I think Hudd is nowhere near good enough to play Prem CB. He's not good in the air, he's not good at tackling, he's got no pace. I think it would be awful if Hudd played at CB for us v Palace or Swansea. I think any set of Prem attackers would love the idea of lining up against us with Hudd at CB.
I remember transfer deadline day when we signed Van Der Vaart and I was still living with my parents I ran through to the living room and went "SPURS SIGNED VAN DER VAART" and they just turned to me and went "okay.. on football manager or real life I never know which you are talking about"
The only time that I can remember Huddlestone playing at centre-half for us was in a 2-1 win over Villa in 2010, when he partnered Bassong. Hutton played at right-back, so that tells you how ****e Villa were!
I agree none of us know re Kaboul. What we DID know is we had ONE, yes ONE, fit CB when we sold Caulker. So if a club is capable of making a mistake of this magnitude, I wouldn't rule out Kab not being the same player ever again on the strength of that patently mistaken transfer. And IF, there were complelling reasons why Caulker had to go when he did, then we should have had someone else in already. The whole scenario is a fiasco and mismanagement of a depressingly high order.
He's played there twice before in the League, one of them against Burnley where we won 5-0. Can't remember the other. He initially started his career at CB for Derby so he's got natural defensive instincts. Providing he's partnered with someone like Daws, I think we'd be ok against Palace. We're bound to be after a new CB anyway, so good chance if we haven't got one by Palace, then I reckon we'll have one for Swansea. If not then questions marks seriously need to be raised (not that they weren't already) over the sale of Caulker.
Fair enough SOS, you have the facts to hand, at least re Burnley, so I won't dispute that. I think he'll be poor/hopeless as a CB if he plays v Palace or any other Prem oppo, but we'll wait and see. Or in my case hope that we wait and don't see A lot of people moan that Daws is slow, but Daws and Hudd! Playing the high line! **** me, won't the tide go out on that one pretty quick In any case I don't think Daws will play v Palace. To me the serious question marks started when Jan wasn't 'replaced' within a week/fortnight of his injury I don't think it's a case of question marks any more, It's a fait accompli, a full-on Spurs fiasco coming your way any time soon and calling at South London in twelve days time.
Kaboul is still on restricted training, so he is yet to complete full training sessions with the team, no chance Palace, Swansea a remote possibility...if I were you, I'd choose someone else for your game.
Don't get me wrong Greavesy I'm ****ting my pants at the thought of Hudd there but out of the options we have, I think he's the best of a bad bunch. Haha it's fair to say if Daws and Hudd do start, Hugo's definitely going to need to be on his toes! I do think Daws will play though, otherwise I'm amazed the club hasn't recalled Khumalo and/ or Hall (providing we can?) if there are serious doubts about Daws featuring.
So who do you think we should buy, and who do you think would come? Do you want to buy a top class centre back for the three weeks we might need them, then pay them silly money for the rest of their contract? How do we sell the opportunity - "come to Spurs and you'll be in the first team for three weeks, it's just to cover for the three other guys who are ahead of you". How much money do you want to spend for what we are going to get. And how do you know that Caulker wasn't angling for the move, not happy with being 4th choice? The trouble with these assertions is that it doesn't take into account real people and their cost.
Well, we do now need a caulker replacement so someone of vertonghen's quality is what we should be looking for. Sakho of psg, vlad the impaler, there are plenty of options if we act fast! Kaboul is still injured for god knows how long, and Dawson doesn't look like being "first choice" but judging by last year is very happy to stay in a rotational role! We should be looking for a starter
Hi SOS I admire your optimism, but isn't it fair to say that Khumalo isn't Prem calibre, as for Hall I know nothing about about him except he's a young CB. My assumption is Spurs thought Vlad was 'nailed down' (boom boom ) Now they are desperately scouring here, there and everywhere for defenders, but guess what prices will be high, and rise even higher as our desperation becomes more apparent. My guess is they're keeping schtum on Daws because it's a bad one and they don't want people to know about it. May be wrong, but as I keep saying Espanyol will tell us so much more. Not the result so much, the Spanish may just go through El motions, but who plays CB and LB, first half/second half.
That's your opinion not mine, there's nothing more to say if you think that about my view. I await Palace and the final table come May to see who has the valid opinion, me or you. My money's on me
Did anyone notice on the bbc live sports day page that there was a discussion about whether City need to dive into the market because Nastacic (or whatever his name is) is out for 4 weeks, while they've still got Kompany and Lescott and whoever else? We've got ZERO centre backs at this point in time
Hi KOL. Have to disagree, Dawson was first choice last season after AVB finally saw sense. And would have been first choice this season too. Indeed he would have been our captain, AGAIN! He didn't have a rotational role, IIRC, he was our captain and leader, so of course he was happy with that. Gallas was on his way out and Dawson is clearly superior to Caulker, and it seems AVB finally discovered that too. Now he's injured, we're seriously ****ed, not just just for his playing ability but his leadership. It's not just CB BTW we have massive problems, it's LB too. As it stands our defence is more akin to a Prem midtable/struggling side than top 4 challengers. We'll be off the pace again come May unless we act fast and buy well. But to me, it's already too late for us to 'hit the ground running' (limping more like in the case of our first choice CBs). As I say JV should have been 'replaced' within two weeks of his injury. We've been way too slow about this, and now Daws injury has ripped what was a threadbare defence into so many tatters.
Glad you realise this Spurm, it seems to escape some. That's the difference between us and a genuine 'big club' like City, they would act before there's a crisis. Of course they have money we can only dream of, but that's why they'll be title contenders and nailed on for top 4, and we won't be on either count. Who can forget the season before last when us and Chelsea needed a CB. They got Cahill and we got Nelsen. They won the CL and the FA cup, beating us in the process. We won nowt AGAIN, and missed out on CL to Chelsea. It's pop guns v tanks I'm afraid, and nothing fundamentally seems to have changed. Yes we've bought well in Paulinho, and probably Soldado. BUT We're now in worse shape overall than we were at the end of last season. Title contenders, pleezzeeee!!!!
I said at the time that missing out on Cahill would cost us. Its one of the only things i've ever got right so i remember it.
Cahill had ludicrous wage demands - so signing him would have caused all kinds of knock-on effects to our wage structure.
The only time I remember Huddlestone playing cb was when he was pencilled in for defensive midfield and his arse happened to be floating around the 18 yard box.
According to *cough*reports*cough* we were very close to agreeing a deal with him, then in came Chelsea.
Cahil is fairly average, most Chelsea fans will tell you his defensive abilities leave a lot to be desired so missing out on his signature wasn't much of a loss.
