Rafael van der Vaart has quickly become our talisman, but he will be missing for our away trip to the European champions Inter Milan.

So the question is who will replace him? I think we can rule out a return to 4-4-2, away at a side like Inter, so we need someone who can slip into the role that Van der Vaart occupies between the midfield and the attack.

As I see it there are three main candidates. We can either draft in Robbie Keane to play a withdrawn role, bring in Niko Kranjcar from the cold, or play Luka Modric in an advanced role.

There’s no way I’d play Keane, but it’s a tough call between the Croats. Kranjcar has been in great goalscoring form at international level of late, but playing Modric there would allow us to bring in Wilson Palacios alongside Tom Huddlestone and give us a more defensively sound midfield.

Modric would be my choice, but who would you choose?


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17 COMMENTS

  1. Gomes
    Hutton, Bassong, Galas, Ekotto
    Lennon, Huddleston, Palacios, Bale
    Moderic
    Dos Santos

    (I feel that Crouch would be a better choice as a sub and santos I feel will have a good game)

  3. Gio up top on his own………. shut up. crouch is 100% starting this game, no ifs no buts. would play charlie at rb (better defensively imo), the rest looks alright. sandro/jenas/palacios next to hudd with modric in front!

    Gomes
    Corluka
    Gallas
    Bassong
    BAE
    Lennon
    Hudd
    Jenas
    Bale
    Modric
    Crouch

  5. Kranjcar for me all the way. This game is primed for him and if he plays he will be out to prove a point. Harry has saved him for this game, mark my words!

  6. bringing gio in may be a stroke of genius. he knows italian clubs will be watching that have already shown interest and i dont doubt that his class could easily get him places in serie a or la liga> his football is far more suited.

    Krangjar for me. he’s mustard

  7. 4-5-1

    Gomes
    Hutton Gallas Bassong Bale
    Palacios Hudd
    Lennon Modric Kranjcar
    Crouch

    Hutton and Bale will be bombing forward as wing backs with protection from Palacios & Hudd sitting in front of back 4. When attacking, we will have 2 on the wings on each side (Bale & Kranjcar on left and Hutton & Lennon on right). I think the Inter defenders will be covering Bale leaving Kranjcar free.

    Giovani will be our super-sub!!

  10. Gomes
    Kaboul Gallas Bassong Bale
    Lennon Jenas Huddlestone Modric
    Kranjcar
    Pavlyuchenko

    Crouch, Bentley, Palacios or Dos Santos on sometime in the second half, depending on the score

  11. We all know JJ will start and Modders will play in the middle. Personally I would start with WP and Nikko give Modders a bench warming role.

  12. nobody has a point more to prove than robbie but i would not start with him. Bale is not that good defensively. We have a weak defense. Charlie has to play. My 11.
    Corluka, gallas, bassong, bae
    Lennon, huddlestone, jenas, bale
    Modric
    pav

  13. It will def be 4-4-1-1 and it will def be Crouch up top. Yidarmy is dumb has it right, Harry will play:

    Gomes
    Corluka – Gallas – Bassong – BAE
    Lennon – Hudd – Jenas- Bale
    Modric
    Crouch

    I’d like to see Kranjcar get some game time but doubt he’ll start. Only question is Hutton or Corluka right back, but Hutton isn’t good enough defensively against a side as strong as Inter, and where we’d be happy with a point

    As for Gio up front on his own – pull the other one!

  14. For 20 years now I’ve been a Spurs AND Inter fan.. (yes it’s possible to love 2 teams) so tomorrows game will be a weard one for me, but since this is a spurs blog, I’ll use my knowledge of Inter to prepare a Spurs team for you.
    I think the Inter team will look like this:
    4-2-3-1 Cesar
    Maicon Samuel Lucio Chivu
    ….Cambiasso* Zanetti
    Biabiany Sneijder Coutinho
    …………….Eto’o

    *He is suposed to be injured, but is in the squad..
    Stancovic will most likely start if Cambiasso doesn’t

    So, my spursteam would be:
    Gomes (offcourse)
    back 4….. right-back is up against the next Ronaldinho
    Coutinho isn’t the fastest of players, but knows every trick in the book and he’s 18. Charlie should be ble to handle him if he stays focused..
    Idealy I would have King and Daws handeling Eto’o but whoever gets will be having a dificult night..
    Left-back: Biabiany is INSANELY fast, but young.. Ekotto would have a lot of trouble chacing him.. I think Bale has enough defencive skill to take care of him, and he might have a better chance of catching him. + Inter probably expect us to play Bale as a winger (and if they really DO want to sign him as the media sais, they might be nice to him.. who knows 🙂
    Taking care of Sneijder is easyer said than done, but we need someone who can be in his legs before he can pass the ball…so think we should go with Palacios on that job, and partner Hudd in midfield..
    We’re without VDV, which sucks, but we have options..
    Inter has one of the strongest defences in the world, so we need to be quick, and creativ… I’d go for Kranjcar, Mod and
    Gio, with Lennon coming on for the latter if he’s not any good… If you saw the way Lucio took care of Drogba, you might agree with me we don’t at the moment have a striker at that level… I actually think we should go with the Russian, ’cause he’s been at the right place at the right time a few times now, and I think he’s selfesteam is beginning to improve…
    so I would start in 4-2-3-1 with this team
    ……………Gomes
    Charlie. King..Gallas..Bale
    ……Palacios..Hudd……….
    Gio……..Modric…….Kranjcar
    …….Pavlyuchenko

    God luck;-)

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