Now What?

Follow e-Spurs on Twitter by Clicking Here!

Article by e-Spurs Writer Michael Halepas, 9 July 2013

The temporary void of Premier League football lasts but a relatively short space of time each year. Ask a football fan however and this wait does not seem like a short two month break from the greatest sport on Earth.

Having spent 9 months discussing the team’s most recent performance or looking forward to the 6-pointer coming up in midweek, the talk moves on.

The summer break from the English game allows all football fans to relax following the tense closing moments to the 2012-13 season. We have the opportunity to reflect. For only in the summer break do we have a fair chance to properly review the season just gone.

In this division of ours any team can beat any other on any given day. A team can go on a run of 10 games unbeaten and then fail to gain 3 points from a single one of their next 10 matches. Only after match day 38 can we look back and evaluate a team’s overall performance and each individual player’s contribution, attitude and flaws.

Sadly for Spurs fans the world over, the inevitable happened. The lack of top quality depth in attacking options could only work to the detriment of the club’s pursuit of a top 4 finish and if Spurs were to miss out on the Promised Land at the end of the 2012-13 season it would be due to the inability to convert enough goal scoring chances to see off the job. Even those Spurs fans short of a crystal ball were resigned to the obvious.

The two first team strikers – no need to mention their names, failed to live up to expectations. One of whom, to be generous with words could at best be described as inconsistent. The other being so inept at his day job as to be the main contributor to high blood pressure in the north London area on Saturday afternoons and occasionally Sundays and Thursdays.

The hierarchy seem to have finally acknowledged that there really is not the option of relying on clowns and biters to lead the attack when mounting a genuine challenge at the elite end of the league. Justifiably then Spurs are on the hunt for a pair of hungry goal-getters. Exciting times for Spurs.

The danger in placing so much emphasis on one area of the pitch is that the eye for improvement moves away from elsewhere. Most would surely agree that Hugo Loris, Moussa Dembele, Jan Vertonghen proved to be astute purchases. Highly talented players with time to improve, called upon countless times in their debut season to rescue the team. The problem for Spurs has been that for too many games the better half of the team has been carrying the lesser half.

With the club’s objectives clearly higher than they might have been in the past, no secret is made of the club’s firm intention to secure Champions League qualification. Decisions clearly have to be made about playing staff. In order to fulfil these aims there inevitably must be departures from WHL.

Aside from those individuals whose contracts have already run their course there are several players for whom time must be up. The ability to put in a decent performance 1 in every 3 or 4 games is no longer enough for Spurs. Consistency of high level performance is what is sought after. For that reason, there is an undeniably strong case for the transfers out of the following players:

Tom Huddlestone

Tom Huddlestone was signed from Derby County a mere lad. His potential purported to be so great as to lead to a multimillion £ deal to bring him to Spurs.

Injuries have not been kind to Huddlestone and have reduced the playing time he has enjoyed. His passing ability and range have been the skills that get him a place in the squad each season. On paper, a solid unit in the middle of the pitch with the ability to keep possession of a football and to dictate play at will. In reality, Tom Huddlestone has failed to rise to the standards once expected of him.

Slow and heavy when moving around the pitch - mobility, acceleration, pace and agility are not qualities he enjoys in abundance. In the modern game, in this Premier League, those features are important to say the least. The absence of these does not necessarily obstruct a player from playing and tens of players get by without pace.

Most crucially of all however, his main quality, the passing – has simply let him down far too many times. Any doubters simply need rewind many of the goals conceded by Spurs and will see an attacking move break down following a pass from Huddlestone.

All too often in matches this season he has struggled when the opposing team has broken quickly against the run of play. Any defensive midfielder knows his importance to the team when his team mates are committed high up the pitch and possession is lost. The breakaway threat has to be snuffed out and nullified. An art when carried out by Sandro.

Moreover, for a player supposedly renowned for his ability to pass a ball with precision, playing in a League where any advantage must be taken his set pieces were woeful at best. A game towards the end of the season at Stamford Bridge springs to mind.

Perhaps the final death knell for Huddlestone is what sometimes happens to the flow of the team when attacking at pace and the ball finds its way to the feet of this man. With AVB’s team looking to make gain from high paced attacks Tom Huddlestone has a habit of slowing the play down.

More worryingly, it is the apparent laissez-faire attitude when receiving the ball in a position just in front of the centre backs. Any adept defensive midfielder should have the intro music to ‘Jaws the Movie’ playing in the back of his head given the strikers lurking, hoping to steal the ball from his feet. Again, a certain game at Stamford Bridge is in the mind.

This is not to vilify Tom Huddlestone. He is a player capable of playing in the Premier League and of performing to a certain level. Ideally for him, a transfer to one of the mid-ranking teams in the league where the expectations are not so high, where the stakes are not so high.

 

Scott Parker

Any criticism of this player’s contribution to the team must be prefaced with the acknowledgement that in the 2011-12 season Scott Parker was one of the most consistent, committed and reliable players in the Premier League. Injury it would seem, perhaps combined with mileage have not helped his cause this season.

Scott Parker’s best performances for Spurs once came when he sat deep, waited and pounced on any opposition player to pose a threat to the back line. Time and time again, he would go into a tackle, exit it with the ball and pass it on to a team mate. In 2011-12 he did this with aplomb.

The edge that he had in 2011-12 was not with him in 2012-13 and it showed. What made things worse for Parker is that when receiving possession of the ball in a midfield occupied by more talented dribblers and game changers he would decide to dribble the ball forward himself. Very rarely if at all ever posing a threat to the opposition.

Although it could be argued that Parker is an excellent squad player, perhaps for him as for Tom the time has come to move on to pastures new. The club should not expect to start any games next season with either of these two on the pitch. Champions League qualification is unlikely to be the result otherwise.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto

Benoit has opinions split amongst the WHL faithful. To some, a talented left back with a penchant for the unexpected. To others, inconsistent, liable to nod off at the wrong time (there is a never a right time!) and devoid of an intelligent, unpredictable range of passing. The author features in the latter category of supporter.

If the team is to mount a more credible challenge to the top teams then a replacement in the starting XI must be drafted in. One with the positional know-how but who also has the ability to release flying wingers with smart passes rather than the long ball forward to a 5’8’’ lone striker.

It would be wrong to mention the left back in this team without also shining the light onto the right full back.

Kyle Walker arguably returned from loan a season too early. His pace and the guaranteed nature of his spot in the team might be said to have left him a tad comfortable knowing that his place is assured should he be fit.

His status as the fastest full back in the country makes it understandable that he is an attractive proposition to start and yet few players’ mistakes will have resulted in as many goals conceded and points lost. Kyle’s time is not up, but there is room for improvement and the fans will not be so forgiving if he makes them endure another season of sloppy play, wayward passes and easily lost possession.

The short term future is not bleak for Spurs but improvement is needed if a points haul greater than 72 is to be achieved. Here’s hoping. COYS!

 

Comment on this artice below

 

Other e-Football Sites:

 

e-Football:
Site - www.efootballnet.blogspot.com
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_footballnet
Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/pages/E-football/529821593719736
Forum - www.e-football.freeforums.net

e-Spurs:
Site - www.espurs.blogspot.com
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_spurs
Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/pages/E-SPURS/164631843709508

e-Manchester United:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_ManUtd
Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/pages/e-Manchester-United/202927566530790

e-Arsenal:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_arsenalnet

e-Crystal Palace:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_crystalpalace

e-Middlesbrough:
Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_middlesbrough

e-Ajax:

Twitter Feed - www.twitter.com/e_ajax

Share on Google Plus