Throughout last summer, we ran a series of articles which we called ‘The Deadwood Files’. As the title might suggest, we considered some of the fringe players at the time – Bentley, Bassong, Jenas etc – and argued as to whether or not they had a future at Tottenham.
We were going to run that again this year but it seemed a little pointless because most of those names are still here – for now at least.
One of the first jobs for the new manager will be to take a look at the playing personnel. Naturally there will be new names and new targets and some of these might even coincide with those being touted by the gossip columns.
To an extent, some of the culling has been done for him with Kranjcar and Corluka already out of the club. While it’s unlikely that a fresh pair of eyes will see any value in retaining those names mentioned above, what about the likes of Gomes and Pienaar, both of whom have indicated that they would like to stay and fight for a place?
Who has the capacity to stay and impress the new boss and are we in danger of letting any deadwood escape the net? Could Messrs Jenas, Bentley and others have a chance of making the 25 man squad?
Meanwhile, is AVB your choice –
If we can, then i think we should look at selling –
Cudicini, Gallas (contract up anyway), Jenas, Bentley
Gomes, Dos Santos can both stay for me.
If we get a big bid for Bassong, then let him go, otherwise, let him stay as cover.
Gallas has another year on his contract.
In that case, get whatever we can for him and get his wages off the book!
In my opinion, we should sell, release, loan out, or just lock away in a cupboard somewhere the following players – Heurelho Gomes, Luka Modric, Tom Huddlestone (Always liked him, however I do believe his days are numbered), Jermaine Jenas, Sebastien Bassong, Carlo Cudicini (We could move for Craig Gordon), Benoit Assou-Ekotto, David Bentley and Steven Pienaar. I think AVB may want to take a look at Gallas, King, Falque and Santos before deciding their futures. The likes of Bentley and Pienaar could be used in possible swap deals for Leighton Baines, Kerim Frei, etc.
Ekotto? So we go from one LB at the entire club to ZERO??? Even if you do not like him, you at least keep him to fight for place and cover. Rose/Townsend are not full backs.
Arghhh Keiron, obviously
a Scott Parker fan and Match of the Day spurs fan, who only see highlights of games.
Let me tell you Sandro is 10 times the player Parker is, Huddlestone is top class and Pienaar flopped as spurs because of the incompetent Redknapp.
Baines for BAE is a marginal improvement and not worth it
I NOTICED HOW YOU NEVER MENTIONED DEFOE, FURTHER PROVES MY POINT ABOVE.
LISTEN THE MAN CANT HOLD IT UP, HEAD IT, PASS IT, CLOSE IT DOWN, CROSS IT, TACKLE AND HAS TERRIBLE OFF THE BALL MOVEMENT.
THE ONLY THING HE CAN DO IS SHOOT WHICH IS WHY YOU LOVE HIM COZ THATS ALL THEY SHOW ON MOTD
No for me all the above should go Bar Gallas as we are short in that area if Ledley retires.
Look at the weak points, back 4 especially the centre backs, we need at least two more as i would let Gallas and Bassong go, plus cover for left back
As for mid field, at least 3 more to arrive, left, right and an attacking mid, letting Bentley Gio and Jenas go, Finally the Forwards, well that speaks for itself with only Defoe, we need at least another 2 who will bang in goals at 20 each per season, i know and pigs will fly, Next, Manager, one who won`t go at it like a bull in a china shop but who will get to know and gain the trust of the players, Is AVB the right man,????? if not then JBH is available to take over ????? that is me by the way
Caulker & verthongen, vert covers as a left back, along with Dawson and Kabul CB covered!!
Defoe is the first name to go – because at 29 we may get a few mill for him. Then it is the failed “never-gonna-play” guys like Gio, Bentley, Jenas and Bassong. If we can resurrect Pienaar’s confidence at WHL, he should stay – because his Everton stats last season were better than Bale’s (goals & assists per game). Cudicini HAS to stay because he never moans, maintains a high enough standard and can produce top notch performances (last season’s Europa league). Plus Friedel may suddenly lose it at some stage, and Gomes is certainly not inspiring confidence as the guy tp come in. Ergo Gomes should go – as he is still in his prime, and could net a few mill back.
