When Aaron Lennon limped out of yesterday’s action on 27 minutes, it must have been tempting for manager Harry Redknapp to look at the midfield alternatives he had waiting on the bench.
Either Niko Kranjcar or Steven Pienaar could have been a more obvious choice but Harry’s positive move of putting Roman Pavlyuchenko on the pitch was to eventually pay off.
Asked about the Russian after the game, Redknapp was full of praise for his striker.
“Technically, he’s a fantastic player,” said Harry. “He’s a great striker of the ball and when he’s on his game he’s top-drawer, no doubt about it.
“People say ‘Pav’s going to go’ or we’re looking for another striker, well, it’s difficult to find anyone better than Pav.
“But it’s difficult. I’ve got Rafa, Jermain, Pav and Adebayor and I can’t play them all, but you need them, as it showed against Sunderland. He came off the bench and won the game for us.”
For his part, Pavlyuchenko is unlikely to settle for his deadly Russian sub role but is there anyone of his quality that would be prepared to sit on the bench any more than he does?
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
Hopefully pav stays , we wont be able to sign a better striker unless we pay top money
Are u fucking blind? Generally Pav is shocking. There are many better forwards than him, and many would love to join spurs. What would happen if Adebayor got injured, we would be fucked. Pav has been mainly pathetic for us and Harry needs to sign top notch and not fuck up like when we qualified for the cl and didnt buy anyone. That cost us.
For me we would of won the game if Krancjar had come on also Pienaar i really do not rate. Pav was is shoking his touch is abismal and even though he scored I hope to hod we sell him pronto in Jan. I would take Raul or Ruud Van Nistelrooy as our fourth choice till the end of the season or Andy Johnstone or Hugo Rodallega…… I don’t rat him one bit get rid now
Andy Johnstone? Wtf? If Pav’s mostly shit he’s 10 times better than whoever this guy is. Dembele, is it? At Fulham? He’s the type we need. Damiao would be very good. Someone no older than 26, who would start from the bench, who can lead the line, which, if they CAN lead the line, and are chomping at the bit to get in, that’s two things they’ll have on Pav.
Go all out for Tevez. No matter what people might say about wages, just pay him a good signing on fee. Get him in January and we’re sure to be on for Champions League and perhaps even the title.
Then let’s use our subs more wisely. Instead of bringing players on with ten minutes to go we should take a leaf out of Benitezs’ book and make changes with twenty minutes left. That way more players get better game time.
He’s still under contract at City so they would want a large fee
Spot on, craig. Tevez = League Title.
Yes.
Christopher Samba is a better striker than Pav and he is a Blackburn Central Defender.
Plenty of other examples too.
What we most need is cover for Adebayor in the lone striker role as none of our strikers can do that job.
But nobody will pay our 14m asking price for Pav anyway so he will be at the lane for a while yet.
Play Modric in the middle where he belongs and put Kranks or Pinear out wide. What the fuck is Harry thinking? He did this last year in certain games and screwed things up.
Stop tinkering with the team just to appease players. Sandro does not deserve a run in the center replacing Modders. It’s so fucking obvious!
Sandro was great though. Don’t understand why we can’t play 3 in the middle to be honest. Use Walker and Benny as wingers. So…
Friedel
Walker Kaboul King BAE
Sandro Parker
Modric
VDV
JD Ade
Looks narrow, but Walker and BAE always free up the wings, with Sandro and Parker as adequate cover, makes sense I reckon.
I’d rather have Bale than BAE as a winger. Instead of that though:
Friedel
Walker Kaboul King BAE
Sandro Parker
Modric
Lennon Ade Bale
Subs: VdV, Niko, Livermore, Hudd (when fit), Gallas, Cudicini, Defoe
Bale and Lennon would take a while to learn to play as actual wingers instead of wide mids, but they could be great once they were comfortable at it.
2 defensive mids would allow cover for BAE and Walker to add width in the middle.
Lastly, I really like the guy and he’s been playing great, but I wouldn’t mind selling VdV if we could get a nice profit on him. He just doesn’t fit the team well. If we could trade Lennon and VdV for Goetze, for example, I’d take it. That would also allow Niko to get more playing time as an attacking mid, which he deserves and would be good at.
Sell Lennon? That kind of pace is a rare commodity. VDV is our best Forward, why would you be looking to sell him?
Definitely a better option than what Harry played on the weekend.
5-1-3-1…
—————-Friedel———–
——Kaboul—King—Gallas—–
Walker——-Sandro——–Bale
——Park—–VDV—–Luka—–
————-Adebayor————
I think it is quite positive for us to try our players working in a different formation as we did yesterday, if we learn to play in alternate formations it allows us to be more flexible when we are required to.
