Benoit Assou-Ekotto has been conspicuous by his absence from Tottenham’s pre-season and as many of us suspected, it looks as if he is on his way before the end of this summer’s transfer window.
Danny Rose was effectively confirmed as our first choice left back at the start of yesterday’s game with Crystal Palace and a much publicised Tweet from a Spurs fan in France claims that BAE has been frozen out by his coach.
‘Just bumped into Benoit Assou Ekotto in France – says he’s been told by AVB not to report for training’ – so says @calumhdavidson.
Benny’s injury at the start of last season exposed a lack of cover in that position with Danny over at Sunderland. Over time, Jan Vertonghen, Kyle Naughton and Gareth Bale were all tried on the left before BAE eventually returned.
However, the Cameroon international never quite seemed to be at his best and performances in the second half of the campaign may now lead to his sale. Whatever your opinion on the veracity of that Tweet it does look likely that Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s Tottenham career is over but has AVB got this one right?
No Benny if looked after is a better left back than Danny Rose
But he is now 29 and with the quality of the side we are creating a better quality left back should be looked at
The season before last Benny was one of our best players.
However once out of favour difficult to come back !
Based on what Rose said, BAE apparently lacks in work ethics and does not train properly. Arry put up with him but AVB appeared to have enough with his antics.
I don’t think Rose is the solution and expect to sign a full back next year.
Absolutely not….. Benny is still a much better fullback that Rose, and if he really persists with Rose then he will get seriously found out in some of the big games to come this year.
No i like Benni and think he would be good as cover in cup comps etc and it is good to hv a choice to rest players etc. For me he has more good days than bad, so come on Mr Levy keep him.
Ekotto is a shocking full back. Hes lazy, everytime he has the ball at his feet in our half i panic. He always gives stupid penalties away to
Finally someone speaking sense…..all these people saying he is ‘quality’, can only think that because we’ve not had a decent left back since, man, I don’t even know when….Ziege perhaps?
BAE is awful, he doesnt try, is too complacent, is lazy, slow to react, worse positionally than Walker, and as you say, gives away stupid fouls time & time again.
I’m not saying Danny Rose is the answer, but anyone that thinks BAE should be our left back is mistaken.
I can’t wait for us to sell him
Benny was good but his laid back,couldnt give a toss attitude can negatively affect the rest of the team. AVB likes upbeat, intense and passionate players who give 110% in all areas – BAE does not fit the mold, and Ade is all too similar. A bit of cancer being removed IMO.
AVB has it totally wrong. BAE is with Chris Hughton the best we’ve had since the late great Cyril Knowles who I was lucky enough to see as a kid. My dad who started going to WHL in the mid 1920’s reckoned Knowles was our greatest ever LB followed by Hughton which makes BAE our 2nd or 3rd best LB ever. Of course he wasn’t at his best late last season he was coming back from a long term injury. Rose may be good but right now Benni is better
The fact you claim Benny to be our 2nd or 3rd best LB ever, says more about our massive lack of talent at left back than anything.
Benny is awful, end of. Honestly, I wouldn’t even name him in our 25 man squad, let alone the starting 11.
Rose is a good left back was one of the best players in yesterdays game he will prove you wrong.
What was said by @Eddie is correct – AVB runs a tight ship, and Bennie is not much of a good shipmate.
They obviously butted heads early last season, and to see the proof of it, look for an article from last December regarding a tweet made by Bennie. In the tweet, Bennie blurted out that he hated AVB, and then quickly, he made a joke of it.
While I like Bennie a lot, I think his ‘non-conformist’ behavior won’t fly with most managers (also why a guy with his skills has yet to find another team).
I like Rose’s drive, but, I’m worried about what appears to be potential anger issues, which started showing itself yesterday in the Palace match – along with the England match that, I think, got him a suspension last season. Along with all the skills required, the backline has to be cool headed.
Both BAE and Rose are good but not of the standard we need or want if we are aiming for top four all the time. Coentrao at Real Madrid who wants out should be a serious consideration. Really good going forward and a decent defender. Even Kyle Walker needs a kick up the arse and perhaps should have someone pushing for his place, because he still makes some silly mistakes
I agree with most of what you are saying, but I think Coentrao doesn’t have the speed needed, and without seeing either Knowles and Houghton play, I’d have to say that Bale would have to be one of the better LBs for Tottenham.
