What Next for Harry, Spurs?

By: Wes | May 6th, 2010

   

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So Spurs have secured 4th place,

Well Done You Spurs!

which means the qualifying stages of Champions League. Is that good enough, or does Harry go out and bolster the side making a push for the group and knockout stages? To me, a 4th place finish is great, but doing something with the opportunity is what could separate Tottenham from the rest of the EPL mid pack (Everton, Man City, Liverpool, Villa etc.). In order to be a destination location for transfers, in order to maintain the money needed to compete on a continental level the time to act is now.

This has been a brilliant season, one that will go down in Spurs history and the side is a solid one, playing a beautiful brand of football with pace, passing, creative attacks and an energy people gravitate to. There are pieces in place for a Champions League run, the midfield is top class (Bale, Bentley, Modric, Jenas, Lennon, Palacios, Huddlestone et. al), that core can and should remain the foundation to the Spurs side. What must be addressed is defense and a top line attacker. Benoit Assou-Ekotto is better suited as a reserve midfielder than a front line defender he takes too many chances and makes too many mistakes, Kaboul is very similar. With a healthy Ledley King, and the continued brilliance of Michael Dawson they are sound inside, but defense must be addressed. At the front Peter Crouch has proven to be an effective force, his aerial skills are first rate, Pav is also a useful player probably best suited as a reserve. If it was up to me I would try to sell Dafoe, he just does not have success against the great sides. Without a first rate striker, I don’t see Spurs scoring the goals needed to make a long run in Champions League play.

Come on you Spurs! Go for the glory now, as there may never be a better opportunity.

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Comments  

• Martin |  May 6th, 2010 at 9:47 am

  
  
  

  “What’s next for Harry, Spurs?”

  Well, at every other job he’s ever had, the answers to those two questions has been, respectively, “Ditches you for another job when the money runs out, Bankruptcy”

  

• Wes |  May 6th, 2010 at 9:56 am

  
  
  

  I knew that was coming! Very true, hopefully his adamant stance that Englishmen can actually coach football will propel him to continue to prove his naysayers (whoever they are) wrong.

  

• Martin |  May 6th, 2010 at 10:17 am

  
  
  

  Well he’s certainly done a great job with you guys. A month or so ago, I looked at Spurs’ run-in and counted you guys out, but you’ve really had a heroic close-out to the season — you should rightfully be proud of your guys, as much as that pains me as an Arsenal fan. And I am actually glad it was you guys, and not City, who made it.

  

• cgerv |  May 6th, 2010 at 12:52 pm

  
  
  

  i agree, our strength is in the midfield (but please don’t include Bentley nor Jenas when using the descriptor “class”; they are good reserves, or injured spot starters. bentley is slow, esp for champs league). I also agree, we need help in the strike force. 1 top class striker would be great, but they don’t exactly grow on trees. better off selling pavvy, and picking up an up and comer, like Jerome from Birmingham. Young, and hungry, and dying for champs league (although he has 4 years left on his deal.

  

• Wes |  May 6th, 2010 at 1:40 pm

  
  
  

  Bentley did have a nice run of play to end the season though, he really helped solidify when several injuries sprung. I think we forget how complete a player Jenas is when healthy as well. Though, with our depth at position maybe we parlay some of it to get help at the front and back.

  

• Mustafa |  May 6th, 2010 at 11:59 pm

  
  
  

  In an ideal situation, I would like to see Krancjar playing on the left side of midfield with Bale offering support from defense… if you recall, that’s how Gareth’s great run of form began at the beginning of the calendar year, because Niko would drift in, and leave a ton of space on that side since the right back would go out to follow him, and Gareth would be able to take on the right mid and get a good ball into the area.

  Also, I feel like the reason that Defoe saw some his from drop off was because we lost Aaron for so long… if you remember the beginning of the year, matches like the Wigan one, Aaron would beat a man down to the byline, and Jermain would find space in the area, and Aaron would play a nice ball low and Jermain would pounce on it and smash it into the net… but with Bentley out there, he plays high, looping crosses into the box, which suited Crouch and Pav more than Jermain, and I think Jermain’s goal scoring suffered because of it.

  So ideally, I’d like to see this line-up next season

  Gomes
  Corluka, Dawson, King, Bale
  Lennon, Modric, Palacios/Huddlestone, Krancjar
  Defoe, Crouch

  Kaboul, Bassong, Bentley, Pavlyuchenko, Jenas and BAE will all make good back-ups, and hopefully Carlo will recover well enough to be the back-up to Gomes in goal

  

• cgerv |  May 7th, 2010 at 2:48 am

  
  
  

  mustafa, totally agree, defoe was fantastic when lennon was on the pitch. Lennon put so much pressure at the wing, and his crosses had improved so much, that defoe was the recipient of great passes with space. It’s not the same with the others. Fair play, having injuries to Kranjcar and Lennon gave Bale an opportunity to shine. He really proved to be too much to handle. good footwork, good pace, and great strength to stand up to challenges.

  Anyway, I was trying to think who should be player of the year, or most improved player, and I feel like all of them deserve it. Improved for me has to be Bale and Gomes. POY has to be Gomes or Dawson

  

• Wes |  May 7th, 2010 at 8:40 am

  
  
  

  I guess, I am still not sold on Defoe. His performance against the best competition has been lacking, he goes down too easily, his finishing is not crisp and he often seems to disappear against top sides. I will concede your solid point on the variance between Lennon and Bentley, well stated, but until he proves he can take on top flight defenders I just don’t see it working in Champions League play.

  

• cgerv |  May 7th, 2010 at 11:42 am

  
  
  

  yah, it’s tough. i agree with you in spirit, but then I started thinking, who is a top flight striker looking to come to tottenham? they don’t exactly grow on trees. would a david villa leave spain for us? i figure if you can get a yang to defoe’s yin, you might do ok. where defoe is small, and tumbles a bit against beefier defenders, get a guy like Jerome, who at 6 1 has a chance. he wouldnt cost as much as a bigger name, and would give you some options.

  

• Mustafa |  May 8th, 2010 at 12:39 am

  
  
  

  cgerv, I agree with you about getting another striker, preferably a bigger one, but I don’t think Jerome is the answer… he’s a big young guy, and that’s good, but his goal scoring record is not good at all. He has 10 goals in 30 premier league games this year, and 9 all of last year in the league championship… I don’t think that’s going to translate well to Champion’s league football. I would definitely like to see us go for someone like Huntelaar, who has fallen out of favor at AC Milan, or make a move for Edin Dzeko who’s supposedly disillusioned with Wolfsburg and being linked with every single big club in the world

  Even though we’re in the Champion’s League, we’re still not going to be able to lure the worlds best (I’m referring to people saying we should go for Higuain or a player of his caliber), so we should try to bring in talent from players who have experience at the top level who are not playing a lot currently or who want out of their current situations.

  

• cgerv |  May 8th, 2010 at 3:16 am

  
  
  

  Ill take fernando torres any day (c:

  

• Mustafa |  May 9th, 2010 at 6:22 am

  
  
  

  Amen brother… He’d look REALLY good in that white Spurs shirt