Comolli's Last Chance

[Black]

Mark Burrows gives us his view on why Tottenham sporting director Damien Comolli should be a worried man...


Well the 'dreaded' or 'thank goodness we can get rid of that dross' or 'help we need a defence' transfer window is open once more. More column inches will probably be written about Spurs than any other British club with only Chelsea or Man City likely to be more active in the next 20 odd days or so. This is due to Spurs needing an entire new defence, a goalkeeper and a creative left midfielder.

With Berbatov and Defoe very likely speaking with their agents seeing who is interested in them, it is going to be a very busy time for the WHL board and in particular, one person will be under the microscope; Daniel Comolli.

Daniel Levy has said that Spurs will not be 'splashing the cash'. Is this just to keep potential target player's clubs guessing or is he telling the truth? If he is telling the truth, then Spurs will be in trouble for the rest of the season with the total lack of confidence in the back 5. However the failed attempt to sign Alan Hutton of Rangers has shown Levy's hand and it points to Spurs being very active in the transfer market looking for top quality players.

A left back is must as Lee Young-Pyo is totally out of depth in the Premiership playing at left back with no left foot. Back up is also needed for the overworked Chimbonda at right back and another keeper to put pressure on Robinson. Robinson has been erratic to say the least this season and after looking like his old self recently, he is back to coming for balls he shouldn't and staying on his line when he should be commanding his box. The problem is that he has no confidence in his defence and his defence have no confidence in him. Spurs desperately need two central defenders and with many names being banded about, it will be very surprising if Spurs do not secure two high profile signings for their defence.

However the problem Spurs have is they are the new Chelsea. What I mean by this is a club finds out Spurs are interested in a player, the price goes up by 50% of what their real value is. Clubs know Spurs have money and are willing to spend it and that sets off EURO signs in Chairman's eyes.

This is where Comolli is on borrowed time. I wrote an article on this site when the whole Jol saga was in its first stages stating that Jol had been badly treated and the blame should have been at Comolli's door instead of all being on the manager. Comolli's signings have not been up to scratch and the money spent in the summer has been wasted. Bent, Kaboul and Prince-Boateng have all failed to add anything to the team. What was mighty obvious at the start of the season was the lack of options in defence and the lack of creativity in midfield, especially on the left hand side. Kaboul has the potential and I think he can become a good player at the top level but he has to learn that his primary objective is to defend and not to try and be a Beckenbauer coming out with the ball and then bombing forward.

Prince-Boateng has been disappointing but he has not had enough starts to judge him yet. But he has to learn that the right attitude on the pitch and being sensible in his play is more important than trying to look good with his sleeves rolled up with his tattoos on display.

Bent is a confidence player and his confidence has been shot to pieces. Surely if Comolli did his research he would have seen that spending a long time on the bench would not work for Bent. He is another Andy Cole (but not as good), give him 2 seconds to think about a chance and he will miss, if it is an instant reaction, then more than not it will be on target. He needs to play regularly to keep him sharp. He could be a good signing long term but at the moment he needs to go out on loan for the rest of the season. It quite obvious to me that Levy and Comolli wanted to show their 'power' and buy the 'best' and most sought after player in the summer transfer market but it was a player Spurs did not need. They should have left West Ham to it.

With the possible departures of Berbatov and/or Defoe, Comolli also needs to be looking at strikers as well. I hope both stay but I am starting to get the feeling that if the price is right then one could go. A big powerful striker to hold up and link play is required in the Les Ferdinand or dare I say it Peter Crouch/Dean Ashton mode even if we do manage to keep hold of Berbatov.

Comolli needs to come up with some gems in this transfer window or he needs to go. Where is a Fabregas, an Anelka, a Toure, an Eboue, a Clichy or even an Almunia? Arsenal seem to pick up these players on a regular basis. Why can't Spurs if Comolli is this genius we are all told he is.

On the brighter side, Malbranque has started to look like the player he was at Fulham playing on the left (not his natural side) and Zokora is starting to look like a decent Premier League player and has been most effective surprisingly at centre back.

It is the moment of truth for Comolli and Levy. It looks like Levy has got it right with Ramos. Ramos will not settle for a game to drift away and will make changes to secure the points. If Spurs fail to attract at least 4 quality signings (5 if we lose one of our strikers) in this transfer window, Levy has then got to wield the axe once more and Comolli must go!

