I'd divide our squad into the following groups Group 1: Top four quality Modric, Bale, King (if fit), Van der Vaart, Assou Ekotto, Gomes (I know most won't agree but his blindingly good saves more than make up for his errors imho), Gallas, Dawson, Pavlyuchenko (just about), Friedel (just about) Group 2: Top four potential very soon if continue improving Sandro, Huddlestone, Walker, Kaboul, Lennon, Dos Santos, Assou Ekotto, Corluka Group 3: Top four potential in longer term Rose, Caulker, Townsend, Kane, Khumalo Group 4: Good quality back-up Cudicini, Crouch, Defoe, Palacios, Hutton, Bassong, Naughton, O'Hara, Kranjcar, Pienaar Group 5: Not making the grade/on the decline Jenas, Keane, Bentley, Alnwick So the plan should be to keep Groups 1 to 3, sell group 4 players to fund better ones and dispose of Group 5 for whatever we can get. This all seems reasonably consistent with who we are linked to so far (eg Bassong plus money for Cahill) so I'm happy seeing where it will turn out. I think a squad containing all of groups 1 to 3, three or four high quality signings and the two or three best of group 4 would have a good chance of top four next year and develop into something really exciting thereafter.
Put J2S in group 5, take O'Hara out as he's off to Wolves, and decide which group BAE belongs to - personally Group 1
Do you think he has improved? Personally, I think he's had his chances, and whilst he may not have had an extended run of games I can't see him ever being a first team regular with us. Shame for all the promise he showed a few years back, but players like that need nurturing and he hardly had a stable environment.
I think Dos santos always looks pretty good playing for Mexico and pretty poor playing for us. The potential is clear but there may be something stopping it coming through. One of my bugbears about football managers in general is that they are too quick to get rid of 'difficult' talent rather than actually doing some managing and getting the best out of people. It won't be popular on thus board but Wenger is the best at this imho. People like Taraabt and Bent should have turned into world beaters not transfers. In most other walks of life you don't get the option of moving people on
Bent's a one-trick pony and Taarabt's a walking nightmare, who's nowhere as good as he thinks he is. Dos Santos has potential, but he needs to mature. I think that he'll only do that if he's getting regular first team football under a coach that he likes and respects a lot.
Group 1: Top four quality Modric, Bale, King , Van der Vaart, Gallas, Dawson, Pavlyuchenko Group 2: Top four potential very soon if continue improving Huddlestone, Walker, Kaboul, Lennon, Dos Santos, Assou Ekotto, Corluka, Gomes Group 3: Top four potential in longer term Rose, Caulker, Townsend, Kane, Khumalo Group 4: Good quality back-up Cudicini, Crouch, Defoe, Bassong, Naughton, Kranjcar, Pienaar Group 5: Not making the grade/on the decline Jenas, Keane, Bentley, Alnwick, Hutton, Palacios Friedel is hard to place - he's either top four quality, or top notch back-up, depending on how he'll be used next season.
powerspurs, how can you say his saves make up for his blunders..that bulls... they cost us wins this season and with strikers unable to score we could'nt make up for his mistakes.imo he should be sold asap
His 'beyond excellent' saves saved us more wins and draws than his mistakes lost as far as I can see. Obviously a keeper who could make all the saves without the blunders would be better but they are thin on the ground. Crouch and Defoe cost us more than he did which is why they are further down my list.
There's no doubt that Gomes underperformed on the whole, but I'm loath to lump all of the blame for it at his feet. He was clearly injured at times and badly out of form, both of which combined to destroy his confidence, which in turn destroyed the confidence of our defence in him, yet he was still picked for virtually every game. We had Cudicini, who performed admirably in the last couple of games and Pletikosa, who barely got a sniff, both waiting on the bench for a chance, so why not use them? The Brazilian's time at WHL appears to be up, but I think that's down to mismanagement more than anything.
I think there is a lot of overrating with regards to Spurs players on here and other forums. Realistically only three of our players would command a first team place in one of the top four teams. I feel we only have 1 player (on current showing) with a realistic chance to push onto the level we need. Top four quality Modric, Bale, Van der Vaart Top four potential Sandro Everybody else at our club has a lot to prove or I rate them at a lower level than others seem to think they are here. Fortunately Harry is good at motivating players and he has the team working well together.
