Of the four main strikers at Tottenham, Roman Pavlyuchenko finished the season as far and away the leading scorer this season. Despite a decent record, the Russian played sporadically and only came off the bench yesterday after an injury to Peter Crouch.
Harry Redknapp acknowledged Pav after the game as a ‘great striker of the ball’, but the two goals will leave some supporters scratching their heads as to why he wasn’t used more often this season.
Our manager does seem to have his favourites and Pavlyuchenko, like Niko Kranjcar must have been wondering what he had to do to get a regular start.
In the end, Harry makes the decisions but could Pav have possibly changed his mind yesterday or did his two goals merely increase his value in this summer’s transfer market?
Na he always has good spells then bad spells. get rid of all 4 and get in 2 world class strikers and a young one as backup
Things like this are what spawn the ill-feeling about Harry. Yes, he has undoubtedly done a fantastic job, but his blatant favoritism and self-trumpeting do rankle from time to time.
Of course Pav should start. He is our best striker by a country mile and has proved it over and over. He is the only one who can combat the was poor teams set up against us these days by parking the bus because he has both good poachers instincts and a rocket of a long range shot. Get rid of the other two wastrels and bring in a top notch forward that will bring some semblance of class to the one area on the pitch we desperately need it in.
Used sporadically? He played 39 games in all competitions this season (29 in the league) how is playing in 75% of the games sporadically? It’s hardly Kranjcar is it.
Here’s my slant on Pav. great striker of the ball – not in dispute. HOWEVER on the negative side, he has an awful first touch, poor anticipation and lacks pace. It occurred to me after yesterday’s game, if he was playing for different team and you watched a clip of his goals on Youtube, you’d salivate at the prospect of him signing for Spurs but the truth is Harry can and will do much better.
No.
Think of the times when Pav has been entrusted with leading the line, only to be brought off at half time on account of being anonymous (Arsenal away) or useless (Blackpool home).
I’d love for him to be awesome, but he just isn’t. His touch and awareness are a couple of levels below the rest of the attacking players, which means he slows down play whenever we break quickly.
All yesterday showed was that he’s pretty good at shooting from 25 yards, under no pressure.
Pavlyuchenko drives me absolutely mental. On the most part whenever he gets the ball he seems to have no idea what he’s going to do, and regularly slows down the play when there are runs clearly being made. Then he scores incredible goals and my head explodes, he should stay particularly when one looks at the other strikers. We all know that we need to sign a striker of real quality who can link up play effortlessly and score goals. In particular we need someone who will head the ball on target 9/10, we have some of the best crossers of the ball in Bale and VDV and notably a much improved Lennon and we never ever seem to connect, and when we do they go flying over. COYS
Niko Kranjcar becoming the fell-out-of-favor player was and still is mind-boggling to me. Why? He is such a talented player.
I will be very sad to see him go in the summer.
In defence of Super Pav how many of those 75% games has he actually started. Crouch is good in europe but the most predictable player in the premiership. I would stick with pav all day long!!! He doesnt have to be a quick play maker. If he started as much as crouch he would have at the very least double his tally!
all you have to do is look at the Spurs website. Both pav and crouch have played just over 90 games – Pav has scored 36 and crouch has got 24!
Pav started 18 of those league games, 25 in all competitions, 2252 minutes of playing time. Thats enough time to do well, just to make clear I like Pav and would keep him over our other strikers. I only disagreed that the author was trying to turn something into a stab at Harry when it’s clearly not a good point, use Kranjcar as a point not Pav.
Pav is a decent finisher. Not brilliant. But decent.
But he offers absolutely f**k all anywhere on the pitch other than when he has a sight at goal. He is a passenger for 95% of every game he plays. For a big man, he plays like the quintessential nine stone weakling. And, as others have said, his touch is absolutely godawful.
He’s simply nowhere near good enough for a club at the level and with the aspirations of Spurs. Get rid for as much money as we can squeeze out of any potential buyer.
Yes, Pav has been wasted. Harry should have made greater use of him. Since the other strikers are poor finishers, it is handy to have someone like Pav who can shoot and score from far, particularly when they are unable to break the defence of the opposing team as was the case last night against Birmingham. Kranjcar, too, is another player we should keep because of his striking ability from a distance.
Pav is our most productive striker, by far. And production is what counts, no? I don’t think his first touch is any better than that of the other two of the temporarily toothless trio, and he can run with the ball, which Crouch cannot.