That’s what’s great about AVB coming in as he will build his own winning team his way and those who have been with us throughout these improved yet barren years can stick around and try to move up a level instead of being content as also rans.
They had their chance for many a season unlike AVB – now get with the programme or we get others who will.
Lots of wood to clear if we are going to move forward. Unfortunately though it’s hard to attract really good players who know they maybe sitting on the bench a lot. The only solutions are in signing young players who don’t expect to play every week or keeping the likes of jenas hudd etc who can come in and do a job. Same with rose and pienaar to an extent. It is less risky to keep the likes of these players. We could still end up selling, Bentley, gio, vdv, Gomes, Modric and maybe Defoe. Let go king, gallas, cudi on top of Nielsen and Saha. We could seriously need to get in: replacements for: Modric,vdv, king, Defoe, keeper, Ade? , attacking midfielder to cover Lennon or bale . 7 players? This needs to begin now.
Keep Bassong cos he may be used in AVB’s high line.
he is worth looking into again because his first season was good.
In accordance with our manager being AVB and his 433 system that was soo successful at Porto I will be frank with who to keep and let go, obviously skipping the obvious ones.
Bassong KEEP- Fast centre back had a great first year, lost his way under Arry as he tends to give up with players when they go through bad patches
GIO- KEEP- Would be perfect in a 433 knows the system well
Obvious ones Jenas and Bentley to leave as they dont suit any system
DAWSON- SELL- Too slow JT struggled with the high line this guy is slower
DEFOE- SELL cant play up top on his own the modern game doesnt have a place for him anymore he can blame Spain
AND PLEASE PLAY CAULKER
“Jenas and Bentley to leave as they dont suit any system”
Hahahahaha!
This will be the problem and i wonder if Levey had not had personal problems would he have sacked Harry. I say this because now we have a new Broom one whose management skills are in question his brief premiership record is even worse and his media skill are shocking. He looked like inspector Cluso jumping up and down in his black mack with the belt fastened and and a starry eyed look of pain in his eyes. Mr Levey can be forgiven with his family problems influencing his sacking of Harry if ABV keeps a steady cource up the league and third or better if he doesn’t then both him and Levey will face the wrath of our fans that’s a promise
You can’t promise that Mr LEVY!! will face a backlash.
I think he’s shown here that he has a vision for the future of the club, Harry was never going to take us beyond 4th at best.
If everyone was happy with that, then we should just give up. This squad is about 3 players and a smart manager away from really pushing on and challenging for the lot on a domestic front.
Even if AVB isn’t the man to do that, one thing is for certain, and that’s that Harry wasn’t the man either.
Dont forget bale was deadwood 6 years ago. We can get into champions league with couple of strikers centre backs and cover for modric cause he,s goin then players will come,
What on earth is Levy up to?? Appointing a Chelsea reject as manager!
Have you seen what the Chelsea Reject wants to do?
1) Appoint an assistant manager.
2) Appoint a first team coach.
3) Appoint an “opposition scout”.
4) appoint a fitness coach.
All of the above plus working with Tim Sherwood! Who the hell is going to be running the team?
If Levy does clear out the deadwood you’ll have a bigger management team than player squad.
As far as signing new players, who is going to want to go to Spurs and play under the Chelsea Reject and his mates in the Thursday night league?
Mid-table mediocrity beckons for the One Season Wonders!
Chelsea won the champions league with a West Brom ‘reject’ in charge.
Newcastle finished 5th with a west ham, Charlton and Southampton ‘reject’ in charge.
Swansea shocked the prem with a Reading and Watford ‘reject’ in charge.
I mean, christ, a Liverpool ‘reject’ is now the boss of England.
Sometimes things just don’t work out for people at certain clubs. AVB was just unfortunate at Chelsea.
Personally, i would guess that you were aware Harry was tactically inept, and you, like i’d imagine alot of Chelsea fans, are now a bit worried about how we could progress under a younger coach with fresh ideas.
I’d be more worried about Wenger finally calling time on his job with you lot and taking the France as he (hopefully) fails to come to terms with the sale of RVP.
COYS!!!!!
think you went into an arsenal rant bro… wenger dont manage chelski!! other then that i agree!!
