The Tottenham Hotspur Thread

[Billy]

Note: Thread best viewed in FM Base 2011 skin.

Stadium
White Hart Lane (Capacity 36,310)

Nickname(s)
Spurs, Lilywhites

Founded
1882 - 128 years ago (Originally as Hotspur FC)

Owner(s)
ENIC International Ltd

Chairman
Daniel Levy

Manager
Harry Redknapp

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Current First Team Squad

Goalkeepers: 1 Heurelho Gomes, 23 Carlo Cudicini, 24 Brad Friedel

Defenders: 4 Younes Kaboul, 13 William Gallas, 19 Sébastien Bassong, 20 Michael Dawson (Vice Captain), 22 Vedran Ćorluka, 26 Ledley King (Captain), 28 Kyle Walker, 32 Benoît Assou-Ekotto

Midfielders: 3 Gareth Bale, 6 Tom Huddlestone, 7 Aaron Lennon, 11 Rafael van der Vaart, 14 Luka Modrić, 21 Niko Kranjčar, 25 Danny Rose, 29 Jake Livermore, 30 Sandro, 31 Andros Townsend, 40 Steven Pienaar, Yago Falqué, Scott Parker

Strikers: 9 Roman Pavlyuchenko, 10 Emmanuel Adebayor, 18 Jermain Defoe, Giovani dos Santos

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First XI
Note: Subject to formation choice, as explained below.

Goalkeeper: Brad Friedel
Right-back: Kyle Walker
Centre-back: Michael Dawson
Centre-back: Younes Kaboul
Left-back: Benoît Assou-Ekotto
Central midfield: Sandro
Central midfield: Luka Modrić
Right-winger: Aaron Lennon
Left-winger: Gareth Bale
Centre-forward: Rafael van der Vaart
Striker: Emmanuel Adebayor


Preferred Formation(s)
The Asymmetrical 4-3-3

Explanation

This formation allows us to utilise our strongest set of players, with Rafael van der Vaart getting the nod ahead of Aaron Lennon on the right, with the freedom to cut inside and fulfil his more favourable central role. Kyle Walker's main strength is his attacking prowess coupled with his crossing ability, and with Rafael moving inside on a regular basis, Kyle will have free reign along the edge of the pitch.

Assou-Ekotto is best when intercepting and clearing balls quickly, and as a result will be further down the pitch with Bale given the freedom of the left, to roam up and down providing the main width of the team. The midfield combination of Modric and Sandro is a healthy balance between creativity and power, with Luka dictating play from deep and the Brazillian able to win the ball back and deploy it to either of the technically-gifted players either side of him.

The Attacking 4-4-2

Explanation

This formation is built around the formation we used in 2009/10 when we finished 4th. It allows full use of the width we have at our disposal, and the wide array of talent able to play in these positions. Aaron Lennon comes into the team on the right, with Rafael van der Vaart getting the nod in the centre ahead of Jermain Defoe.

Kyle Walker should focus more on his defensive duty whilst playing behind Lennon, with the England winger always a threat getting forward but not the most accomplished at tackling and intercepting play. The midfield duo remains the same, and Adebayor is pushed up as the lone striker, just ahead of Rafael as an acting centre-forward.

Transfer Summary 2011/12

In
+ Souleymane Coulibaly (£Undisclosed)
+ Brad Friedel (£0)
+ Emmanuel Adebayor (Loan)
+ Cristian Ceballos (£0)
+ Scott Parker (£5,000,000)
+ Yago Falqué (Loan)

Out
- Jamie O'Hara (£5,000,000)
- Jonathan Woodgate (£0)
- Steven Caulker (Loan)
- Kyle Naughton (Loan)
- Bongani Khumalo (Loan)
- Ryan Mason (Loan)
- Jonathan Obika (Loan)
- Robbie Keane (£3,500,000)
- Alan Hutton (£4,000,000)
- Jermaine Jenas (Loan)
- David Bentley (Loan)
- Peter Crouch (£12,000,000)
- Wilson Palacios (£8,000,000)

+ £32,500,000
- £5,000,000
= £27,500,000 Profit

Related Articles

Why Harry Redknapp is no longer the manager to take Spurs forward | One in the Hole Blog - Provided by Jamie.