We all know Modric can play on the left, so the idea of gaining experience is ridiculous. It’s obvious for all to see that playing Modric out of position looses ten times more than you can gain by tinkering to give players extra experience. Modric and Parker are probably the best center midfield combo in the EPL and it is so stupid to pull Modric out of position to cover the loss of Bale. This is why we have players on the bench. If Harry continues this tinkering he WILL screw up Spurs season and Modric wi go to greener pastures.
Pav is too inconsistent and overall does not do enough to deserve a place in the spurs squad.
I cannot believe that Spurs didn’t go for Zherdan Shaquiri in the summer, as cover for Lennon and Bale. It is crazy to play Modric and Van Der Vaart out of position. The team lost its balance on Sunday. Only because Modric and Van der Vaart are so good, that they managed to adapt to it. They should play in their correct positions and then put Krancjar on the left (although he is also miles better in central attacking midfield) and put Iago Falque on the right. Have Andros Townsend on the bench, as extra cover.
“Modric and Van der Vaart are so good, that they managed to adapt to it”
Exactly. You play your best players when and where you can. You kinda contradicted yourself….
He’ll never say a player under him is crap. He’s done well but there are times he comes on and looks like he doesn’t want to be there. I say get another big forward like ade. Then we’ve got cover for ade as well as a strike partner for him. If we can play with different formations to use more players more often depending on who were playing I think we would be better. Plus 2 top strikers and our creative midfield, would mean 3rd and 4th striker would be able to
Come on more to inject pace for the last 15-20mins when teams are trying to press us to get a goal and salvage a draw, we then hit them on the break with the likes of Defoe. I’d like Hulk or dameio. Big strong, good in the air and can use their feet, beat a man and score. Just unproven in this league. Must sign ade in the summer. Make an annual contribution to his African charity and he’ll come for a smaller weekly fee.
This is like my rant on Tempo tampering or TUT its keeps comming around. This happened last year and the year before when he scored 8 on the trot Harry was full of praise for Pav . What this means is Harry will bench him just like poor Defoe gets when he scores Harry praises him then drops him. I ask the question is Harry scared of dropping Van because he has not scored since October and made one. Defoe is now pissed off and finally snapped and i don’t blame him one . The lad has trained hard and looked sharp when called upon Van looks like a good srtetch will damage his hamstring he did play well in patches and hit a brilliant pass t Ekotto and for Pavs goal. The problem with 4411 it plays right into the hands of Tut Teams and Stoke in the first half exposed this Sunderland and most teams handle this formation because energy and flooded midfield stop us from passing and breaking quickly
Pav was absolutely attrousious again yesterday…I spent 62 minutes shouting donkey a the TV and possible 1 minute saying to myself,’but he scored a goal’ Conclusion is he may have scored a goal, but he is a donkey
Now that is a typical, probably brand new Spurs fan. 62 minutes shouting donkey from the moment he came on the pitch. The model supporter. Those donkeys are a pain when they get you 3 points aren’t they? At this point I would just appreciate the fact that he is still here, wins us games in cup and league with his goals and puts up with shit from the likes of you.
This is a pathetic topic of conversation. The russian is crap at everything bar hitting the ball at goal. Sell him now before we stuck with him after Jan. If he is sold we can then get that one extra forward who can push us onto top spot contenders. As spurs guv says rightly is Ade is injured we are fucked. Same as with Bale and lennon. We need top class cover for a wing and forward spot. Otherwise we could be in serious trouble and do as we normally do. I think Levy will spend this Jan as he made a real mess of last year imo.
Glad to see that I’m not the only one of this opinion. Honestly I was concerned when he came off the bench. When he scored, I was obviously pleased that I had to eat all the nasty words I said about him on that day. Still I want him to GTFO! Still looks lazy and uninterested, and why wouldn’t he right? Why Does Knap insist in talking up Pav when he clearly doesn’t ACTUALLY want him. I say this but I’m really not in the position to speak of the manager feels. I’m rambling so I’m gtfo here.
Alot of us see the same in pav, its soo obvious i dont get how anyone rates him. I could list at least 50 strikers i would prefer to pav.
For me Eden Hazard would be ideal. He can play either wing and as a second striker. Same as Edson Cavani. I know these guys are top dollar but we have to take advantage of our current standing. If we could get Tevez then even better. Surely Levy can see this, a good transfer window and we are title challangers.
With Pav it’s a question of attitude, not ability. Anyone who has watched this saga over the past 3 years will know that Harry doesn’t really rate Pav, that is why he is the fourth choice striker. However, if he is looking to sell him then he is going to sing his praises in order to inflate the price. In addition to which, if he needs to come off the bench on occasion, then it is better to try and boost his confidence, because he is capable of what we saw yesterday, the occasional great finish. But, in answer to your question, yes there are plenty of better alternatives to Pav in my opinion. Damiaio would be one of them.
god you lot are desperate, your squad is shallow and you shall soon drop back outside the top four
3rd place is not desperate u dip shit