Unless you have more money to spend on transfers and can pay the higher wages that top players now expect, 4th is the best you will achieve
It’d be awesome to sign a young striker like Sturridge. Dzagoev looked good in Euros, but I had heard nothing about him before, might have just had a great match. Bale at LW, Gio/Lennon at RW, Sturridge up top. In a 4-3-3, I would throw Bale up top because he can push up the wing and can service the ball well. I think Pienaar is a great player and could really assist us. Throw him in the middle with Parker and Santos, unless we sign Moutinho. On the backline, there’s options. You could throw Vertonghen out wide and give him the chance to push up. I think having a player like him in the middle is best, though. Walker out at right, Ekotto on the left and put Kaboul in with Vertonghen. I’m a huge fan of Friedel, but the man is getting old. He might be good for the first part of the season…but I think he’ll teeter out. It’d be good to make a move for Lloris while he’s up. Especially at >15M, as I think he’ll be worth much more one day.
As for getting letting players go, I expect Modric to leave. If he doesn’t want to play, let him go, it doesn’t make sense to keep a player that doesn’t want to be there. I also think that VDV should go, him and AVB are bound to clash, and we all know that we don’t want that to happen. King sounds like he’s going to retire. Otherwise, he’s old and unreliable. I’m excited to see if Caulker gets to play, huge fan of him.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. I’m not a huge fan of a 4-3-3, but I’m excited to see how it’ll work and I believe we have the players at hand to take advantage of this system and produce some exciting results.
‘Dzagoev looked good in Euros, but I had heard nothing about him before, might have just had a great match’
Finally someone speaking some sense!!!
Great post, agree with pretty much everything you say.
I know he has never coached, but if he does retire, i would love to see Ledley given a role within the club, i agree he is a bit unreliable now, but he has always been a model professional for us, and if he can pass just some of his attitude/commitment onto the youngsters at the club, then i think that would be invaluable? Like i say, i’m not deluded, just because he has been a great player doesn’t mean he will make a good coach, but i think he deserves a chance. The players clearly respect him, or else they wouldn’t settle for a man walking straight into the 1st 11 that doesn’t train…..if AVB asks him to stay on, he could really help get the current squad onside.
I think VDV will be off to Germany shortly….
Yeah, I had heard he was potentially on his way to Hamburg(?). Great player, but I’ve heard he can be difficult.
I think it would be beneficial to keep Ledley on in a player-coach kind of role.
Hamburg looks most likely – i dont think he suits a 4-3-3 anyways.
FINALLY AVB CONFIRMED!!
Personally, i’m a big fan of 4-2-3-1 formation which Mancini used to obvious success last season and I think we have the players to make it work.
Friedel
Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen*, BAE
Sandro, Parker
Lennon, VDV, Bale
Adebayor*
* are desired/realistic potential signings.
My views on each position are:
GK – Friedel still has a year left in him & Cudicini is still competent. Would sell Gomes and replace with Craig Gordon who is available on free transfer
LB – BAE with Rose as back-up is fine
CB – Kaboul, Caulker, Dawson are the 3 i’d keep. Buy Vertonghen. Sell Bassong & Gallas. Give the King a coaching role
RB – Walker with Naughton as back-up
CM – Sandro, Parker, Huddlestone, Livermore are fine. Sell Jenas and Modric who clearly wants to leave
AM – Bale, VDV, Lennon. We’re a bit light here so would buy Dembele possibly with a cash plus Bentley deal. Also Junior Hoilett who can play anywhere along the 3 and would be content to be on bench. I wouldn’t say no to Sigurdsson either who showed us what he can do at the Lane. I’d give Gio another opportunity.
CF – All we have at the moment is Defoe & Kane. Defoe cannot play as a sole striker and Kane just isn’t ready. Apparently we may get Higuain as part of the Modric package. If we got Higuain, Would go for either Adebayor or Damiao. i’d keep Defoe as a Plan B option.
After saying all that, AVB likes to play a 4-3-3!!
Jurgen, Yes I was aware just how inept Old ‘Arry was which is why I’m not in the least worried by what Spurs might do. The old fraud left you with a squad of mainly mis-fits, has-beens and never-wozzers, Just how the Chelsea Reject is going to cope with that lot is any one’s guess. Whatever happens he is going to have to build a team virtually from scratch and he wont be able to do that quickly enough to have any say in the top positions in the Premiership.