Thread Contributors
Billy
Jamie.
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[Billy]

The existing thread was depressingly bare-bones, and didn't warrant much interest.

I have spoken to Lee, and he has agreed to merge the existing posts from Sam's thread with this one, so they don't get overlooked and I can maintain and update the OP frequently.

 

[khemo]

Yes! Well done.

 

[TheMjt]

Very good OP Billy, do you think Sandro will be played ahead of Parker this season though?

 

[puzzled]

Very good OP Billy, do you think Sandro will be played ahead of Parker this season though?

I would think Parker would be played more. I don't really understand why they bought Parker even though he's an excellent player I thought Sandro is looking very good and I really rate him.

 

[Billy]

Unfortunately, I think Parker will indeed feature regularly for us ahead of Sandro.

I really do like the Brazillian, and am keen to see how he develops with us given first team football. I hope a 30+ year old signing doesn't stunt his growth too much.

Huddlestone is going to find his chances few and far between, I expect. Unless we start VDV out wide ahead of Lennon and use 3 in the centre of midfield.

 

[CJ]

Great OP.

Desperately hope that Giovani gets some chances now, with VdV and Lennon out injured, but Redknapp seems to have a personal vendetta against him which is a huge shame. My preferred line up would be:

------------Adebayor - Defoe------------
Bale-------------------------------Giovani/VdV
---------Sandro-------Modric-------------
BAE-------Dawson----Kaboul-----Walker
---------------Friedal-----------------------

Feel as if we need a player like Giovani in our team as going forward we are far far too predictable i.e. Bale/Lennon will attempt to run past the full back and try to cross, VdV often looks to just shoot etc. With Giovani we can have that unpredictability that will help us unlock defenced.

RE: Sandro. I recall earlier in the summer that Redknapp was mentioning Sandro in the same breath as VdV, Bale and Modric saying that we must keep hold of these players. He clearly rates him so I don't worry about his opportunities.

P.S. You didn't include the Palacios+Crouch transfers on the summary.

 

[Billy]

Not sure how I managed to miss those two out. With their additional £8 million and £12 million fees respectively, our profit from transfers is close to £30,000,000 total. Let's hope we'll move for Leandro in January as planned, who is looking likely to cost around half that much.

I would be willing to give Giovani further chances, but he really needs to step up. He has played 10 games for us, mostly as a sub admittedly, but has yet to find the net once. That said, he had a pretty successful spell on loan last year, so maybe he's sharper than previously; though he always looks good for Mexico.

 

[CJ]

Can definitely see us moving for Leandro in Jan, possibly with Pav out. Play him second fiddle to Adebayor for the second half of the season giving him time to bed in for next season.

Frustratingly with Gio, whenever he's been played in pre-season and such, he's looked very bright and sharp, yet he's never been given a full game in the prem. He just needs to be given a chance, just like Bale did when BAE was injured.

Also think Lennon needs to be dropped, very ineffective, lacking in final ball, turned back into the old Lennon again. Could be a very good impact sub though.

 

[Frutty]

So basically we had a profit of 27,5m and we didn't bought anything yesterday (excluding Parker). Personally I don't see what's the matter with Parker, why we brought him here, we have Modric, Huddlestone, Sandro who are ahead of him, personally.
If Adebayor gets injured, we're ****** again.
Also, Lennon should be dropped, he didn't played a **** in the last few months, dos Santos should be given a ******* change, but 'Arry is too ******* smart and kills another wonderkid.

 

[Mike.]

Can definitely see us moving for Leandro in Jan, possibly with Pav out. Play him second fiddle to Adebayor for the second half of the season giving him time to bed in for next season.

Frustratingly with Gio, whenever he's been played in pre-season and such, he's looked very bright and sharp, yet he's never been given a full game in the prem. He just needs to be given a chance, just like Bale did when BAE was injured.

Also think Lennon needs to be dropped, very ineffective, lacking in final ball, turned back into the old Lennon again. Could be a very good impact sub though.

I would love to see Gio given a proper run of games, looks good for Mexico because he has the confidence of consistently being involved, I'd definitely start him over Lennon.

