'Like' e-Spurs on Facebook by clicking HERE Article by e-Spurs Writer Matt Tumminia (USA)
As many of us know, offence garners the attention as the average football fan wants to see goals of high quality. This is what makes the game watchable for the average fan as well as the majority of people who do not appreciate the beautiful game and choose to harp on the fact that the majority of matches end up 1-0 or 2-0. On the other hand, a sturdy defence will win you matches and championships. Some of the greatest squads ever to grace the pitch have been fantastic going forward but are also able to boast solid defensive records. Teams such as AC Milan of 2006-07, Barcelona of 2008-09 and 2010-11, Inter Milan of 2009-10 and most recently, Bayern Munich of this past season, have all received plaudits for their attack, yet without their stout defences, one could argue that such greatness could not have been achieved. This is why we will be looking at our backline and dissecting last year’s performance.
Jan Vertonghen
Is there really anything bad that one could say about Jan’s first year at Spurs? I am left with little memory of any real poor showings. Ok, his performance against Everton at the Lane was below par, but other than that blip, he was a rock in the team. Comfortable with the ball at his feet, his ability to push up was greatly needed after Ledley retired and Kaboul was injured. He displayed quite the footballing brain with his positioning and showed his polished technical abilities with quality goals. Besides the offensive side of the game, he had over 80 successful tackles (about 3 per match), 104 interceptions (almost 4 per match) and only made one defensive error the entire season. Not to mention he displayed his versatility with numerous starts at left back where he was not afraid to push up to support the left winger and provide width and accurate crosses. Needless to say, Jan had a great season and I cannot freaking wait to see him marshaling the backline once again this coming season.
Michael Dawson
Spurs through and through, our club Captain found himself on the outside looking in over the first few months. With AVB preferring the high-line, our defenders need to be quick of foot, something that Daws has never been. His lack of pace has long been known but when you are playing with men such as Ledley or Younès, his job was to match up with the more physical forward and win everything in the air. Unfortunately, AVB felt that Daws was surplus to the squad and was transfer listed. QPR had a bid accepted but Daws did something that not many players would do, he decided to stay and fight for his place. This is why I must tip my hat to this “real man”, not content with going to a team fighting off relegation, he chose the path less travelled and in the end, it was the best choice for both him and the team. Winning a place back in the starting eleven over the second half of the term, he was a beast when paired with Vertonghen as our defensive record showed a vast improvement while still being able to use AVB’s preferred high-line. Maybe it was some extra work he put in doing wind sprints, but he even looked faster over the last 4 months of the season. Michael is a player that embodies the spirit of Tottenham and leads by example to show players they should respect the badge and appreciate the history of our glorious club. As Kaboul has yet to return from injury and fitness, I can see Daws being a starter for some time, until which time Kaboul is fully recovered, which will then leave Dawson as our third choice centerback, but there will be plenty of matches for him to play this coming season, that much I do know.
Steven Caulker
Overall, Steven had a solid season at Spurs. He was strong in the air and a good tackler, but as most youngsters do, he made a few high-profile mistakes. Sometimes they resulted in nothing, other times they resulted in goals. The most high profile one was at Everton where he chose to clear a cross instead of allowing Hugo Lloris to catch it, which he did call for and we ended up conceding two goals in the next few minutes to turn a 1-0 win to a 2-1 loss. Again, mistakes are to be expected from someone so young, people forget he is still 21, yet he was able to show some real poise last term playing alongside Jan or Daws. He scored a few goals for us as well and was a real beast in the air as shown by his dominating performances against Manchester United. Quick and extremely fast, he was rarely beaten for pace throughout the campaign while his height and aerial prowess allowed him to out jump most forwards his size. As he is young with plenty to learn, he will get plenty of playing time at Spurs as he possesses all the tools to be a great central defender. I am sure he will be playing all the European matches, cup matches as well as 10-15 Premier League clashes. With this large amount of playing time, he will grow into a very important player for our squad.
Younès Kaboul
There is not much to be said about Kaboul’s season. It only lasted 1 full match and a few U-21 matches, which then resulted in a recurrence of the injury and kept him out of the side for the majority of the term. That being said, when fit, he is definitely part of the 1st team squad and a primary starter next to Vertonghen. Fast, strong and a monster in the tackle, Younès is possibly one of the best central defenders in the Premier League when fit. If he is able to contribute from the start, that would fantastic, but more than likely AVB will probably slowly bring him into the fold, allowing him plenty of time to get himself back to his usual high level of quality.
Conclusion
We can honestly boast about having one of the best central defending groups in the Premier League, let alone Europe, as they all are comfortable with the ball at their feet, they do not shy away from the tackle and are capable of banging with the real physical forwards in the league. Of course, the injury bug has hit our four in the past two years pretty hard as Dawson was out for almost the entirety of the 2011-2012 season and Kaboul out for all of last term, bar one match. If we can keep these men injury free, with Lloris between the sticks and another year of learning AVB’s system, I see no reason why we should not have one of the best if not the best defensive record in the entire league. All four of these defenders are capable of being stars and it is up to AVB to get the best of each, massage the egos from time to time and ultimately, get each one comfortable working with the others to create an almost impenetrable wall of force which no opposition would like to play against.
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We have let in 46 goals in the 38 Premier League games, and quite a few in Europe.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously remember that Everton game well. But our great defenders must be blamed, at least in part, for the majority of the goals in all the games. Nothing wrong with that, of course, nobody is perfect. But some are less perfect than others. So it would be interesting to count, how many blunders/mistakes/imperfections are there to each of their names. I guess it is not one or two per season, but tens. Except for poor Kaboul, of course.