A lot of Defoe's goals that season came in spurts, much like Berbatov for Man Utd last season Crouch is worthwhile in Europe but poor in the PL Barca are the best team in the world and to be sold by them is no shame. In any event Redknapp has a record at Spurs of only playing youngsters if he has to (eg Bale would never have broken through if BAE wasn't at the African Cup of Nations) FWIW GDS scored 5 goals in 16 games with 2 assists in La Liga. It reminds me of the Hoddle reign where he decided to play 30+ Sheringham and Ferdinand no matter what, and freezing out Rebrov, who was clearly better than those two) We don't know the terms of the Racing loan deal but maybe they didn't want to pay the asking price?
We'll have to agree to disagree then PNP (which is cool! ), it was a powder puff shot not moving with any pace, and you'd expect at this level, your keeper to gather in such a tame effort. Sorry, but no excuse for me. I do agree with all you say about what happened after, my point is it should never have happened. Just outlining my reasons for the poster claiming he's top4 quality, far from it imo, and I'm quite sure yours. PS. forgot to put laugh smiley after the Goon board comment!
Good discussion notso - there's not much point in the Board if we are all going to agree about everything
I agree that it isn't the only factor but player quality is a big part of it. The reason for the post was to claim that we are quite close to having the right quality of players to compete for the championship and to highlight wher the gaps are. If we can actually get them gelling as a better team and consistently beat the lower teams the future will be even brighter.
I'm all for the agree to disagree mentality and I'm fully behind the healthy debate on here, so I'm going to have to disagree with something that the Colonel said! Bale was always going to get a chance to play when Assou-Ekotto went to the African Nations, as Redknapp repeatedly stated as much, but the Cameroonian didn't actually go. He picked up an injury and was out for several weeks, after which time Bale had cemented his place in the first XI and a number of people, including myself, were worried about moving him from left-back. Redknapp gives youngsters a chance if they show that they deserve one. Rose obviously did something in training to get ahead of Bassong in the pecking order for the left-back slot, as I certainly wouldn't have picked him there. Sandro displaced Palacios, Huddlestone did the same to Jenas last season and Walker looks likely to knock Hutton out of the squad. He makes some odd choices at times and tries to pick what he believes is his strongest XI as often as possible, which I think hurt us last season, but I think the youngsters have enough examples of how to break into the first team, now. Some experience in the side is required, but if you're good enough then you're old enough. Apply yourself and you can take a place in the side.
Did you mean that the otherway around? I'm dead against us signing 35 year old electrician as our new striker, simply because he's "old enough" ;-) I agree with what you're saying about 'Arry giving chances to those that have earnt it, sometimes us Spurs fans don't give him credit where he's due it.
I don't know what you mean, SF... I think that Redknapp gets some stick because he makes mistakes that look simple and he doesn't have a great relationship with the fans. He makes some decisions that look awful at the time, but work really well. If they don't come off, then it just looks like an awful decision, though.
Exactly PNP! ...about time we had a row! ...where's gsf when you need him! I certainly wouldn't start a Gomes witch-hunt, but thats 3 carbon copy, dreadful handling errors that have resulted in a goal, that one, Madrid and Fulham in his first season.
Hi Smart...yes, Gomes is an enigma all right...but what goallie doesn't have howlers? He probably has more than most, but he saves more than most. in the end, it just boils down to 'taste'....you like him (as a player), or you don't!!
I think we blame Gomes unfairly. Sure, he's made a couple of howlers that cost us big, but how many times have his saves patched over the inadequacies of our defence? He's helped us to hold onto games that we would have lost had a lesser mortal been between the sticks. You've got to take the rough with the smooth. If Cuducini had been in goal, sure he might have been more consistent, but I'm betting that the points would have been the same at the end of the season.
There are a lot of good shot stoppers in the world but to be a quality goalkeeper you need more to your game. To stop chances of goals being from being scored before you even need to rely on making saves. It's about nipping things in the bud by taking command of your box, taking charge of situations and instilling confidence in your defenders. A quality goalkeeper will have good positioning, anticipation off his line to close down 1 on 1 situations. Bravery, command at set pieces and good ability in the air to beat players in a crowded box are all required. A quality goalkeeper will crush a strikers confidence in scoring chances by closing them down aggressively and getting his timing right with the run. He'll look imposing and lower the chance of scoring even if the effect is sometimes only mental for the attacker, qualities Peter Schmeichel for instance had in droves. Gomes lacks all of the above, he's better than a lot of good shot stoppers but he's not a top class goalkeeper. Friedel addresses the shortcomings that Gomes has, if anything they're like polar opposites in terms of goalkeeping style, Friedel's agility will be fading but he gives our defence what they need.