Adebayor may be an astute loan, I can see him playing very well this season, for his own selfish reasons to get a move somewhere else next summer

 

[belz]

What a great OP. Very well done Billy.

Will keep an eye on this one.

 

[Spursfran]

I personally am disappointed with our deadline day dealings, nearly £30 mil profit, so why not pay extra for Cahill? Realistically we're not going to get him in January or end of this season, he will end up asking whatever wages he wants as there will be little to no transfer fee involved, I think we REALLY missed a trick not pairing Daws and Cahill, who could well be future England centre back pairing!!!!!

Looking at the Redknapp interview yesterday as he left the training ground, he seemed pretty ****** off, personally I reckon Levy pulled the purse strings shut, rather than Harry thought the fee was too much? - Any thoughts? Strange given the wages we cleared off and the fees we recieved! BTW £12 mil for Crouch, WTF!!!!!!! On a plus from Levy, well done for standing your ground on Modric, £40 mil must've been HARD to turn down, just hope your tough stance with Luka doesn't alienate him and drive down his performance!

With Sandro, I love him to pieces, I think he can be a central midfield enforcer of the quality of Roy Keane for years to come, however, I've heard that he has been having problems settling into English way of life and the injury he picked up for Brazil is not as bad as the 3 months he is going to be out - however, I did see he tweeted before the City game 'On the way to the game, COYS', so hopefully he is back in a few weeks, walking through tackle after tackle that we have come to know and love!!!!!! He's a machine!

As for how the midfield will work, who knows, we can all see it will be pretty standard defence and wide men from last season, but how he will include Modric, Parker, Sandro and VDV will be interesting. At least with 2 of those out injured at the moment, 'arrys choice is made for him (4-4-2 with JD & Adebayor), which may lead to Parker and Modric forming a great partnership in the middle and forcing Sandro to a place waiting in the wings and Europa League games, at least to start with. Parker is a QUALITY player, his only mistake in his career is not coming to The Lane earlier when we tried! However, Sandro has the potential to be a WORLD CLASS player (he's not far off it at the moment!) and one Harry must STRIVE to find a starting place for, if the club has a future, it lies with Sandro and not Parker!

Least we don't support those mugs down the road, they should've signed Parker because he is exactly what they need, a ball winner who can play a bit, the 2 deadline signings they are worse, older players than those they've lost, more injury prone and not ball winners, I just cant see how they're going to get the ball, unless you count Wilshire 2 footed tackles!!!!! - followed by their gamely red card!

I see us fighting with Liverpool and a lesser extent Ar$eholes for 4th/5th/6th spot this season.

COYS!!!!! NORTH LONDON IS OURS!

 

[Billy]

Much obliged, belz. I have additions to the OP planned also, but I wanted to get the thread up and it was taking a while.

 

[CJ]

Think it's plainly obvious now that Levy doesn't trust Redknapp with big cash, considering his short term targets, as it appears to all that Redknapp will more than likely not be here in 12 months time, he wants short term success with 'tried and tested' players such as: Parker, Bellamy, Cole where as Levy is always thinking long term and wants the best for the club. There's also been a lot of rumours flying around about the deteriorating relationship between Levy and Redknapp over the dispute between transfer targets. So it's not surprising that we haven't spent big on players in case the next manager isn't overly keen on them. So Levy appears to be content to let Redknapp get some of the players he wants in, but only if they are cheap and represent good value i.e. Friedal/Parker. We can't forget that we also have to put away substantial money for the NPD and trimming the wage bill by 200k+ and saving 27m in transfer fee's will help massively.

BTW, does anyone know how long Gallas is out for? Haven't heard any news and we lack his leadership and experience at the back.

 

[Mike.]

Think it's plainly obvious now that Levy doesn't trust Redknapp with big cash, considering his short term targets, as it appears to all that Redknapp will more than likely not be here in 12 months time, he wants short term success with 'tried and tested' players such as: Parker, Bellamy, Cole where as Levy is always thinking long term and wants the best for the club. There's also been a lot of rumours flying around about the deteriorating relationship between Levy and Redknapp over the dispute between transfer targets. So it's not surprising that we haven't spent big on players in case the next manager isn't overly keen on them. So Levy appears to be content to let Redknapp get some of the players he wants in, but only if they are cheap and represent good value i.e. Friedal/Parker. We can't forget that we also have to put away substantial money for the NPD and trimming the wage bill by 200k+ and saving 27m in transfer fee's will help massively.

