What to take away from the Wembley Cup…

By: Drew | July 26th, 2009

This weekend saw Tottenham draw Barcelona(reserves) 1-1, and then lose to Celtic(pretty much reserves) 0-2. Watching both games really brought to light what problems Harry needs to address. At least these are the problems that I could see.

Goal Keepers: Both Gomes and Carlo have looked good the last couple games. Nothing really to complain about. It seems that Harry can’t decide who to start though as Carlo has seen more pre-season action, but that could have to do with Gomes’ involvement with the Confederations cup.

Defenders: Okay so, Clearly this is one area that needs to be addressed badly. Starting at right back, Corluka has been great for us although he lacks a lot of pace. But being a solid defender has much better value than always wanting to push forward. Kyle Naughton has been impressive as well in these first few glimpses of him, and it would seem that he is our future prospect/backup RB as all the cards have been saying that Hutton is on his way to Everton(supposedly).

Center of defense is the area that needs to be addressed the worst, as both King and Woodgate have been out injured and both have reoccurring injuries that seem to be chronic. Dawson only has a slight tweak in his Achilles tendon so he should be good to play in a week or two. but we need someone else that is a center back by trade so that we have depth when we need it. I think Harry originally wanted Dorian Dervite and Dawson to be our backups but it’s looking like that plan will need to change.

Left Back seems to be under control as BAE, Bale, and Chimbonda(who can also play on the right) have seem to have it taken care of

Midfield : For some reason Harry has been stressing our central midfield situation but between Palacios, Huddlestone, Modric, and Jenas I don’t really see the issue.

Granted Luka plays on the left most of the time, but in reality that is the area we should be concerning ourselves with. Getting a solid Left Winger would complete our midfield.

And obviously having Lennon and Bentley at our disposal on the right doesn’t concern me too much. Not to mention I’ve been watching Giovani play with Mexico in the gold cup and he’s been an absolute work horse in the attacking right position. Harry should try him out on the left side and have Modric and Palacios in the middle.

Strikers: Where to begin, Keane is a great motivator but I’m afraid he’s lost some of his touch this past season. Bent is on his way to Sunderland according to reports, and after all the chances I’ve watched him squander I can’t say I’m too upset. Pavlyuchenko seems to be sticking around, which I’m glad about as I still believe he’s got a lot of skill he just needs a good partner. Which brings me to Defoe, who Harry seems to regard as the only striker worth guaranteeing a first team spot too. Which is fine, as he is fast and possesses a great shot but without a target man he’s lost up front. This is why I think if Pavlyuchenko and Defoe were given enough time together they could form a good partnership.

It would seem that the Crouch deal is all but done, Even though I’ve read reports that Harry is going to Amsterdam to Iron out details on the Huntelaar deal. So it’s all very up in the air at this point as to who Harry is going to go for and who he’s looking to get rid of if in fact we get both.

Personally I think who we try to sign will say a lot about where we’re setting our sights this season. Huntelaar is a quality striker with a lot of years a head of him, and could very well help take us to the next level. Where as Crouch is an established English striker who has partnered with Defoe before, but he’s gonna be 29 this season and it seems like a short term fix.

Also the Patrick Viera rumors are making me think that Harry might not have his head in the right place as he is 33 and is probably just looking for a place to grow old at. This should not be Tottenhams concern as we want our club to be progressive and to try to build some consistency out of a group of players who will stay together for a couple of seasons.

Until someone has actually been signed and is unveiled at the club I don’t plan on indulging in any more transfer stories. I’ll have a report on the Match against West Ham on Wednesday, But until then leave some words about what you think after this weekend.

COYS!