holtby on his new team

Lewis Holtby says Tottenham Hotspur are not a one-man team despite Gareth Bale’s match-winning displays in recent weeks.
The Wales international has inspired Spurs to seven points out of a possible nine in the Premier League, scoring three of his side’s four goals, including a brace against Newcastle on Saturday.

Holtby, who arrived from Schalke in the January transfer window, admits Bale is a key member of André Villas-Boas’ side – but says there are other quality players at White Hart Lane.

“He’s a world-class player. What he’s producing week in, week out is fantastic and to have a player like Bale makes the difference,” said Holtby.

“But it’s not only Gareth. You have to give the credit to the others. It’s a great team. Of course he scores goals. He is perfect for us but every player in the team works hard for the club.

“You see [goalkeeper] Hugo Lloris, how he saved the chance at the end against Newcastle. The defenders put their bodies into every shot. Everyone is working really hard, that’s the key.”

Holtby started his first game at White Hart Lane as Spurs edged to a 2-1 victory over Newcastle United at the weekend.

And the German midfielder is confident the north London side can seal a top-four finish despite Arsenal’s recent improvement.

“The squad, the club, is getting bigger every time and we deserve to go into the Champions League,” he added.

“It’s a long way and a very hard route, but I think with this squad, the whole background staff, everything is there.”

 

I thought he should've done better with his chances on Saturday but it sounds like he's settling in well, which is important for midseason signings. He's right too, we do have a good chance of getting into the CL so lets hope we do.

 

I don't use (nor like) the term "1 man team" but I think we'd be kidding ourselves if we said we didn't heavily rely on Bale. In all seriosuness, time and time again last season we said how RVP was carrying Arsenal and I think it'd be hypocritical for me to say that Bale isn't doing the same.

While I fully agree with Holtby's comments in regards to Hugo and the defence putting their bodies on the line and the team as a whole performing well, Bale has been the difference. With him we're great, without him we're good.

 

Bale does stand out at the moment but he is part of a team. Without him other members of that team would step up. Different chances would be created. If you have a player like Bale it makes sense to use him but the team as a whole can actually drop in performance if they become over reliant on their 'star'.

Overall it is better to have a good TEAM, Venables got rid of Maradona at Barca for that very reason.

 

Think it depends on the players you have left once the "star" leaves.

Like Arsenal for instance (hate using them as an example!), they had Henry and all thought they were doomed when he left but Fabregas stepped up from CM and created an abundance of chances for players to score goals, while also chipping in himself to make the loss of Henry easy to take in the end.

Barca sold Ronaldinho but had a little fella, Lionel something step up to the plate quite well.

Utd sold Ronaldo but they had Rooney & Berbatov (plus others in a star studded squad) and now have van Persie which have replaced the goals Ronaldo got.

I don't think we have that luxury, or at least for the moment. We lost Luka in the summer and our play has suffered in my opinion, which is why we've heavily relied on Bale at times to produce magic. The creative spark has gone, I'm hoping Holtby can take on the creative mantle although I'd be a fool to expect to replace Luka immediately, hopefully in time we'll see how good the kid can be. But back to Bale, if we lost him, I'd be fearful to be honest, I know with the money we'd receive we could probably buy 4 or 5 good players but then you'll never know how they'll settle.

 

Bale wasn't carrying us in the first half of the season, he's in some great form at the moment so you can say he's making the difference but so are the cleansheets the defence have been getting and the likes of Dembele and Defoe made all the difference in our early season form.

Van Persie was bailing out Arsenal for most of the season, scoring and setting up crucial goals all the time.

 

Look at it this way SoS if Bale were to leave we could afford that top striker. That could easily make up for his loss because even without Bale Spurs are more than capable of creating chances and a top striker on the end is just another way of winning games.

 

Its only a bad thing if there is no succession plan for should the man leave, unless there is no danger of him leaving of course. List of 1 man teams off the top of my head:
Barcelona
Real Madrid
Tottenham
Athletico Madrid
Liverpool
Man Utd

A 1 man team with a decent team around him is better than a no man team with a decent team.

 

Would that top striker want to join a club that's just sold it's star asset?

Selling Bale not only depletes our squad of quality but doesn't send out the best of messages to potential new players. Bar Lennon, there's not been any other player that's created that many chances, Dembele has been poor post-injury and it's too early to judge whether Holtby can grab the assists. Ekotto and Walker may chip in with one or two assists a season but bar that, our creativity has come from the wings. So losing Bale not only loses creative aspects but also some vital goals.

 

When we sold Berba, Modric & VDV, was that money used to sign players capable of producing the same quality?

On paper yes I agree with you, if we sold Bale then on paper we should be able to replace him and sign a top striker, but as SOS just mentioned, selling stars won't entice top players to sign and would Levy use all the Bale money to strengthen the team, or would he bank some of it, sign a young player and spend 15 million on a player that could be a the new Bale, in a few years time.

 

Completely agree with SOS and Boss on this thread. We have become a 1 man team recently. Considering all the flack we gave Arsenal over Van Persie we have to accept it back. If you took Bale's goals away the last 3 games we would be below Arsenal. Ok other players may have scored instead but you get my point. This hasn't been the case all season, as has been mentioned, other players have stepped in.
Also I think it is pushing it to say Barcelona are a one man team. Whilst Messi is irreplaceable, a front three made up of Villa, Pedro, Tello, Fabregas or Alexis would still be pretty awesome and I'm sure would score a lot of goals. Plus a midfield of Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta isn't bad either!