As Danny Rose continued to get a prolonged run out in the side during last week’s Barclay’s Asia Trophy matches, regular left back Benoit Assou-Ekotto waited patiently on the sidelines as his deputy took the opportunity to stake a claim for a regular first team place.
Criticism of Danny has always been placed on his defending but the attacking side of his play came to the fore in Saturday’s final against South China FC as his first half cross was turned in by a defender for the first goal before an excellent through ball in the second period allow Jermain Defoe to run through and score.
Andre Villas-Boas had previously declared that Rose would very much be a part of the squad at White Hart Lane this season.
“He had an excellent season last year,” said AVB last week.
“He is one of those players that we want for our future.
“It is one of those cases where a loan has worked out extremely well for him and he will definitely be part of our squad this season.”
It’s debatable as to how much you can read into pre-season but with Danny starting and BAE on the bench, the links to clubs such as West Ham and Liverpool have followed this weekend. So is Benny’s time really up?
If fabio coentrao signs for us as part of this Bale deal then Benoit Assou-Ekotto days at spurs are deffo over.
I think Benny’s lack of professionalism was his downfall. Not even knowing who Tottenham were playing until he turned up at the ground and even turning up for some home games with a suitcase, thinking we were playing away. That means he had done no preparation for the attacker he was facing and needed time in the game to work out the player. A legend as a character but, not at the level Tottenham have moved up to. This will be a big season for Kyle Walker too I think.
We have 2 players for each position and LB needs Benny still as Zeki not quite there yet. One more season I would think. Best LB we still have on his day, and lets hope there are many more like the previous season. Injured last year for half of it so my jury is still out on him. Full pre-season and Benny still has much to offer. May have suffered now Bale gone up top as is now a bit exposed. Would benefit from the extra holding midfielder we now have to play 4-3-3.
If Bale decides to leave, I agree that only someone like Pastore or Hulk would be good enough to replace what we would be losing. I would also like to see both Di Maria and Coentrao come in as part of the deal. This would be very good business.
Have you only just figured out his days are numbered?
I like Benny although I appreciate he is a ‘marmite’ character with our fans. I may be wrong but I think Benny only has 1 more year on his contract. Seeing as he’s not been brilliant this last 12 months I think it would be a safe bet to say Levy will look to get a few quid for him. If he goes, I’ll wish him good luck.
Still, Danny Rose isn’t good enough (IMO) so we need a quality replacement. It’s all well and good standing out when playing for Sunderland but doing it for us is totally different.
Pereira at Inter looks possible. Played against us last season and looked good plus AVB had him at Porto.
COYS
Benny Should stay, Bale should stay… stop fixing something that isn’t broken. We are so close to making a title challenge and we’ve got idiots trying to change the whole squad. We have a record breaking group from last year which has been massively improved with the signings this summer and a striker on the way. Let’s not rock the boat too much. Please!!! This is a tipping point. We start making wholesale changes it is a huge gamble. We can make lots of money from Bale, but what can we attract with that attitude?
COYS!!!!!!!!!