Tag Archives: goal scorer

Things feel a bit stale

Posted by on March 22, 2011 8 comments

For a couple of months now, it seems thing have gone a bit, for want of a better word, stale. Blackpool and Fulham aside, results have still been good overall but we just seem to lack both killer instinct in front of goal as well as a bit of spark. I can’t quite put my finger on it because everyone is playing well still and we are creating chances but something is lacking.

Van Der Vaart has certainly gone off the boil in recent weeks and he was the one giving us that energy boost and that bit of world class magic. He still doesn’t look fully fit to me and that’s likely why he’s hauled off quite so often. I can’t knock Modric and his play in midfield has been exceptional but his goal return this season is poor. That’s not to say he’s doing anything wrong, if the strikers were hitting the back of the net it wouldn’t be a problem.

I’ve been saying this for a long while, even before the season got underway and I still think we need a world class out and out goal scorer. The problem is, there aren’t many of them around. I’m not sure whether it’s because the way the game is played has changed slightly in the last five or ten years or just the quality of strikers has dropped, but you don’t seem to get your twenty five, thirty goal a season men like you used to. I think Defoe isn’t far off world class on his day and is a top Premiership striker but his inconsistency is becoming an issue. Although Pavlyuchenko is a bit of an enigma, I’d be tempted to give him a little run in the side. Not that I think he’s on Defoe’s level, but just to offer us something different and freshen it up a bit.

It could be that I’m taking too much of a short term view and things will suddenly spark into life again in the next few weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticising anyone and this season has already proved way beyond anything I could imagine, it’s just a little frustrating dropping points that we are more than capable of picking up. This is especially when a top four finish is so crucial to the continued progress and development of Tottenham, and it seems as though the 4th spot is very much there for the taking.

Maybe the Champions League furore has taken the edge off our league form slightly but if that is the case, what the players need to realise is that they won’t be playing in it next season unless they start picking up some points. Even Liverpool aren’t out of the Top 4 battle after their recent good form. I feel like Wigan is a must win game for us now, the problem is I’m not sure it’s a game we will win with a trip to Madrid on everyone’s mind just a few days later…

Tottenham’s Top Transfer Targets

Posted by on June 24, 2009 42 comments

Peter Crouch – Crouchy looks the most likely of the current crop of players being linked with Spurs. Harry’s a big fan having signed him for decent money while at Pompey and he seemed to enjoy playing with Defoe during his time there. If Robbie Keane is on the way out then Crouch would be perfect to come in and play alongside Jermain. For all that people like to knock the world’s tallest man, he is a proven Premiership goal scorer and would be worth shelling out for.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar – Spurs were strongly linked with Huntelaar prior to his move to Madrid but how true these stories were I’m not so sure. The fact things haven’t really worked out for him at Real make him a more realistic target now and with his current side splashing the cash like there is no tomorrow, he may be willing to take a step down to guarantee first team football. He won’t be cheap and neither will his wages but I’d prefer we took a punt on a player of his calibre rather than another average English player that will cost just as much such as Bent or Bentley. I don’t include Crouch in this because he has a much better track record.

Ashley Young – I was initially very surprised when we were linked with Ashley Young. I thought Villa were more than ok financially and after having to sell Gareth Barry I would have thought they would have been desperate to hold on to the rest of their star players. Martin O’Neill is supposedly interested in both David Bentley and Tom Huddlestone and either of both of those players could go in the other direction. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over the pair of them leaving to be honest. My main concern with Young would be his fee. The fact he’s under 25 and English means he’ll probably valued at close to £20m but if we can get away with £8m and Bentley it wouldn’t be a disaster.