Did a search never saw it so im posting it , I dont know who Mark Burrows is but its a good read

 

[sloth]

Did a search never saw it so im posting it , I dont know who Mark Burrows is but its a good read

It's well-written anyway.

 

[dontcallme]

An interesting read. Not sure I agree about the need for a left sided midfielder as Bale and Malbranque have been our best players this season.

 

[Legend10]

The last sentence is a joke right?

 

[SEANSPURS1975]

As Gus most famously said "Enough is enough".Our first team is just not good enough. So, Mr Comolli , the only players to sign have to be of proven quality that will improve our first eleven. It's really not that hard fella:evil:

 

[General Levy]

Someone abusing their powers. The last sentence is ridiculous.

 

[AnotherSpursFan]

i've said it before i'll say it again, (n i'm not gay not that there's anything wrong with that)
Comolli can eat my balls...he's a piece of junk, we were very very strong when the manager was running the show, we almost got fourth!!
then this piece of junk comes in and we barely got 5th place.
now performance deterioate further
go figure

 

[Black]

Aint bale out for the rest of the season ?

 

[don1]

Comolli get out

 

[Bus-Conductor]

i've said it before i'll say it again, (n i'm not gay not that there's anything wrong with that)
Comolli can eat my balls...he's a piece of junk, we were very very strong when the manager was running the show, we almost got fourth!!
then this piece of junk comes in and we barely got 5th place.
now performance deterioate further
go figure

Are you sure you're not gay. You look it.

 

[Rocksuperstar]

Comolli has done well so far, but no matter how tight him and Levy may seem, i can't imagine he's getting away with his poor record for closing out decent signings. It seems very obvious to me now that, no matter who the main instigator, one massive factor working against our success this year was the sour relationship between Martin and Damien - i would imagine this would mean at the least Damien not taking Martin's requests or concerns quite as seriously as he might. In the worst case, and i seriously hope and doubt that it was the case, Damien could've possibly even signed some of these players when he had been told outright by Martin (who, afterall, is the footballing brain on the staff) that they would not fit into the side.

Damien needs to be fully aware that even if the board/Levy can't see his failings so far, the fans and the media can and are now making themselves much more vocal, following Martin's departure.

The only bit i disagree with in that article is how dramatic he is over Wipey - the rest is good but i think here we have someone who is convinced that a LB can only ever be 100% effective if they are left footed which, i personally think, Wipey proves is wrong on a regular basis.

 

[rez9000]

A good article (apart from calling Damien Comolli, Daniel Comolli).

The most interesting aspect of it was what he said about the Arsenal players. Comolli was given the job at Spurs because he was described as instrumental in bringing some of the current Scum stars to the Emirates. And yet we are waiting for our stars. The only star signing (and I mean star) has been Berbatov and by all accounts that was a deal that Jol was pushing for.

Even giving DC the benefit of the doubt over that one, the fact that we haven't added more stars to our roster, and have developed hideous and frightening deficiencies all over the pitch does suggest that our transfers aren't adding to the squad.

As he says, the players we have brought in this summer haven't added enough to the squad, and unless we do bring in the players to, at the very least, steady the ship this January, then serious questions have to be asked of Damien Comolli.

The only thing that's a cause for worry (which I've raised in another thread) is if Comolli's behaviour in the transfer market is exactly what Levy wants him to do. In which case, the focus shouldn't be on Comolli, but on Levy. This month will be a critical time for the club, both on and off the pitch. Some of the questions that Spurs fans (myself included) have been asking of the upper management of the club may well be answered by our activity in the transfer market.

 

[nightgoat]

And so far in this window, we've signed an 18 year old, and tried to spend £6-8m on a player in a position we don't really need strengthening... :-|

 

[Thesoccershrink]

Is Mark Burrows Martin Jol?

 

[punkisback]

Well Burrows does go to an extreme, but i believe that Commoli has failed in identifying players and establishing a system which will allow the team to develop young players to their potential.

 

[Acid]

I'm reserving judgment - as a poster above said, this month will answer a lot of questions both on and off the pitch.

We did spend a lot over the summer with very little to show for it :/ (Stating the obvious i know)

 

[nuttynoah]

how could levy sack another of his own appointments and an integral part of the whole setup, his own position would start to look untenable

 

[Lanh]

Got as far as the third paragraph and couldn't take the article seriously anymore so didn't bother reading the rest.

 

[SpurSince57]

Lee totally out of his depth at LB? Clearly this guy knows so much more than Hiddink and Jol.