Tag Archives: bentley

Who should start?

Posted by on August 28, 2009 13 comments

The Tottenham team has pretty much been picking itself in the league since the opening game of season, but after some good performances from the fringe players at Doncaster on Wednesday, do any of them deserve to start at the Lane against Birmingham tomorrow?

It’s a hard one for Harry Redknapp because on paper, Birmingham at home should be an easy 3 points. Obviously nothing should be taken for granted but it must be tempting for him to give Crouch, Pavlyuchenko or Bentley a game. Is it worth tinkering with a winning league side though? Other than having to shuffle the defence when Ledley needed a rest against Hull, it has been the same set of players in all three league victories.

Personally, I’d struggle to know what to do if I were in the manager’s shoes. The only real obvious one would be starting Crouch in place of Keane but even that’s a difficult move with Keane having started the season very confidently and being team captain. Bentley’s been in the dock today so I’m not sure it’s the right time for him to be starting and Pavlychenko has just enlightened us on his desire to leave.

The fact we don’t have another game for two weeks when Man Utd visit the Lane means Harry doesn’t need to rest anyone but he may choose to give those who are likely to feature for their country next weekend a breather.

Not exactly sticking my neck out but whatever the eleven Redknapp decides on, I’m confident of all three points tomorrow. Let’s hope Steven Carr doesn’t come back to haunt us!

You can Duff off

Posted by on June 29, 2009 16 comments

I’ve heard some sick jokes in my time where Tottenham’s transfer targets are concerned but Damien Duff would certainly make the top ten. I’m sure this must be some kind of wind up, I’d rather pull Andy Sinton back out of retirement than sign this leprechaun.

Go back four years or so and yes, I would have been very happy to see him in a Spurs shirt but at 30 years of age with his injury record and lack of decent form for as long as I can remember, no thank you very much. I can’t see that he’s still up to the Premiership, let alone a side supposed to be pushing the top 4 or 5 teams all the way to the line next season.

In what can possibly be considered even worse news, Obafemi Martins’ name is also being banded about. I have a more than a strong dislike for his attitude as it is and that is with him at a rival club, I’d seriously think about defecting to Welling Utd if he turns up at the Lane. I’ve only just recovered from the Djibril Cisse stories, now there is this to contend with!

Obviously the majority of these rumours turn out to be the brainchild of a bored Mirror journalist or a 13 year old kid sitting at home on the internet pretending to be in the know but reading these names still does my ticker no good whatsoever.

Wednesday see the opening of the transfer window and I’d imagine Spurs will be doing some early business with players going both in and out. Let’s hope it’s the likes of Bentley, Chimbonda, Huntelaar and Robben involved rather than Keane, Lennon, Duff and Martins.

Harry claims quality is aim, let’s hope so

Posted by on June 1, 2009 15 comments

Some of the recent rumoured transfer targets for Spurs have actually scared me. Jones, Downing and the final straw for me this morning, Duff.

Harry Redknapp has been quoted as saying he only wants to bring in 3 top class players in the summer. If those are the 3 he considers to be top class, we are in serious bother!

He said: “We need three players of the highest quality who can come in and make a difference.

“We have a lot of good players here, and maybe we can move on one or two to give us the money to get a few in.”

Pavlychenko, Bent and Bentley among those moving on? I can’t see us making anything other than a big loss on all 3 but Harry is a past master at making his money stretch. The Kenwyne offer makes me think his lost that talent now.

Names I do like the sound of include Gareth Barry and Joe Cole but they are players that I just don’t see fancying a move to a club not competing in the Champions League.

The Kenwyne Jones deal was apparently blocked in January and I’m praying daily that we don’t got back with an improved offer. The £20m was £19.9m too much as it was.

In other news, a mate of mine just saw Ledley King stumbling around Mandalay Bay, let’s hope he’s having a good time and is back nice and refreshed for the new season!

The players that should not be sold

Posted by on April 29, 2009 23 comments

It looks likely that a number of the current Tottenham squad will be allowed to leave the club at the end of the season. The likes of Gilberto, Rocha, and Boateng obviously have no future under Harry Redknapp. Some high profile players including Bentley, Zokora and Pavlyuchenko will also probably be available if the right sort of offers come in.

Are there any players on their way out that we should be keeping hold of? I’ve always been a fan of Taarabt but how long do we give to to convert his unlimited potential into the final product we need? I know his chances have been fairly limited and it’s going to be even harder for him now he needs knee surgery but I’d be keen for us to keep hold of the lad for now.

It’s a similar story with Giovani Dos Santos. He’s been excellentin hi brief spell at Ipswich and he’s another player I’d like to see get more chances next season. I’m hoping Harry uses the Carling Cup next season as an opportunity to blood players such as Taarabt, Dos Santos and Bostock.

Of the established members of the squad, I wouldn’t be that disappointed to see Zokora, Bentley and even Huddlestone going.  The thing that annoys me with a lot of these fringe players is the fact they run to the press the second they aren’t in the side. I realise it’s all part of the game and they are probably just doing as they are told by their agents but speak to Harry in private and tell the press you are working hard to get your place back, don’t throw around threats about leaving when you just ain’t that good.

Obviously Lennon and Modric speak for themselves and I can’t see the club letting either of them go no matter what kind of offers are on the table. I’ll just be keeping my fingers crossed that Sir Alex doesn’t take a shine to either of them because he has 100% control over transfers as well as refs! Alan Hutton in a red shirt would not surprise me before too long.