We all know that Harry likes to throw Ledley King into the big occasions if he possibly can and if there is a remote chance of the club captain being fit for Sunday’s match with Manchester City, you can be fairly certain that the manager will use him.
The early prognosis on King’s troublesome Hamstring was grim and it was expected that he would be out for another six weeks at least but after responding well to intensive treatment, he could make the final cut.
Elsewhere, Sandro is another who could return after injury but with Scott Parker returning to full fitness, the Brazilian is likely to be looking at a place on the bench at best.
This is one of the biggest games of the season for Spurs and as far as our central defence is concerned it could be a case of picking two from Kaboul, Dawson and King. If so, which way would you go?
Easy.Kaboul and king.done
king & Kaboul all day long.
The last thing you want against these three Aguero Nasri and Silver is dodge anything and if i was playing King it would be in this Team Gomes yes because of Dzecko heading Walker Dawson King Kaboul Lennon Parker Modric Bale Defoe Van
is that even worth answering? of course king and kaboul. they are responsible for our fine defensive record of late. dawson looked a bit sluggish when he came back
Likely to be Daws and Kaboul though obviously would prefer King to be countering Aguero. Kaboul vs Dzeko should be fun to watch.
I’m hoping VdV and JD can strike up a partnership though Rafa will need to stay higher up the pitch and stop taking the ball off defenders around the halfway line. Closer to JD and his flicks and precise passes can get JD away. If JD’s isolated then he won’t be able to hold the ball ni the way that Ade can
You have just told us all what i have said in the last nine games Van Plays too deep to play has a second striker and this is why Ady and Vans goals have dried up lately. Along with teams chasing the ball with extra energy the hidden scandal in football behind shocks dirty tackles swearing racism tunnel fights and behind the rise in players off field behaviour.
Agree big player needs to have a huge game to take all 3 points for me it would be Llorente sign him before the weekend………
Why pay 25 million and have him sit and watch 4411 Van system not scoring Defoe has scored and won games with less time than Van and ant get a game.
Of course for 25m, he would HAVE to play. He would not be on the bench. Look at Torres? He couldn’t score at a nymphomaniacs’ convention – yet he plays.
I would play Sandro,Parker,mod,bale and Lennon in mid field with no Defoe until last 15 minutes.scoring goals is not A problem,Defending set plays is.Sandro if fit, Will provide cover for the back 4.
just move bale into ade place and bring sandro. team gomes, walker KING DAWS bae, sandro modric parker lennon,vdv bale bale in the middle, penalties galore
Simple as that eh? Remember when the Craig Levein put out a Scotland line up with no strikers? People saw that as negative, and he got heavily criticised. We have strikers, so used them. As unreliable as they are, they are massively more experienced than Bale in that position – besides being massively more experienced footballers in general. The other point is that Bale has not been at his best lately either – so what makes people think that he would be any better up front?
4-3-3 formation:
Friedel
Walker Kaboul King BAE
Parker Modric Sandro
Lennon Defoe Bale
Effectively 4-5-1 isn’t it? Lennon & Bale aren’t strikers, so they will tend to sit back.
A good team does not rely on one or two players to score
Ade been off the boil . who has been scoring. Nothing ventured nothing gained . good defence gets us a nil nil score.
Just checking some stats league goals Ade 6
Rafa 6
Defoe 6
Bale 6
Second goal against Norwich released by Modric straight down the middle . A finish any striker would be proud of.
Dude, Bale picked the ball up from a midfielder’s position. He won’t (or should I say SHOULD NOT) be in that position when playing striker. A striker’s game is not all about finishing – otherwise VDV would be a striker – he is not. Bale would have to learn – very quickly – how to play up front. This only comes with experience. What to do when you are having long periods without the ball, how to make runs etc… Bale is not used to this. How about staying onside? Having to learn the tricks that defenders do to try and catch you offside. Nothing ventured, nothing gained indeed – BUT you do not try it in your hardest fixture of the season on paper! Instead of doing extra training to get Bale up to speed in new role, why not do extra work on how to break City down, and to stop THEM from playing? What if we put work into Bale playing striker, and then he comes off injured after 10 mins? Really not the sane thing to do in a tough match. I am not saying Bale would suck at it, but I would only consider it should we get a striker sent off and we need to wing it.
This is the perfect time to go at City with our pace and I agree with some of the others that if King’s fit, it has to be him with Kaboul. I’m a Dawson fan, but he’s better off backing up Ledley and then playing against Watford in the cup next time out (Sandro too). On the striker situation, I have a feeling that the only deal that will happen will be for Ade to get signed up, with GDS being shown the door too. We’ve got this far with the 4 usual suspects, so why change it now? Huntelaar would be a great buy though, if Danny boy got his chequebook out
No brainer lineup for Sunday – I would go Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, BAE, Lennon, Parker, Modric, Bale, VDV and Defoe.
We need sandro for this game to play as a holding big midfieler and control and dominate the midfield in the absence.of yaya. No kompany
Defoe and VDV would be enough for Lescott and Savic. Lennon would be too weak when matched against Kolarov. Silva vs.Modric is the highlight. Spurs2-Man city 0
——–Friedel
Walker King Kaboul BAE
—– Parker Sandro
Lennon – Modric – Bale
——– Defoe
Dominate midfield if possible and keep City’s magnificent strikeforce at bay – the Modric Sandro Parker triangle can keep the ball all day and play the passes we need to keep them on their toes. Use the pace of the wingers and Defoe to put pressure on City’s back line wherever possible, especially Savic who is their weakest link.
To me, VDV just doesn’t work hard enough to start a game like this – compare the impact Sandro will have during City’s inevitable early onslaught compared to how much VDV will help. Modric can deputise on penalties and free kicks. Bring Rafa on in the 60th minute for one of the holding midfielders or maybe Defoe, depending on how the game is going.
It’s never going to be easy but if we keep them out for the first 30 minutes (or even score early!) the game’s there to be won. City do demonstrate a bit of petulance when the game isn’t going their way so we could play on that.
COYS!