Keep Pav, give him a regular start and more minutes and he’ll come through. Even if it means Harry has to learn a word of two of Russian.
Indyfan – Pav is most “prolific”, but I would argue that Crouch is more “productive”. Productive would include assists and goals created, which then makes Crouch about our 3rd or 4th most “productive” PLAYER in any position. In my opinion, Pav was used about right – he does score, but when he doesn’t, he isn’t very productive – despite having a great cross on him. he just does not have the work rate and does not put himself about enough to warrant more starts. With VDV + one out of 3 strikers up front, you cannot argue with the number of starts he has.
My mate who is a Liverpool fan argues with me about Pav all the time, I say hes good but Lazy and doesnt get involved in games enough, he says but Pav scores goals and thats what strikers should do, and he would have him at Liverpool.
Personally we could do better, he no doubt would go to a Newcastle or Sunderland and score 20 plus goals like Bent has but his all round play isnt good enough, we need a Rooney, Tevez, Suarez, Drogba type striker who assists is heavily involved and scores goals.
Pav is better than Defoe but honestly they should all go, I believe all but Crouch will
I would love to see Hutton, Gomes, Pletikosa, Jenas, Gio, O’Hara, Defoe, Pav, Keane, Bentley and Crouch go this summer.
Krancjar and Bassong should leave as they arent playing.
I know people will say but then you lose your squad but face it, whenever these lot are used, apart from the latter 2, then we are disappionted in them.
Naughton (championship RB of the year), Walker (England Squad), Caulker (great in 2 loan spells), Rose (proven at LB now), Townsend (good wing option) and Kane (prolific in reserves) should all be used in the squad espiecially for Europa League games.
Not enough class in Pav. He’ll score the odd memorable scorcher then be dogshit for ages.
He’s not good enough to make the side. Nor is a 6’8″ chap who struggles to head a ball with any purpose. Defoe, well, I want to love him but most seasons he’ll only put 13 away in a league campaign.
All 3 out buy 2 high quality strikers and perhaps shove Harry Kane on the pine an see if he can learn anything.
…so you want to get rid of someone capable of scoring 18 in a season, and replace him with Kane – someone who is capable of 5 goals 2 divisions down? Why are people saying “All 3 strikers out”? FIRSTLY. You are forgetting Spurs player Mr Robbie Keane!!!! SECONDLY. You cannot possibly work in so many new strikers at once. History has proven this. Spurs lost Defoe, Berbatov, Keane – within a few months, at started the next season with 2 points from 8 games. City brought in Balotelli and Dzeko within one season, and if it was for Tevez, they would have been in trouble. You obviously keep some continuity – especially one that finishes 4th one season, and 5th the next. 2 of the FOUR should remain – Crouch stays, Keane goes, take your pick from the other 2. Kane goes out on loan again. Buy TWO strikers, one intended to be main striker, and the other more of a promising or back up striker.
Absolutely agree with the comment about Krancjar. An intelligent player of real talent with a great shot. Absolutely wasted this season. It will be a real tragedy if he goes.
Talented player, yes, but completely redundant at Spurs now. Better options around now. Niko’s best position would be the VDV behind the striker role, but wouldn’t score as many, and would not make as much of a nuisance, and is not as much of a winner. Bale is more effective on left, Pienaar offers different qualities on left. Niko is just not solid enough for the centre midfield, where Modders, Hudd, Sandro are easily prefered. Why do people moan about Niko leaving, when he would not start in most people’s best Spurs XI? Face up to it, he is no longer first choice. He is not even a proper left sided midfielder.
Do me a favour – watch what Pav does off the ball. Look at his movement and look at how he consistently holds the ball up and brings someone into the game before making a run into space. Fact is that he is the only striker we have who understands how the game is played. In a strong squad he would be considered an asset. I’ve seen most of Spurs’ league games since xmas and he is the most consistent forward and that includes VDV. Trouble is with Spurs fans is that they spend too much time ball watching – just like Dawson. Look at what people do off the ball as much as on it. Nuff said. Keep Pav and the beanpole (handy away from home) and freshen the rest up.
We’ve played better this year at home, with 2 forwards. Crouch is terrible. We should have had each game 2 forwards, either Pav and Defoe, or Pav and VDV.
Anyway he should get rid of all 4 PSM 2MP DEF and PAV, as we’ve not progressed in that dept