BTW, does anyone know how long Gallas is out for? Haven't heard any news and we lack his leadership and experience at the back.

Would you trust Redknapp with say, £30 million? Levy will keep the club healthy, even if you suffer slightly in the short term. Only problem with Redknapp leaving is that he will end up with England

 

[CJ]

Would you trust Redknapp with say, £30 million? Levy will keep the club healthy, even if you suffer slightly in the short term. Only problem with Redknapp leaving is that he will end up with England

I don't even think Redknapp wants to spend 30m on a player, remember when City signed Dzeko he said "It would scare me spending that much money on a player I wasn't sure about". In short, he doesn't have the balls. We could have had Suarez for 22m, but he bottled it and we could have had Rossi for 18m, but he bottled it. He doesn't want to commit to big money, in case it backfires and he loses his reputation.

Must be frustrating for Levy, he's willing to spend big money on the right player, yet Redknapp can't commit to the targets and only wants proven players in the prem.

 

[Mike.]

I don't even think Redknapp wants to spend 30m on a player, remember when City signed Dzeko he said "It would scare me spending that much money on a player I wasn't sure about". In short, he doesn't have the balls. We could have had Suarez for 22m, but he bottled it and we could have had Rossi for 18m, but he bottled it. He doesn't want to commit to big money, in case it backfires and he loses his reputation.

Must be frustrating for Levy, he's willing to spend big money on the right player, yet Redknapp can't commit to the targets and only wants proven players in the prem.

Here's a question. Even if Redknapp doesnt get the England job, do you still see him at the club next season?

 

[*Paul*]

So basically we had a profit of 27,5m and we didn't bought anything yesterday (excluding Parker). Personally I don't see what's the matter with Parker, why we brought him here, we have Modric, Huddlestone, Sandro who are ahead of him, personally.
If Adebayor gets injured, we're ****** again.
Also, Lennon should be dropped, he didn't played a **** in the last few months, dos Santos should be given a ******* change, but 'Arry is too ******* smart and kills another wonderkid.

What's wrong with some profit? Arsenal make loads, and you normally make losses via transfers (correct me if I'm wrong). Also, aren't you in debt? I agree with most of your points, though.

Think it's plainly obvious now that Levy doesn't trust Redknapp with big cash, considering his short term targets, as it appears to all that Redknapp will more than likely not be here in 12 months time, he wants short term success with 'tried and tested' players such as: Parker, Bellamy, Cole where as Levy is always thinking long term and wants the best for the club. There's also been a lot of rumours flying around about the deteriorating relationship between Levy and Redknapp over the dispute between transfer targets. So it's not surprising that we haven't spent big on players in case the next manager isn't overly keen on them. So Levy appears to be content to let Redknapp get some of the players he wants in, but only if they are cheap and represent good value i.e. Friedal/Parker. We can't forget that we also have to put away substantial money for the NPD and trimming the wage bill by 200k+ and saving 27m in transfer fee's will help massively.

BTW, does anyone know how long Gallas is out for? Haven't heard any news and we lack his leadership and experience at the back.

Some good points, there. 'Arry, in my opinion, is a poor manager who is very selfish and has many 'favourites' (e.g. Defoe, Crouch, Cole, Kaboul, etc.

He's always looking for players at his old club, spends too much on poor players and doesn't think about the future or about the other player's careers. He's ruined a few player's careers as well - Bentley, Dos Santos, Bent (although thankfully he recovered at Sunderland), Kaboul, the list goes on and on.

If he's England manager, he may even drop Bent, who is a top player! I pray to God he doesn't get appointed as England manager, because in my opinion that would be a disaster.

 

[GodCubed]

BTW, does anyone know how long Gallas is out for? Haven't heard any news and we lack his leadership and experience at the back.

No set return date still, unfortunately.