As to your forlorn hope that Wenger will leave, forget it! He has an on-going contract which, being an honourable man, he will not break.
Should van Persie leave of course he will be missed but the signing of Podolski and Giroud will adequately fill the gap.
Arsenal have worked to a plan for the last ten years or more, they don’t make rash decisions and are not influenced by the dribbings of the media hacks.
Spurs need to look closely at how Arsenal do things, they might learn a lot by doing so.
Class is permanent, Arsenal have it by the lorry load.
Good luck in the Thursday night league.
dont speak too early sympathetic gooner, if you’s fail to get past the 1st round of the C/L we’ll be seeing you’s on thursday too,best case scenario for Spurs, group (a) C/L-Barcelona,Man Utd,Bayern Munich,and Arsenal, hahaha that would be primo
Still Villa…still dreaming,
You haven’t got Vertonghen or Adebayor, Parker will miss the start of the season and VDV is off back to Germany. Cash plus Bentley! I like that idea, how much will you have to pay to get rid of him?
Build a team from scratch?
Are you joking? mate, we were 13 points clear of you, and had it not been for poor managerial decisions, we would have done you! Our squad is not much, if any, worse than yours.
With regards to you saying you have had a plan and stuck to it, fair play, can’t argue with that. You handled the move from highbury to a new ground well, and Wenger has been a great boss for you – but that said, means nothing. You don’t win trophies and i doubt you will this year either.
Not saying we will, just that if finishing in the top 4 alone is good enough for you each yr, fair play, enjoy it while you can.
Fact is, it wasn’t good enough for us which is why we got rid of ‘arry. It may work, it may backfire BIG TIME! but, ‘to dare is to do’ my friend
Well said. Arsenal is a good squad, but to say we have to build a team from scratch in comparison? A little far-fetched.
Somewhat off topic, but that last sentence got me fired up. COYS!
Why is Gooner even on this website??
Surely they have a Goon blog where he can add his uninformed comments or are they soo illiterate they are unable to formulate a blog?
I think AVB will have learned a lot from his time at chelsea, no matter how short it was. Also you dont become a bad manager over night and winning title plus an unbeaten season he must have a bit of something special.
As for players out i would go for Cudicini, King(but still love him, times just up) Gallas, Bentley, Jenas, Modric, Pienaar. We not really got any strikers so i suppose we keep Defoe even though all he can do is shoot.
We need 2 top class strikers, a replacement for Modric and a top class centre half and we are sorted i think. Fingers crossed we have Vert coming so thats the centre half sorted.
Ins: jan vertonghen, oscar, diego, hugo lloris, papiss cisse, baines
Outs: bentley, bassong, pienaar, gallas, gomes, cudicini, falque, dos santos, modric,
Gomes – OUT. Only if we get in a Lloris calibre keeper.
Hudd – IN. If he’s fitness is still an issue by January then maybe consider selling quick. Otherwise he’ll leave on a free…
Van der Vaart – OUT. He can’t play a full 90, and although he can pull off the occasional super strike, and works his heart out, and seems to love the club, he is a liability past 65 minutes. Plus we should be able to get a fair bit for him.
Jenas – OUT. Workhorse, but that’s it.
dos Santos – IN. For the moment. If he works well with AVB he might be able to reach his potential. Looks like he’s gone already though. Hopefully for a player of his Gold Cup performance price.
Bassong – IN. Can play well, still young really. And we only have one left sided CB IF Vertonghen comes in.
Dawson – OUT. But he’ll stay.
Falque – OUT. Maybe just on loan, but to a team who will actually play him…
Bentley – OUT. Shit.
Pienaar – IN. Class player on his day, hopefully AVB can get the best out of him. If not by January, sell back to Everton, maybe get a player in return?
Modric – OUT. With talk of Moutinho, Oscar and Sigurdsson on their way to the Lane, and the Croatian getting mardy, why not take the money and run? As long as it’s money, or money + a Sahin or Higuain, not a Carvalho, and not to ANYONE in the PL.
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