He’s got all of the qualities: fast, skilled, vision, intelligent, and cool headed!
Would Madrid be willing to pay £85m for a left back? I don’t think so. I understand what you’re saying but Bale has elevated himself to greatness through attacking play and lots of sensational goals. There’s no looking back 🙂
One last comment, I think Kyle Walker has just about everything that I mentioned above – EXCEPT – cool headedness, but with Kyle, I mean that he frequently looks like he has ADHD when defending. He will use his speed and athleticism get him back to defend only to knock the ball into a position into either our goal or the path of another opponent who is in better position than the guy he just stopped!
Yesterday, when Walker headed the ball straight to our goal – if we didn’t have Loris with unbelievable skills, we would have ended in a draw!
We’ve got this right. Sell him while there is dosh available for him. I dolove Disco Benny but he is too sluggish for the high line and as weak at the back as Rose.
OK, one last, last comment, I think to find a great full back, we should look for a holding mid – like Capoue. There just aren’t enough great full backs out there, and the ones there are taken by the deep pocket teams
Hugely impressed by Capoue’s brief cameo yesterday. He may well end up being a great signing.
As for Cyril Knowles, yes I too am old enough to remember one of our best ever defenders. He was certainly our best left back in living memory.
Cyril Knowles was the best; but a bit of the Benny about him. There was an amazing incident when he trapped the ball on the goal line(!) dragged it back to “pass” a sliding tackling attacker into the back of the net like a Matador, then strolled out to coolly pass the ball out and start the attack! This encapsulated the Spurs swagger.
He also had a trademark dash up the wing to deliver a far post cross without looking up, as he knew Peters or Gilzean would arrive with perfect timing.
I used to rate Benny very highly indeed but really started to question his defensive abilities a couple of times last season in particular his appalling attempt of a Rugby tackle on Surez at Anfield when he gave away a needless penalty which cost us the game and at least a very valuable point. Now is Rose better than Benny? Only time will tell but he is worth a regular run in the first team simply because he hasn’t really been given a fair crack of the whip. There are a lot worse left backs in the league and defenders are only as good as the players in front of them. He is very quick and showed a lot of fight, determination and interaction with the centre backs yesterday, he also rarely gave the ball away needlessly unlike Walker and joined in attack when called upon. He also has age on his side and can only get better with regular first team action. Some people had the same attitude towards Walker prior to his loan spells at QPR and Aston Villa respectively but he came back a much better player than when he left. Perhaps Rose can do the same after his fruitful loan spell at Sunderland. He is a very talented young player, we need to give him the chance to shine, who knows perhaps he will produce more super goals like the one he scored against the Arse a few seasons ago, who can ever forget that one.
REGARDLESS WHO PLAYS LEFT FULL BACK THEY WILL ALLWAYS BE BETTER THAN DANNY ROSE THE MIDGET IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH , EKOTTO WITH ONE LEG WOULD BE BETTER THAN ROSE HE IS THE WEAKLINK WHEN KABOUL CAME ON WHAT A DIFFERENCE GET THIS GUY ROSE OFF THE PAY SHEET .
Kaboul came on in the 89th minute, I don’t think we looked any more solid then that when Rose was on…..
I actually think Rose’ discipline in staying back when told to save us (when Phillips put Gayle through)….Rose did nothing wrong yesterday and was quality at Sunderland last year, I don’t get you lot….people moan on forums we don’t develop enough academy players, then, just as we’re about to bring one on over the coming season, you get on his back after one game…..jokers
John Duckett – you are disrespecting a young Spurs player to an outrageous extent. Get out of here with your negativity! Rose played well yesterday, no one can deny it. I really like BAE but I totally trust AVB in his judgment of players, he sees them day in day out. Rose has a relentless quality and great pace, which he showed yesterday. Give him a chance. He certainly didn’t do much wrong last season at Sunderland. And remember that goal against Arsenal? Also, after the sale of Hudd, Livermore, it’s good to introduce a young English player.
haha – I’ve just read your comment after posting my reply above, I couldn’t agree with you any more.
Seems to me a lot of these BAE lovers would probably still like ‘Arry at the club.