender, like Samba or Hangeland, but I can't shake the feeling that we'll go for a free, like Wes Brown, Matthew Upson or Sotirios Kyrgiakos. With Caulker probably going out on loan, I can see the sense in trying to bridge the gap, but I'm not sure whether it's the best idea for the club right now, rather than for the future.
