COLUMNS

This Saturday we beat Charlton 5-1, which has been the most best result we’ve had for sometime. Although, it wasn’t ground breaking stuff, it was positive and from our perspective a long awaited thumping of a fellow Premiership club. But rather than just basking in the glory I think we need to ask why this has finally happened, and it becomes apparent that the answer is easy. This win was down to playing the trio of Defoe, Lennon and Malbranque. With these three we've got attacking players who all get the ball and are immediately direct, running straight at the defence and opponents goal. These players are the ones who petrify defenders and give them a really torrid time. Defensive players hate pace and when opposing teams break quickly it works on defensive frailties. These often being a lack of pace on occasions and also when the defence isn't completely organised they are more prone to being exploited. This is what happened yesterday. With this golden trio as well as the ever-impressive Berbatov, whose touches and finishing were simply supreme, we had an extremely potent attacking force.

This in comparison to our usual style with Keane and the likes of Ghaly, Tainio or Davids out on the left flank is very different. With this formation of personnel we look to build slowly playing 'patient' football, which the majority of the time will play into the defence's hands as they can get their structure right and look to build an eight-man wall. This allows our opponents to form a solid defence, which is more reliant on positional play and strength. We then have to rely on individual magic to carve out chances. For this we have players like Jenas and Keane who are talented but really if we want to be scoring 3/4/5 goals against opponents, in the way we did yesterday then we really need the class of Zidane and Ronaldinho. In conclusion it is a far harder way to play and is heavily reliant upon cleverness, absolute brilliance or getting a lucky ricochet in an often-crowded penalty area. Alternatively we have seen an increasing reliance upon goals from set pieces and getting penalty decisions to unlock these tight defences. With Keane he checks back too often, slowing our attacking play down, thus allowing defences to get back. The same goes for having players like Davids out on the left as apposed to Malbranque. My good friend Goose has recently developed a theory that Keane has a love affair with Paul Robinson and seemingly seems intent on getting closer to him and I’ve got to admit maybe there is something in it.
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This is why for me, even having just secured the three points against Middlesborough on Wednesday I found myself quite happy when I saw that Keane had gone down injured. This isn’t because I don’t like Keane as a man or player; he is extremely talented and on occasions is an absolute pleasure to watch. He also seems to have taken Tottenham into his heart, which of course is something special and has won him over to us fans. However, I don’t like the fact that Jol seems intent on freezing Defoe, who for me is only slightly behind Rooney as being England’s most natural goal-scorer, out of our club. This is doubled by the effect it has on our style of play, which as I’ve discussed, is far less effective going forward. I know it can be argued that they are both playing plenty of games, but I believe we are better off with Defoe starting and just wish he would be given greater support by the big man so that his natural ability to hit the back of the net can be used further by the club. I also wish more love would be shown by the supporters towards the little man Defoe who despite facing many setbacks since joining us has continued to keep his head down and fight for our cause. He’s kept his mouth shut and his fuse intact despite regularly finding himself parked on the bench.

I know we can’t play every week with such attacking drive. Against the biggest clubs and in big European games it may not suit us to play with this trio. But at home it works beautifully by opening up the game, lifting the crowd and playing into our hands rather than playing the slower/more defensive game, which is how many teams choose to play away from home to frustrate the opposing crowd and keep it tight defensively.
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Jol unfortunately however seems to develop a list of favourites (Keane, Jenas, Ghaly briefly, Carrick last year) so whomever we are playing and whatever the players forms are, he will seemingly stick with these guys. The options we have with our squad should be a strength and that is why it seems sad that I should be happy for a player to get injured, just so that another player can get a decent look in. But for me the Keane injury will be a blessing. I hope that it will provide the opportunity for Defoe to stake his claim at the head of a golden trio with Lennon and Malbranque, with Berbatov providing the intelligence and class to link the system together. I foresee an increase in goals in the coming month and many more scenes of celebration at White Hart Lane and opposing grounds with these four being instrumental in creating them and at the centre of the party celebrations. With Huddlestone, Zokora, Tainio, Davids, Murphy, Ghaly and Jenas giving us more solid foundations in midfield, we can allow the above mentioned four to supply the assists and goals for us to take us further on this years tour.
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I feel we are close to success and if we could win one Trophy this year, be it the UEFA, FA or Carling Cup, as well as making the top five in the League it will be another extremely successful season. If we make the Champion’s League places this season in whatever circumstances then it will also be a massive coup d'état. In either case, provided at the end of this season we don’t lose another big player as we did with Carrick, we are on for major accolade in the 2007-2008 season and I would put a large amount on us finally becoming an established Champion’s League club. With our current crop we don’t need signings, we need time. Bar maybe getting another developed talented centre back as cover with Davenport, and perhaps both a World Class left back and left winger if the opportunity arose we have the personnel. We have a squad, which is littered with Champion’s League quality players as well as strength in depth. Again we just need the time to develop the younger players, the systems we adopt and weed out the few whom aren’t up for the challenge then we will possibly even be ready for a title challenge in the 2008-2009 season.
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For me, with Robinson, Chimbonda, Dawson, King, Lennon, Huddlestone, Zokora, Jenas, Malbranque, Defoe, Berbatov, Keane and Mido we have 13 players who will challenge the best. To compliment, we have Davenport, Ekotto, Lee, Tainio and Ghaly who can also compete at a high level and with a bit more tutorage can also develop into fine and strong players, who could step in as understudies at anytime and do the job required. Further to that we have young talents in Routledge, Ziegler, Dervitte, Mills and the extremely highly rated Tomas Perkhart who are all currently some way off realising their potential but if their developments are managed in the right way could step into the top bracket of players. The completing asset we have to form our fine squad is our Sporting Director Damien Comolli who backed by Levy and the board is continuing to search for the best young talent about as well as making fine purchases as with players like Berbatov and Malbranque. With all these players on our books, there is only one thing that could stop us from taking strides forward and that is if we were again forced into off-loading any of our best players in the coming transfer windows. I hope this will not be the case, with my prime concern being Defoe.
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Although critical of Jol in not using Defoe as often as I would like, I continue to pay homage to the big man Mr Martin Jol who has been instrumental in the gradual and successful building of our team and squad. As supporters we can be proud of our manager and with our unwavering support of him at the realm we are in perfect steed to enjoy some great future seasons and I hope a most pleasurable oncoming Christmas period, starting with another great European evening at the Lane on Thursday night.
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COYS
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