Premiership preview, table prediction: 7. Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur Barclays Premier League position preview 2011/12

Manager: Harry Redknapp

Ground: White Hart Lane

Nickname: Spurs

Capacity: 36310

Squad:

·         Goalkeepers 1 Heurelho Gomes 13 Ben Alnwick 23 Carlo Cudicini 24 Brad Friedel 31 David Button ·         Defenders 2 Alan Hutton 4 Younes Kaboul 13 William Gallas 19 Sebastien Bassong 20 Michael Dawson 22 Vedran Corluka 26 Ledley King 28 Kyle Walker 32 Benoit Assou-Ekotto Adam Smith

·         Midfielders 3 Gareth Bale 5 David Bentley 6 Tom Huddlestone 7 Aaron Lennon 8 Jermaine Jenas 12 Wilson Palacios 14 Luka Modric 25 Danny Rose 25 Tom Carroll 29 Jake Livermore 30 Sandro 40 Steven Pienaar 41 John Bostock 43 Ryan Fredericks Cameron Lancaster Dean Parrett

·         Attacking Midfielders 11 Rafael van der Vaart 17 Giovani dos Santos 21 Niko Kranjcar 29 Andros Townsend ·         Forwards 9 Roman Pavlyuchenko 15 Peter Crouch 18 Jermain Defoe 34 Robbie Keane Harry Kane

Tottenham ended at 5^th place last season which meant no champions league for the club. It’s been a lot of negative talk in the media about some of the players wanting to leave for “bigger” clubs. This is not good for any club. Arsenal and Tottenham are both struggling with the same thing. For Tottenham it is Luca Modric who is heavily linked to Chelsea while Real Madrid is lurking in the background for Gareth Bale, as well as Crouch, Pavlychenko, Lennon and Palacios are all linked away from the club. For me it looks like Tottenham is in for a disappointing and frustrating season. When the best players want to leave a club for a “bigger club” it is a big problem for the club. You have seen this earlier in other clubs. If you keep the player, he might complain and lose focus and perform poor. If you let them leave then it signals to the other player at the club that the club is going in the wrong direction and also loses faith in the club.

No matter what happens with the Modric situation Tottenham have more problems if you ask me. First off, look at their goalkeepers.  “Mr I got soap”(Heurelho Gomes), is just not good enough for a top club. Friedel is or was (?) good enough, come on the man is out of date, but of course he is way better then Gomes.

In midfield they got Modric, Bale and Rafael Van der Vaart that is world class players. Problem is that Modric will ether leave or rage and play badly if he doesn’t get to leave for Chelsea. And Van der Vaart is maybe one of the best players in the premiership, but that doesn’t help if he is injuried and plays around 15 matches fully fit for 90 min of football. Which he have been a lot after joining Spurs. That leaves Bale to do it on his own, and he has been unlucky lately as well and had a lot of injuries after getting the award as the player of the year.  So I don’t think he will be at his best until we hit October, and that will be to late for Spurs this season if they want a champions league spot.

Last but not least looking at their forwards, that is their weakest line. I can’t see any player hitting 20 goals this season, maybe Defoe in form. But he has not looked sharpe for a long time now. Looking at the other top teams they all have at least one strike that will hit 20 goals this season.

Pre-Season Fixtures/Results

July 16 vs Kaizer Chiefs 0-1

July 19 vs Orlando Pirates 1-1 – Van der Vaart

July 23 vs Orlando Pirates 3-0 Van der Vaart (2), Defoe

July 26 vs MK Dons 5-3 Pavlyuchenko (2), Kane (2), Krancjar

July 29 vs Leyton Orient 4-1 Crouch (2), Cuthbert (og), Kranjcar

July 30 vs Brighton 3-2 Kaboul, Corluka, Livermore

 August 6 vs Athletic Bilbao 3-2 Crouch, Defoe

Players in

07/11 David Bentley MF Birmingham City

07/11 Giovani Dos Santos FW Racing Santander

07/11 Brad Friedel GK Aston Villa

07/11 Robbie Keane FW West Ham United

07/11 Dean Parrett MF Charlton Athletic

07/11 Andros Townsend MF Millwall FC

07/11 Kyle Walker DF Aston Villa Leavings

Players out

06/11 Bongani Khumalo DF Reading FC

06/11 Kyle Naughton DF Norwich City

06/11 Stipe Pletikosa GK Spartak Moskva

06/11 Jonathan Woodgate DF Stoke City

Injuries:                              Return date       situation

Gallas (William)                  13th Aug 2011 Calf injury

Sandro Ranier                    30th Oct 2011  Knee

King (Ledley)                     13th Aug 2011 Knee injury

Pienaar (Steven)                 24th Sep 2011 Groin Injury i

Van der Vaart (Rafael)         13th Aug 2011 Ankle injury

Most likely starting lineup for Tottenham next weekend:

                                                   24 Brad Friedel

22 Vedran Corluka    19 Sebastien Bassong   20 Michael Dawson  32 Benoit Assou-Ekotto

7 Aaron Lennon         6 Tom Huddlestone       8 Jermaine Jenas    3 Gareth Bale

  

18 Jermain Defoe           9 Roman Pavlyuchenko

Tottenham might get Gallas, King and Van der Vaart from injuries before the season starts, but they will not be 100% match fit. Like I said earlier I see a lot of trouble for Tottenham this season. Harry Redknapp is by far one the best managers in the premiership, and  “happy” Harry might get some players in before the window closes that might help Tottenham some. But for Spurs fans hoping for a champion’s league spot this season, I’m sorry to say it but dream on. There are so many problems just a few days before the season’s starts. For me Tottenham look to face the same problems Liverpool had after failing to qualify for champion league two years ago. Players want to leave and the moral in the squad is not good. And with all these problems they have yet to do anything on the transfer marked so close to season start that it will take time to do something about it now. Sorry all you spurs fans out there, but I don’t think Tottenham will finish higher then 7^th, this season.