Unless Spurs can come up with a new striker in the next five days, the club is set to go in with the quartet that struggled to find the net last season and with Rafael van der Vaart struggling once again with injury, it looks as if the second half of the Bilbao match may have settled Harry’s mind as to what the formation will be.
With Spurs 1-0 down at half time, Harry’s substitutions changed the course of the match and with Gareth Bale causing the away defence the most problems, the Welshman set up the first goal for Peter Crouch while Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe combined for the latter to smash home the winner.
While Crouch keeps being linked with a move away from the club – to either Stoke or Everton, the deal will have to be done extremely quickly for him to be out of the Spurs gates before Saturday’s match.
Of course it’s difficult to read too much into last weekend’s friendly, but it was a good result against an excellent Spanish side and as a by-product of that game, Harry has probably settled on his strike force for the first Premiership game of the season.
Gomes
Walker Gallas Dawson Ekotto
Lennon Modric Huddlestone Bale
Defoe Crouch
i think domains team is pretty much the one… although not sure Gallas is fit… so i would have Kaboul!!
NOT Gomes (the defence do not trust his erratic behaviour). NOT Huddlestone (A central midfielder who cannot defend or sprint?). PLEASE.
Friedel
Walker Dawson Kaboul Ekotto
Lennon Palacios Modders Bale
Crouch Defoe
That’s only if Sandro & VDV are both unfit to play
RORY ARE U HAVING A LAUGH NO HUDDLESTONE HE IS GOING TO BE A KEY PLAYER THIS SEASON IF FIT HIS PASSING IS 2ND TO NONE AS FOR PALACIOUS HE JUST RUNS ROUND LIKE A FOOL IF FIT WOULD PLAY SANDRO THOUGH
Friedel
walker dawson gallas/kaboul bae
lennon hudd modric bale
pav defoe
gomes is a clown who scares the defence, pav will get you more goals than crouch, and he can score with his head too!
If Diarra comes – play modders on right and Diarra in centre with Hudd – solid,class midfield!! COYS
Thank god there are some clever fans who have done there home work on Hudds . We win more and create more when he plays and the way he tracked back and headed the ball out and when he chested it down he showed he has some skill. The fact he is no where near fit and trust me when he wants to he can stride out is ball to Corluka was superb. He also can fill in at the back and his record is played nine lost none at Centre half and that was with only one recognised centre half Woodgate the others where Zakora Bassong Chimbonda remarkable states . He also allows Modric to roam forward and he can switch play in a flash with fast cross field passes with backspin a very hard thing to do all he needs is to get fit ankle and all.
Player observations (especially after playing Bilbao):
Hudd is class. Great passing ranger and more defensive-minded than some of the other CMs.
Notice how bad we were doing first half against bilbao when Pienaar and Jenas were playing, and how much better we were after they were off? Deadweight.
Kranjcar looked great (despite the penalty miss) but is definitely better as a central attacking mid than as a wing. Play VdV 2/3s of the time with Niko as a second half sub, and let him start every 1/3rd game to help rest VdV.
Defoe looks better than Pav and actually works with Crouch. Get rid of Pav and Keane, keep Crouch and Defoe as both offer a different type of play to change things up (plus Crouch screws people up in Europe). Get a new striker who can play alone as the primary forward.
Bassong never seems good enough — even as a sub; Kaboul looks great paired with Dawson and would only get better with more field time. Gallas is quality as well, but Kaboul has more years in him.
Walker should start over Corluka, although Corluka is fine as a sub. Walker is good on defense and adds great overlapping attacking runs — plus he seems to work well with Lennon (who finally showed some attacking intent as well).
I’ve always thought BAE good, but not great — I’d change that now. He’s great on attack and defense and is SO calm bringing the ball out of the back. I’d rather have a fullback who very occasionally makes a mistake but passes well out of defense than one who is consistent but just hoofs the ball straight back to the other team when clearing. He looked really impressive against Bilbao and seems to be growing well each year.
Rose looked great at the end of last year and I hope he sees some action as a sub for both BAE and Bale. Maybe bring him on after an hour to rest one or the other.
Bale: looked great and seems fully recovered from injury. He was (news to no-one) amazing the first 1/2 of last season but slowed down from both injury and opponent’s awareness of him leading to him being double-teamed. If they want to do that (double-team Bale) great; it’ll slow Bale down but it means someone else is wide open — play the ball through them while the other team worries about Bale.