What the Hell are Spurs doing?

By: Richard | January 17th, 2008

Spurs hierarchy is a complete and utter mess. There, I said what we all know. What the hell are they doing? What the hell have they done?First of all, face it guys, you can spend all you want to buy a player but when you’re only willing to go so high with wages it limits us. This is the line in the sand that separates Tottenham Hotspur from the ‘Big Four’ that we aspire to be part of. Furthermore the rumors and gossip that seem to be swirling around at the moment have me nauseated. Analyzing any of the dozens of possible scenarios that we’ve all been reading about during the past two weeks is nothing more then an exercise in futility.

Rather then delve into what might happen during this window I’d rather look back at what happened this summer. Looking at the moves that Damien Comolli has completed and how they have affected Spurs seems like a far easier way to prove that we need to make better choices. I’m ranking each player on a scale of 1-10. The score represents how sound a purchase each player has been thus far, factoring in their impact, playing time and any injuries. So lets get on with it….

Gareth Bale – 7/10
5 Million pounds up front to Southampton that could turn into 10 at some point. The Wales International scored 3 times in twelve appearances, splitting time between Left-Back and Wing. Bale has been fantastic when healthy. You can see what all the fuss was about. The ability to take a free kick isn’t all Bale has in his repertoire as he also has a bit of pace and a savvy knack for being at the right place at the right time. Though we have seen so little of Bale thus far as he’s fought with injuries he has looked like a great buy for Spurs (I would give him a higher score had he been healthy). Perhaps the best part about obtaining Bale’s signature was beating Man U out for his services…. Whenever we can take one away from a bigger team it’s like a small win for Spurs.

Darren Bent – 2/10
What an utter failure this signing has been. 5 goals in twenty appearances shows that he does have a knack for scoring, but we never really doubted that now did we? Face it, we paid a club record 16.5 million pounds for a player that really seems to have very little to offer that we didn’t have on the squad already… and he’s been hampered by injuries in the short time he’s been at the Lane. Of course Bent wasn’t what you would call injury free at Charlton either and that’s really not the type of player Spurs need to be adding to a team that already resembles the walking wounded. Bent turns 24 in February but with all the niggling little injuries he’s had over the past few campaigns you’d think he was 44. So 16.5 million out, and rumors that Spurs couldn’t get 12 for him at the moment. I’d be shocked if we could get 8 to be honest. Good job Comolli! Oh, and Juande seems to have no use for him either… Total waste.

Younes Kaboul – 6/10
3 goals in 25 appearances. I know this might ruffle a lot of feathers but I like Kaboul quite a bit. Sure, he’s undisciplined at the back and has made many, many mistakes but at least I can see why we paid 7 million for him. He’s young and powerful and surprisingly skillful for a Defender. What I like most about Kaboul is his upside. Spurs have few players capable of flying into the box and heading the ball on goal during set pieces the way Kaboul can. He’s a work in progress but at least I can see why we wanted him. Also keep in mind that Kaboul was never supposed to play as much as he has but with injuries to every other center-back during the past few months he’s been forced into the starting eleven more then anyone would have imagined.

Kevin-Prince Boateng – 4/10
Is it me or does he seem to just run himself into the ground whenever he’s on the pitch? He’s tough and has been a capable defender but to my recollection he came to Spurs as a potential play making midfielder? I’ve seen none of that out of the 4.5 million dollar signing. Still, Juande Ramos was also after his signature during the summer at Sevilla so as time passes we’ll see if Juande has a vision for the German Midfielder now that they are both with Spurs.

So, according to my little player ranker we spent 38 million on four players who I’ve given an average score of just under five out of ten based on their performances. That just isn’t good enough. I’m hoping that with Juande in the mix Spurs will make better purchases in the future. We’re not Real Madrid and cannot take the impact of making huge signings that have little to no impact on the pitch. So Levy and Comolli, get your heads out of your asses and make better choices or better yet find someone who will. COYS!